Fauler Kompromiss. False or rotten compromise. Germans believe that there can be no lasting resolution unless the parties compromise. This is the case in coalition governments, in negotiations between employers and labor, in person relationships.
Often, however, the media and the public speculate whether certain resolutions to a conflict were true compromises or faul, fake or rotten. They wonder if one party got the better of the other and that an imbalance is being covered up.
Germans seldom reach agreement when the demands of the conflict parties are in stark opposition to each other and the negotiations have become confrontational. An agreement is made when both parties take a cooperative approach. One-sided demands work against that.
If one party to the conflict is clearly stronger than the other and attempts to take advantage of the weaker party, the German conflict resolution approach will try to compensate for the imbalance.
Etwas vom Tisch fegen. Literally to brush something off of the table; to ignore something; to treat someone or something as unimportant, irrelevant; to push to the side; to conceal.
Although Germans are known to follow written laws and directives, they reject almost instinctively any and all top-down decisions, directives or commands where management has not involved them in their formulation.
Especially when it involves the details of their daily work, Germans are very sensitive to outside influences which limit their freedom of decision making and action. Germans at all levels reject top-down decisions, based on hierarchical authority and not on persuasive arguments.
The Germans have very low tolerance for conflict resolutions which declare clear winners and losers. Do Germans do their best to avoid open confrontation because the one or the other side wants to avoid being the loser, or because their sense of humility forbids them from being the declared winner?
A look into recent history might help us to understand why Germans avoid zero-sum mentality, preferring instead win-win situations.
The so-called German-French Erbfeindschaft – loosely translated as traditional or hereditary enmity or hostility – was a term used to define the wars between the two peoples going back to King Louis the XIV up until and including the Second World War.
The Germans won the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The annexation of Elsass-Lothringen by Germany led to French desire for revenge.
The French are then on the winning side of the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles punishes Germany very harshly, making a lasting peace almost impossible. The Germans see it as political and military humiliation, which the National Socialists use to their advantage in the 1930s.
Then the Second World War. The Germans defeat and occupy France. But the Germans lose that war. But this time both sides have learned their lesson. They decide to integrate economically in order to end once and for all the so-called Erbfeindschaft. They choose cooperation over confrontation.
The Germans believe that a conflict is not resolved when one side loses and the other wins. A conflict is resolved when both sides accept the resolution.
Not many people know of the great friendship between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, at their time the world’s greatest boxers.
June 19, 1936. In famed Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The American Joe Louis versus the German Max Schmeling. Their first of two fights. Louis undefeated 24-0 and never knocked down, hits the canvas in the twelfth round. The fight is over.
Round 12 starts at 27:27. At 29:27 Louis is defenseless. He goes down. The referee ends the fight. Schmeling rushes over to help Joe Louis. Schmeling stays with Louis all the way over to his corner of the ring. Schmeling’s people have to literally pull him away from Joe Louis.
Among the attendees of the fight was Langston Hughes, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a noted literary figure. Hughes described the national reaction to Louis’ defeat in these terms:
“I walked down Seventh Avenue and saw grown men weeping like children, and women sitting in the curbs with their head in their hands. All across the country that night when the news came that Joe was knocked out, people cried.”
Poet and author Maya Angelou, recounted her recollection. A young Angelou had listened to the fight over the radio in her uncle’s country store in rural Arkansas. While Louis was on the ropes,
“My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another black man hanging on a tree …. this might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than the apes.”
June 22, 1938 – two years from the day Louis had won the world heavyweight title – the fighters meet once again in a sold-out Yankee Stadium in New York City.
Louis defeats Schmeling in the very first round. Knowing what a true and loyal friend Schmeling was to become to Joe Louis at the end of Louis’ life, it breaks your heart to see how helpless Max Schmeling was in the final seconds of this first round.
After retiring from the ring, Schmeling purchased a Coca- Cola bottling and distribution franchise in Hamburg in 1948, the first in Germany after World War II.
Schmeling reached out and developed a friendship with Louis after their boxing careers ended and provided financial assistance to his former foe in the 1950s. He also paid for part of the funeral arrangements when Louis died in 1981. Max Schmeling was one of the pallbearers.
“It wasn’t until after World War II that I saw him again,” Louis said in his autobiography. “We hugged each other and we’re real friendly and kept in touch by phone.”
The battles between Louis, a black man, and Schmeling came to symbolize for some the coming struggle between Hitler’s Third Reich and the Allies in World War II. Although Hitler had praised Schmeling after the first fight, Schmeling was not an admirer of the German leader and refused to join the Nazi party.
Schmeling, who served as a German paratrooper in World War II, later received an award from the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation for risking his life to hide two Jewish brothers during the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, when Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were attacked and destroyed by Nazis.
The boys, Henri and Werner Lewin, made their way to the U.S., where Henri became a hotel owner. Schmeling kept his act of courage secret. Henri Lewin revealed it at a dinner honoring the former champion in 1989:
“He risked his life for us. Our lives weren’t worth a penny,” Lewin said in a 2002 interview with the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. “I said, ‘If this is a Nazi, he’s a good Nazi. But I want you to know one thing: I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for this Nazi.'”
Max Schmeling never joined the Nazi Party.
August 9, 1973. Legendary boxers and great friends, Max Schmeling and Joe Louis meet in New York, as Schmeling arrives for visit.
This History Channel documentary is well worth watching.
Comments: “As a german i can say, this is so funny i will laugh about it later after work between 17:00 and 17:22 on my way home” … “I tested it and couldnt find any humor here – greetings from germany” … “He says words that are longer than most of your sentences.” … “Stay serious my friends, fun is inefficient” that was ironically one of the funniest moments.”
When resolving a conflict the German mediator focuses on reconstructing the causes and circumstances. Objective evidence is sought to answer the question: “Why did this have to happen?” Examples
When resolving a conflict American managers see themselves more as judge than mediator. They consider both objective facts and subjective witness testimony. Examples
Many conflicts are the result of non-quantifiable, nuanced, context-oriented factors. Often there is a fine line between objective and subjective information. The German approach takes into consideration only the factual evidence.
The American approach is too susceptible to manipulation. Colleagues often choose sides in a conflict. Their testimony is inherently subjective.
Go beyond the literal, quantifiable facts. Talk to the folks near and/or impacted by the internal conflict. An American party to the conflict will ask and expect you to get the opinion of colleagues who see the situation they do.
To ignore that input as subjective, is to not gather all of the facts. If your team lead is an American, anticipate him/her talking to all sorts of folks in the organization in order to get as complete a picture as possible. Line up your references.
If you lead Germans, go ahead and interview folks near and impacted by the conflict. But be sure to start with the facts. Otherwise, your approach could be misperceived as relying too much or exclusively on hearsay.
If your German boss is involved, avoid suggesting that he/she talk to folks who support your point of view. That could be perceived as attempting undue influence on the process.
In Germany a conflict resolution is successful when accepted by all parties involved. There is little tolerance for solutions that create winners and losers. Germans aim for mutually beneficial outcomes. Examples
In the U.S. a true and lasting resolution is attainable only when a clear decision is made. Americans don’t have of a problem with one party winning and the other losing. “You win some, you lose some.” Examples
German management is easily perceived as unwilling or incapable of making the tough „judgement calls“. A resolution in which all parties are winners, is not a decision. The conflict is not resolved. It festers. The team suffers.
The labeling of one side „the loser“ breeds shame, anger, animosity. The „loser“ will seek to undermine the judgement made. The conflict is not or not fully resolved. It festers. The team suffers.
You lead Americans. Make a decision. It may not involve a compromise, but a clear winner and loser. As long as your decision, and the process it was based on, is fair (just), the „loser“ is not lost.
Again, „You win some, you lose some. It‘s not the end of the world.“ You‘re a German with an American boss. If you „win“ the conflict, do not gloat. The next decision could go against you.
When that happens, you have not lost face. Do not fear being labeled a loser for life. Conflicts of interest are commonplace. Accept the decision and move on.
You lead Germans. You have arrived at a decision. Even if there is a clear winner and lose, think carefully how you will communicate it. Prevent any kind of triumphalism on the part of the winner.
Soften the blow for the „loser“. The conflict is not resolved by the decision alone. How it is communicated (perceived) influences whether it is accepted and supported.
Your German manager assisted to a resolution in your favor. Fine. Make peace with your opponent. Help him/her save face. No triumphalism.
It didn‘t go in your favor? Make peace with your opponent. Help him/her to help you save face. But, don‘t accept any triumphalism.
Germans view conflicts as fundamentally negative. Escalation should be an option of last resort. And since effective leadership is expected to anticipate conflicts, those which have “become public” are a sign of leadership failure. Examples
For Americans conflict is a fact of life. Escalation is often not only necessary, each individual has a fundamental right to seek resolution, to “have their day in court.” Americans escalate quickly. Examples
Conflicts among/with German colleagues go unresolved, or unresolved for too long. The air needs to be cleared. Colleagues should seek resolution openly and confidently. German management should be engaged. „Isn‘t that what management is paid for?“
Germans are surprised, irritated, at times shocked, at how often and quickly their Americans colleagues raise a conflict to the next management level. Escalation is a sign of their own failure. Competent, professional, rational people are expected to resolve their differences among themselves.
If you lead Americans, get ready to resolve conflicts on a regular basis. If you try to avoid them or to push them back down to the working level, you run the danger of being perceived as a weak leader who a.) avoids conflict and/or b.) is unsure about how to resolve conflict. Either way, your legitimacy as a leader will be undermined.
If you are a member in a transatlantic team, and come into conflict situations with your American colleagues, be prepared for those conflicts to be escalated rather quickly. Your American colleagues will be less inclined to go the extra mile with you in order to resolve the conflict at your level.
If you lead Germans, you may sense, hear about or even witness conflict among team members. Don‘t be surprised if they don‘t or after some time ask for your assistance in resolving that conflict.
This is neither a challenge to your leadership nor is it an indication that Germans like long, drawn out internal battles. Chances are, they are trying to resolve it themselves. They don‘t want to bother or embarass you.
If you are in a transatlantic team and have a conflict of interest with a German colleague, don‘t be surprised if he/she discourages you from escalating the issue to the next level.
The German attempt to resolve the problem with you personally should be taken at face value. Give it a chance. If you have a German manager, be very careful about escalating the issue too early.
In the German logic, you will be perceived by all – German boss, German colleague, German observers – as uncooperative, rash, possibly hot-headed.