Working Across Cultures in Coworking Spaces and Remote Teams

Cultural friction at work rarely looks dramatic. It shows up as a message that sounds blunt, a silence in a meeting, or a kitchen habit that annoys someone. The fix is mostly practical: make expectations explicit, write things down, and ask before you assume.

Why do cultural differences matter in a coworking space?

A coworking space puts freelancers, employees and founders from different countries at neighbouring desks, often with no shared company culture to smooth things over. Remote teams have the same issue in a different form: people never see each other's context, so a short message can be read many ways.

Three areas cause most of the trouble:

• Language: not only vocabulary, but tone, humour and idioms.
• Communication style: direct versus indirect, written versus spoken.
• Workplace norms: noise, eating, greetings, punctuality and how people treat hierarchy.

How do communication styles differ?

Researcher Erin Meyer, who wrote The Culture Map, describes a spectrum between low-context and high-context communication. In low-context cultures, people say things explicitly and expect to be taken literally. In high-context cultures, more of the meaning sits in shared background, tone and what is left unsaid.

Neither is better, but they clash. A direct colleague may read a polite, indirect "we could consider that" as agreement, when it was a soft no. An indirect colleague may read a plain "this will not work" as rude. Most people sit somewhere in between, and individuals vary within every country, so treat these as tendencies, not labels for a person.

How can you reduce misunderstandings in a mixed team?

Meyer's own advice for multicultural teams is to lean toward explicit communication: say things clearly, put them in writing and repeat key points. Her Harvard Business Review article on navigating the cultural minefield covers this territory. In practice:

1. Follow every meeting with a short written summary of decisions and owners.
2. Give deadlines as a date, a time and a time zone, not "soon" or "end of day".
3. Ask "what could go wrong?" instead of "any questions?", which many people will not answer in front of a group.
4. Invite written feedback as well as spoken, so quieter people are heard.
5. Avoid idioms, sports metaphors and sarcasm in writing, because they translate badly.

What if the language gap is the main problem?

When people work in a second or third language, they understand more than they can say quickly. Slow down, use short sentences and let people finish. Share slides or notes before a meeting so non-native speakers can prepare.

Coworking spaces can help here. Community managers can run conversation hours or language exchange evenings, and our piece on how coworking spaces can support language learning shows what that can look like. Even a simple translation tool is useful for a quick message, but have a person check anything important or sensitive.

Which shared-space habits vary by culture?

Many conflicts in a shared workspace are about small habits, not work itself. Common ones:

If you run a space, write a short, friendly set of house rules covering noise, calls, food and shared equipment. Written rules remove the guesswork and stop people from feeling singled out.

How do you build real connections across cultures?

Trust grows from repeated, low-pressure contact. Hold a regular shared lunch, a show-and-tell where members present their work, or a workshop. Our guide to hosting workshops in a coworking space has ideas for structuring them so everyone can join in.

Members who are new to a city also benefit from community events outside the space. Our article on finding meetups and building community is a good starting point.

What should you do when a conflict happens anyway?

Start by assuming good intent and describing what you saw, not what you think the person meant. "Your message said the file was wrong, and I was not sure what to change" works better than "you were rude". Then ask what they meant.

If the issue is repeated or involves harassment, discrimination or safety, do not treat it as a cultural misunderstanding. Take it to the space manager or, in a company, to HR.

A short checklist to start with

• Write down meeting outcomes and deadlines, with time zones.
• Ask open questions and offer a written way to respond.
• Keep language simple and avoid idioms.
• Set clear house rules for shared spaces.
• Create regular, relaxed ways for people to meet.
• Treat cultural tendencies as starting points, and check them with the actual person.