3 challenges for a Dutchie in Germany

The news was out and it spreaded like wildfire. I was going to Germany for an international acceleration project at innogy, the parent company of Essent & energiedirect.nl. I discovered that there were two types of responses to the news I thought was great. First category: "that’s great news!", the enthusiastic and hart warming reactions: love it, thank you guys! Second category: the sceptic, “To Germany? Are you sure you want to do this?" reactions. Plenty of reactions in the second category. I almost changed my mind about going.

But hey, I like a challenge, so I decided to take my chances, and go to find out for myself. Why? Because I am an explorer. And Germans are our neighbors. Dutchies and Germans almost look like twins, we wear the same clothes. We both love skiing in Austria in winter and going to Zeeland* in summer (what is it with the hole digging on the beach though ;). For 99% of the world our languages sound the same**. Bottom line: we look, feel and probably are the same. Especially from a distance.

But when you take a closer look... We are TOTALLY different. Okay, I can literally hear all the category two people say: “I told you so”. Besides the fact that this is a typical Dutch reaction the Germans would never ever, ever give (if you want me to explain, please let me know). It’s also not true. And since I am a competitive Dutchie, who is always right and wants to win every possible game, I will explain why they are wrong. 

“So, what ARE my biggest challenges?”

The second category pointed out that Germans are far more hierarchical than the Dutch when it comes to the business environment and therefor their structure .... sucks. Obviously they are right about the difference in structure. The role of a manager is more formal then it is in the Netherlands. But I feel this is changing rapidly. Especially in an international company as the one I work for. And also: if you know the structure: you can make it work for you. A big opportunity if you ask me.

So, what ARE my biggest challenges? Not to bore you to death, I picked three:

1. Business before pleasure

When we Dutchies meet colleagues, we start of with a small talk. Preferably about the weather or the trip to wherever we are. In Germany they do business first. They want to get to the point as soon as possible, because that is what you are there for. When all topics have been handled, and everything went well it is time for informal talk. It is easy to spot the mismatch. 

Although I now know it works like this, it’s not yet part of my DNA. A few weeks ago I met a colleague for the first time. We didn’t have an opportunity to chat yet, and when we did he immediately asked me what my idea of my role in the next phase of the project was. No small talk?! And even though we had already e-mailed about the topic, I felt annoyed by it. And I knew he had no bad intentions at all. Luckily I got over it :)

“No guts, no glory.”

2. Volunteers for the dishes

The Dutch are true pioneers. Ever since the golden age we have been doing business all over the world. We had to, because we didn't really have anything to export since the tulip wasn't invented yet. Evolution made sure this pioneering is now in our blood. We like to take a chance especially when things are uncertain: no guts, no glory. On the go we will find out what exactly needs to be done to tackle challenges ahead. And if we can’t make it on our own we’ll look for partners who can help us deliver what we had in mind approximately. The Germans on the other hand are definitely risk averse. Only if they know 200% sure they can do something, they will volunteer to do it. And if they say they will do it, you don’t have to worry about quality or timely delivery. 

Looking for volunteers in Germany therefor requires a, for me, totally new approach. In the Netherlands I would look for a volunteer by providing the team with an enthusiastic but vague description of the task, little to no insight on the delivery process and probably no timelines. Someone will volunteer in no time, and together we will decide on the framework for the task. When the task is at 60% we will discuss again and at 80% we will deliver***. In Germany however, when I throw in a vague description without a framework, nobody will volunteer. The first time this happened I was surprised. I still remember the awkward feeling I had looking across the room and in the end, picking a volunteer. Just like my mother used to pick one of her children as volunteer to do the dishes. Nobody happy. Not me and my mother, not the ‘volunteer’. Fortunately, now I understand why this happened and I can make sure it doesn't happen again!

3. Celebrating a win is not comme il faut

As mentioned before, I like winning. It's actually my favorite thing in the world. The adrenaline rush that starts with the struggle and peaks with the win is something I live for. The energy that grows and accelerates within a match is something I love to use at work. For instance when facilitating a workshop. Participants drive each other to greater heights when there is a price to win. Even if the victory is the only price to win. The thing is: I can clearly see that Germans feel very uncomfortable when I celebrate a win. It is obvious they think it is not ‘comme il faut’. Even when it is a team win. And to be honest I didn’t yet find out why they feel this way and how to cope with this phenomenon. For now, I have decided to be true to myself and keep on enjoying the adrenaline rush.

“Like a girl scout on an adventure.”

These three challenges have in common that they al start with me having a gut feeling that something isn’t right. But as you all know, for me it actually starts to get interesting when things aren’t right :) Room for exploration and getting better at something. Automatically I start to alter my behavior and course based on experiences in the past. The problem is, experiences from the past cannot always be applied to this new situation. It took me a while to find out because the differences are very subtle and therefor difficult to spot. You need to discover a pattern and only then you can start mitigating the situation. So, that’s where I am at the moment. In search of patterns, iterating my behavior. Like a girl scout on an adventure...

With a little help...
One of the perks of working for innogy is that they provided me with a cultural coach. In my case Stefan Meister, who gave me a crash course German Culture. The course was interesting, helpful and most of all a lot of fun! I would certainly recommend working with him. Without his help I would have probably still been guessing what was wrong with me. And with them of course… 

* The picture above I made in Zeeland this January. This is the beautiful beach of Domburg.
** About the German language: love this article on boredpanda.com :)
*** Please read about the pareto principle on wikipedia. If you want to know how I use this at work feel free to contact me :)