Culture often shows itself in ordinary situations before it appears in formal change programs.
One day at a new office area, I noticed newly installed EV chargers. I drive a Tesla, but I did not need to charge during the day, so I parked away from the charging area. Nearby, a combustion-engine car was parked in one of the EV charger slots.
Later, I spoke with my colleague Jacob, who owned the car. He had received a warning about parking in the EV area, but his view was simple: there was no explicit rule, so he felt free to park there.
That small situation opened a useful conversation about cultural assumptions.
In Danish work culture, explicit rules are often expected and followed carefully. If a rule is not written, people may reasonably question whether it exists. In Turkish culture, where I come from, some norms are understood even when they are not formally stated. A conventional car should not occupy an EV charging space, even if the sign does not explain every possible scenario.
Neither perspective is automatically right or wrong. The point is that people do not interpret situations from a neutral place. They bring cultural habits, expectations, and assumptions about what is obvious.
That matters in organizations. Many conflicts are not caused by bad intent. They happen because people believe they are following the reasonable interpretation of the situation.
Diversity creates value when it helps teams surface these hidden assumptions. Clear communication then becomes more than politeness; it becomes a way to prevent unnecessary friction.
The parking dilemma was small, but the lesson is larger: when expectations are not explicit, culture fills the gap.