Trust and sticking to plans in Sweden.

Your Swedish colleagues may join activities together with you after work,

but these usually need to be planned in advance.

Swedes rarely do spontaneous afterwork activities.

They plan their schedule in advance.

Often the whole week is planned with different activities and events every day after work.

And if something is planned, Swedes will stick to it.

Even if there is a more interesting activity or invitation arising.

If Swedes have planned to do something and gave their words,

they will stick to their plan and refuse an invitation for a conflicting event.

This has to do with the understanding of trust in Scandinavia.

Trust has a lot to do with doing as you said you would.

In my lectures, I talk about the importance of foreseeability and consistency in trust-building.

When you plan something, when you decide on something, when you agree on something; you stick to it in Sweden.

This is also the reason why Swedes will follow the established rules in society,

even if sometimes they may not always quite make sense for an outsider.

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Read more about Swedes in our Swedish Toolkit

The Swedish Toolkit

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