What you say reminds of what I've experienced as an American that now lives in Europe (Switzerland).
Soon after moving I learned to not smile so much - I was told that it makes me look simpleminded. Especially in meetings, and especially in meetings with German clients. Meetings are serious and very efficient here. I don't even smile at the beginning during introductions.
I also learned that the German-style of an employee review is quite different than in the US. In the US my reviews always started with the good things I did - my accomplishments, and then the bad things but the focus of the review was on the positive. Here, the review starts with the failures and how you can improve yourself, and then covers the accomplishments to about the same degree that the failures are covered in the US.
Self-assessments are more honest here too. I don't think American's are being dishonest when they assess themselves in their review - I just think that Americans aren't good at critical self-evaluation.
I've worked in Switzerland, Germany, and France and they are all very different from each other. Germans are very straightforward and would be considered 'not nice' in the US. The French are political - they may appear nice while they stab you in the back. Germany-speaking Switzerland is more like Germany, but the Swiss are easier to work with - not as rigid. I only had a few projects in French-speaking Switzerland and only one of those were with native French-speaking Swiss but they seemed nicer than the French.
Frankly, I've come to prefer how things work where I live now. From the outside it may not appear to be 'nice'.
Soon after moving I learned to not smile so much - I was told that it makes me look simpleminded. Especially in meetings, and especially in meetings with German clients. Meetings are serious and very efficient here. I don't even smile at the beginning during introductions.
I also learned that the German-style of an employee review is quite different than in the US. In the US my reviews always started with the good things I did - my accomplishments, and then the bad things but the focus of the review was on the positive. Here, the review starts with the failures and how you can improve yourself, and then covers the accomplishments to about the same degree that the failures are covered in the US.
Self-assessments are more honest here too. I don't think American's are being dishonest when they assess themselves in their review - I just think that Americans aren't good at critical self-evaluation.
I've worked in Switzerland, Germany, and France and they are all very different from each other. Germans are very straightforward and would be considered 'not nice' in the US. The French are political - they may appear nice while they stab you in the back. Germany-speaking Switzerland is more like Germany, but the Swiss are easier to work with - not as rigid. I only had a few projects in French-speaking Switzerland and only one of those were with native French-speaking Swiss but they seemed nicer than the French.
Frankly, I've come to prefer how things work where I live now. From the outside it may not appear to be 'nice'.