Some context: my 20 year career has been almost exclusively working with startups and small to medium businesses. I’m used to the laid back, easy breezy semi-humorous and fully open and transparent communication styles common in those contexts.
But earlier this year I changed jobs and now work for a consulting company who deals with multinational corporations and/or Fortune 500s exclusively. Earlier today on a meeting with a client, I asked a question entirely with the intent of just trying to help my team, but in so doing I inadvertently threw a coworker under the bus, made them look like they weren’t doing their job at all. That’s of course not true, that person rocks, but the subtle message to the client was “so and so isn’t communicating with the team”. I had no idea that I’d done this until my manager brought it to my attention, and we had a long call about that and other communication skills that I need to tweak for this very different client base.
We’re not dealing with tech bros in hoodies and sandals here, but starched collars, near-militant structure and standards for behavior, and hyper formal expectations. While my fully transparent humorous style has been appreciated in the past and earned a great deal of trust from past contacts, here it’s a liability. (This is regardless of international culture stuff.)
So I’m learning that, as much as I hate it and think it’s bullshit, I have to “play the game” and adapt my style to suit this different context. 20 years of saying whatever I want (within reason of course) whenever I want is going to be a real hard habit to break, but I’ve got to improve that personal “filter” mechanism to be useful to - and trusted by - our clients.