Culture Shock Round 2: Working with Americans

“There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.” - G.K. Chesterton

In a previous post I explored what it is like to be plunged into a foreign culture. When working with a team, though, it sometimes feels like you are in two foreign countries at once! I would love to be gracious and say that all cultures are equally guilty of this but I simply cannot do so with a straight face.

I could also make the excuse that Americans are simply more plentiful than most other expatriates in the organization I work with so it makes sense that they are the dominant culture. In this, too, though, I fear I would be stretching the truth. I rather believe that a single American would still create a dominant culture.

At this point I feel like my non-American readers will be nodding their heads at the same time as Americans are scratching theirs. Before I continue, I want to make a few things clear:

• I am a Canadian.
• I love my U.S. friends and colleagues. They are wonderful, intelligent, gentle souls who have given up a great deal to be here, working with people less fortunate than themselves.
• This is not a passive aggressive attempt to be critical of anyone. These are all observations I'm perfectly comfortable making while talking to my American friends (as I'm sure they could tell you).
• Sometimes my beloved, wonderful, intelligent American friends and colleagues drive me absolutely nuts without having any clue they're doing it.
• I have no interest in just snickering behind anyone's back, we should be able to talk about (and laugh about) our cultures, especially where they conflict!

Maybe it's just that most Americans have so little need to interact with the rest of the world and they export so much of their own culture in the way of the entertainment industry, that they are less aware of the differences between their culture and those around them. This is particularly true for Canadians and British, where we do have a great deal of shared history and culture.

In the spirit of helpfulness, therefore, let me offer a short list of things I wish Americans understood better about working with the rest of us.

1. You're passionate about your country but when you get into animated discussions about national issues in front of non-Americans you exclude them from the conversation.
2. Just because I share your faith doesn't mean I necessarily share your political opinions (some of which, from my perspective, conflict with our shared faith).
3. Some things Americans take great pride in are actually actively offensive to the rest of the world. I'm not demanding that you change your opinions, nor am I saying we can't discuss these things, but some sensitivity would be appreciated when talking about guns, military intervention, universal healthcare and other touchy subjects.
4. There may (or may not) be more Americans vs non-Americans in any given situation, but we're both guests in our host culture. We're friends and as such I want to engage with your culture but I shouldn't need to – culture shock is challenging enough already with just one culture to adapt to.

I'm sure there are a few things missing from that list and a few (like #3) which could fill volumes if we really explored them but for me #4 neatly sums it up. We need to live in mutual respect and equality. I enjoy being invited to 4th of July and U.S. Thanksgiving celebrations, but with the understanding that I'm humouring my American friends the same way they may humour me by celebrating Canada Day with me.

And all of that is great! I love that, as long as we both remember where we are and accept that for anyone to engage our home culture is an act of generosity.

Theo