Navigating Culture and Adapting to Teams

Navigating Culture and Adapting to Teams

Starting a new job can be exciting but unsettling, and adapting to a workplace takes time. The process begins before the first interview: learn about the company, its employees, and what it stands for. Once hired, take time to understand both the organization’s culture and the norms of your specific team.

Practical Approach to Onboarding

• Be observant, but also take initiative. Employers should provide onboarding, but new employees can help make sure they meet the people they will work with.
• Meet colleagues across teams. Ask for introductions to members of your immediate team and to people in departments you may collaborate with. For example, a technologist might benefit from meeting people in product, legal, marketing, and compliance. Consider meeting managers at a level similar to your own manager, too.
• Prepare for introductory meetings:
  • Research each person when possible.
  • Prepare a few questions.
  • Keep meetings brief—about 15–30 minutes.
  • Ask what challenges keep the person or their team up at night and what could help address them. You may not be able to solve these issues immediately, but understanding them can be useful as you grow in your role.
• Create a record of your conversations. Track whom you met, their responsibilities, the meeting date, and anything important to remember. Thank people afterward, and keep the notes for future collaboration.
• If no onboarding plan exists, ask for one. Ask your manager which people outside your immediate team would be helpful to meet. You can offer to draft an introduction email for your manager to send, then follow up to arrange the meetings.
• Make use of a workplace buddy. A buddy can explain informal expectations, such as managers’ preferences, lunch habits, typical work hours, out-of-office practices, and expected response times—especially when communicating across regions or with senior leaders.

Reading and Adapting to Workplace Culture

Pay attention to how people communicate and interact. Notice whether colleagues talk across workspaces, how quickly they respond to messages, and whether they prefer email or other channels. Find out whether texting people’s mobile phones is acceptable. For in-office roles, observe how colleagues dress across different departments. Dress in a way that fits the workplace’s norms; appropriate clothing can be found at a range of price points.

The central lesson is to “read the room”: understand the local culture before deciding how to communicate, work, and present yourself.

Speakers and Sources

• Presenter/narrator: One unnamed speaker provides the guidance. No other speakers or sources are featured in the subtitles.