Germany, Trust - understand-culture

It Is Wrong to Order Details

German fire brigades work under the service regulation FwDV 100 on leadership in operations. Its 1999 edition defines Auftragstaktik, mission tactics, as a concept of leadership that leaves the crews as much freedom as possible in carrying out the task. Entscheidend ist das Erreichen des vorgegebenen Ziels. What counts is reaching the given goal.

The order may be limited to a clear statement of that goal. The regulation also says: Es ist falsch, Einzelheiten zu befehlen, die die nachgeordneten Führungskräfte an Ort und Stelle besser übersehen. It is wrong to order details that the subordinate leaders on the spot can judge better.

Where the Stores Decide

Götz Werner and three partners founded the drugstore chain dm in 1973. Werner’s first store was in Karlsruhe. He gave his stores great independence. The store managers could decide on the product range and the staff schedules, and in part on pay. In a 2018 interview Werner said that a leader today must no longer be a Direktor but an Evokator, one who calls forth.

Der Direktor weiß alles besser, gibt die Direktiven. The director knows everything better and gives the directives. Die Kollegin schaut nicht zum Vorgesetzten, sondern zum Kunden. The employee looks not to the superior, but to the customer. Werner died in February 2022, at the age of 78.

The Vocabulary of Being Watched

gängeln — to keep someone in leading strings, to patronize constantly. It comes from an old verb meaning “to make walk.”

bevormunden — to treat someone as a ward

jemanden an der kurzen Leine halten — to keep someone on a short leash

jemandem über die Schulter schauen — to look over someone’s shoulder

das Mikromanagement — micromanagement

der Kontrollfreak — the control freak

The Vocabulary of On and Off Duty

dienstlich oder privat? — official or private?

als Privatperson — as a private individual

der Dienstschluss — the official end of the working day

die Amtsperson — a person acting in an official capacity

Das ist meine Privatsache. — That is my private business.

das Diensthandy, der Dienstwagen — the work phone, the company car

die Funkstille — radio silence

What Is Not Recorded Is Presumed Not Done

Every doctor and therapist in Germany must keep a patient record. Section 630f of the Civil Code requires it. Entries must be made in direct connection in time with the treatment. A later change is allowed only if the original entry stays readable and the date of the change is visible.

The record must contain all medically essential measures and their results, from the history and diagnoses to consents and explanations. It must be kept for ten years after the treatment ends. Section 630h adds the consequence. If a medically necessary measure was not recorded, the law presumes that it was not carried out.

The Complete File

German public administration follows the Grundsatz der Aktenmäßigkeit, the principle that every case is kept in a file. The Bundestag’s research service wrote in 2023 that proper file-keeping includes this duty. A paper by a federal and state working group on IT in administration, published by the Federal Archives, explains why.

Only a complete file allows a full and legally secure reconstruction of a case. The documents serve as later proof of completeness, and they make a decision traceable and transparent. Lawyers and civil servants know the old maxim behind it. Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo. What is not in the file is not in the world.

Unreliable in the Eyes of the Law

German law tests the reliability of a person. Under Section 35 of the Trade Regulation Act, the authorities must ban a trader from running a business when facts show that the trader is unreliable and the ban is needed to protect the public or employees. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Frankfurt explains the meaning.

A person is unreliable who, judged by the overall picture of his conduct, offers no assurance that he will run the business properly in the future. Typical reasons are unpaid taxes and unpaid social insurance contributions. The ban can be lifted only when facts justify the assumption that the unreliability no longer exists. The Weapons Act uses the same word. A person convicted of certain crimes lacks the necessary reliability until ten years after the last conviction became final.

Rather Lose Money Than Trust

“Ich möchte lieber Geld verlieren als Vertrauen.” I would rather lose money than trust. The sentence is Robert Bosch’s, the founder of the Bosch company. A biography records that he repeated it emphatically in 1919. The magazine of the Hans Böckler Foundation called it perhaps his most famous sentence.

Too Often He Broke My Trust

On 6 November 2024, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he would ask the Federal President to dismiss his finance minister, Christian Lindner. “Zu oft hat er mein Vertrauen gebrochen,” Scholz said. Too often he broke my trust. “Es gibt keine Vertrauensbasis für die weitere Zusammenarbeit.” There is no basis of trust for further cooperation.

The Member of Parliament Without a Degree

Petra Hinz had been a Social Democratic member of the Bundestag since 2005. In July 2016 it became known that she had neither the Abitur nor a law degree, and so had passed no state law exams. She announced her resignation on 20 July 2016 and left the Bundestag at the end of August. The prosecutors in Essen found no initial suspicion of a crime and opened no investigation.

Prosecutors saw no crime in the false claims. They still ended her career in parliament within weeks.