German working environment

Is this just my way of thinking, or does a proportion of Germans in the workplace lack people skills. Now I know that this is everywhere, but why do I get the feeling that when meeting someone or getting to know working colleagues I sense a feeling of distrust or that I am being analysed.

I would be interested if anyone could shed some light on this one.

Has it occurred to you that they might just be feeling a bit awkward, not sure how they should handle you, rather than distrust?

It does depend on the situation, though. There is a German expression: "Wie man in den Wald pfeift, so hallt es wieder heraus". Translated: The echo from the woods depends on how you whistle into it.

Do you speak German? Do they speak English? Well?

Before you go answering that last question: I have a girlfriend, who speaks really good english. However, she is very shy about speaking english, because she thinks she can't speak very well..

Perhaps you might like to be honest with yourself and question your own people skills. They may well be good in GB, but are they appropriate for Germany?

When in Rome, do as the Romans.

Why are the English often considered reserved or stand-off-ish and the Germans pushy?

There is always a natural "speaking distance", the distance people keep from one another when talking.

When a Brit and a German are talking, the Brit might feel confortable at a distance of 1m, but the German feels comfortable at 0,75m. So the German thinks this bloke is too far away, and moves closer. The Brit thinks, oh dear! He's bearing in on me, and moves back a bit. To which the german thinks: He's backing off... And so on..

Now if you consider that the typical speaking distance of an italian is 0,5m and apply the above, you may be able to appreciate why they may be considered to be aggressive in a conversation.

In the same vein: Literally translating causes confusion in communication, because German politeness occurs differently to english.

"I would like to have a beer please" becomes "Ich möchte gern ein Bier haben, bitte".

In comparison, a german polite form of request may be: "Ich möchte gern ein Bier" On the other hand, they could order a beer "Ich bekomme ein Bier" and make it polite with a "bitte" on the end, or not.

So, you see, you don't just have to get used to the language, currency and which side of the road to drive when you come here, you have to adjust your body language too.

Hi Mike,

Good reply!!. The level of English in my worklpace is actually quite excellent and my German is not too bad. The pre-dominant language where I work is actually English due to the markets we work in. From my side I have stayed in 4 different countries, so I would like to think I have a good understanding of people and cultures. Its possible that this situation applies to my team I am working in as I have had people from my office telling me about similar situations they have experienced in the team I work in.

Generally the office on a whole is ok, very multi cultural with different nationalites, but we all come to the agreement that some of our German colleagues are hard to get on with, inflexible and not willing to share information.

However on the other hand I am totally glad that after one year in Germany unemployed and looking for work, I now have the opportunity to learn about the general German working culture.

Thanks again for your input

Colin

I can't say I've noticed much difference between England and Germany. Some people are sociable at work, some not. It also depends on the company culture.

It is always a bit awkward, when one is new to a job and know nobody. The best approach is to find a way to break the ice, a few beers after work, Einstand party etc. Basically you really have to make the first move.

Colin,

Isn't that the case everywhere? There will always be a percentage of people like that in the workplace, irrespective of which country you are in.

Perhaps other nationalities might be more "polite" about it, i.e. be pleasant, but still not tell you anything, but as Adrian replied, I haven't noticed a real difference in the 20 years I've lived here -- not that I've only worked here in that time, my job is very international.

Not that I have much experience to comment (being a mere praktikant over here and not a "real" worker) I've generally found the opposite to be true. In many cases German folk in my workplace tend to be far more open and receptive to newcomers than the English!

There are of course a few exceptions but I'm sure you get that everywhere no matter what country or company you work in. Some people are just *********, or rather you suffer from a personality clash.

Crack open the beers.

Matt

iccee - what you describe has also been my experience but perhaps rather differently than other people on this board, I didn't work in an international environment but in a traditional German-speaking workplace. My colleagues didn't socialise with each other at all (it was still Herr and Frau after 20 years of working there for some) and knowledge / responsibilities were jealously guarded and there was no sense of working in a team. I think things are slowly changing but it depends what sector you work in, and you may have just been landed in an environment where the new-style German manager has yet to be appointed. It took me 8 months to be invited for lunch for the first time (I'd invited them but it had never been reciprocated) and it did feel that I'd finally passed some secret 'acceptable colleague' test!