The German psychologist Sylvia Schroll-Machl describes Sachorientierung, orientation toward the matter, as a German cultural standard. In 2004, in a box headed Wir Deutschen, we Germans, she wrote: Die Sache ist uns wichtiger als die Person. The matter is more important to us than the person. Wir können durchaus mit jemandem auf sachlicher Ebene zusammenarbeiten, obwohl wir uns persönlich nicht besonders mögen. We can certainly work with someone on a factual level, even though we do not particularly like each other personally. In the same series she warns that thinking this alone is enough for working together is der häufigste deutsche Irrtum, the most common German mistake.
Enough Words
In the prelude to Goethe’s Faust, a theater director talks with his poet and his comic actor about the play they must put on. He cuts the discussion short. Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, / Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn! / Indes ihr Komplimente drechselt, / Kann etwas Nützliches geschehn. Enough words have been exchanged, let me at last see deeds! While you are turning compliments, something useful could be done. The first two lines are often quoted.
Talking Shop
fachsimpeln — to talk shop. Duden: to talk at length about purely professional matters. Its example is wir haben die ganze Nacht gefachsimpelt, we talked shop all night.
Mahlzeit! — mealtime! Duden: a greeting at midday, especially between colleagues.
ein sehr sachlicher Mensch — a very matter-of-fact person. Duden’s example of sachlich, determined only by the matter itself, not by feelings or prejudices.
Criticize the Treatment, Not the Doctor
The professional code of the Medical Association of Saxony-Anhalt says: Ärzte haben sich untereinander kollegial zu verhalten. Doctors must behave collegially toward one another. The code then says what this excludes. Unsachliche Kritik an der Behandlungsweise oder dem beruflichen Wissen eines Arztes sowie herabsetzende Äußerungen über dessen Person sind berufswidrig. Unfactual criticism of a doctor’s treatment or professional knowledge, and disparaging remarks about the doctor as a person, violate professional rules. The association’s journal added in 2012 that factual criticism of a colleague’s treatment remains allowed.
First Suitability, Then Sympathy
Markus Bühner is a professor of psychological methods and diagnostics at LMU Munich. In a 2015 interview published by the university, he spoke about hiring. Sympathie ist zunächst etwas vermeintlich ganz Wichtiges. At first, liking a person seems very important. But choosing a likeable person who is not suited to the job will sooner or later cause high staff turnover. Liking may decide only between candidates who are all suitable. Ansonsten gilt: Erst kommt die Eignung, dann die Sympathie. Otherwise the rule is: first suitability, then liking.
Private Means Off-Duty
Duden gives the word privat three meanings. The first is about one’s own person. The second is nicht offiziell, nicht amtlich, nicht geschäftlich; außerdienstlich, not official, not governmental, not business, off-duty.
Ich bin privat hier. — I am here privately, not in my professional role.
Das ist meine Privatsache. — That is my private matter.
Berufliches und Privates trennen — to keep the professional and the private apart
dienstlich, außerdienstlich — on duty, off duty
The Professor Who Went Back to Sie
The Trier guide for students tells of a professor who at first said du to her staff. Over the years she found that younger staff found it increasingly hard to say du to a respected and older superior. She also found that it is much easier to criticize staff, to warn them or even to dismiss them, when one is on Sie terms with them. According to the guide, most professors therefore switch at some point in their careers to an obligatory Sie with new staff, if they have not used it from the start. The guide also says who makes the first move. A research assistant would hardly offer the du to the head of department, but the other way round would be more conceivable.
The Vocabulary of Mistakes
der Fehler — the error, the mistake.
der Patzer — a slip, a blunder.
der Schnitzer — a gaffe.
der Lapsus — a slip, from Latin.
der Druckfehlerteufel — the misprint devil, blamed in jest for typing errors.
einen Bock schießen — to shoot a billy goat. To make a mistake. Duden traces it to the shooting guilds, which gave the worst marksman a billy goat as a consolation prize.
Mein Fehler. — My mistake.
Da muss ich Sie korrigieren. — I have to correct you there.
Lessing Against Gottsched
In 1759 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing published the 17th of his Briefe, die neueste Litteratur betreffend, letters concerning the newest literature. In it he attacked Johann Christoph Gottsched, who had led the reform of the German theater. Lessing wrote: Es wäre zu wünschen, dass sich Herr Gottsched niemals mit dem Theater vermengt hätte. It would have been better if Mr. Gottsched had never involved himself with the theater.
The Hospital Meeting About Bad Outcomes
The Morbiditäts- und Mortalitätskonferenz is a regular hospital meeting about complications and deaths. A case that went badly is presented, and the team asks what happened. In 2016 the German Medical Association published a guide for these meetings. It says the discussion should be sach- und nicht personenbezogen, about the matter and not about the person. It should concentrate on facts and processes, not on people. The aim is to work through critical events free of blame. It should be possible to ask “Why?”, and doctors in senior positions must be ready to have their own mistakes discussed. Among the obstacles the guide lists is a discussion that focuses on blame and individual mistakes.