Feedback – Page 12 – understand-culture

Coachable

To be coachable means to allow yourself to be coached: accept criticism, want to improve, do the necessary extra work in order to perform better, listen to the coach. Critical feedback – regardless of how clear, fair, diplomatically communicated – is only helpful if the team member is willing to work with the coach.

When judging talent American sports coaches look carefully at the willingness and ability of a player to be coached, their coachability. American managers are no different. The ideal player (employee) is one who is self-critical, identifies their own weaknesses, takes the initiative by looking for ways to improve, and communicates all of this to their boss.

American team members want a team lead who can coach. American managers want employees who are coachable.

Diane Krueger

mobil. Magazine of the German Rail. December 2017. An interview with the actor Diane Krüger. Question: “Colleagues for your earlier years claim that you were extremely ambitious. Is it true?”

Krüger: “When I was a little girl my mother never said to me: ‘You’re the best, the greatest, the most beautiful’. Instead all she ever said was: ‘Work harder. You can do better.'”

Mr. Buffett drinks Cherry Coke

Every year, tens of thousands of investors trek to Omaha in Nebraska. The Berkshire annual shareholder meeting is known as the “Woodstock of Capitalism” for the fervor of the investors — some owning only a single share — who travel to Omaha just for the chance to listen to Mr. Buffett and his longtime business partner, Charles Munger.

Several questions zeroed in on politics. Mr. Buffett, a Democrat with a close relationship to former President Barack Obama, gave careful criticism of President Trump’s policies. He made the argument that the American Health Care Act, which passed the House this past week (May 2017), was no more than “a huge tax cut for guys like me.”

When a protester from Germany delivered a long speech criticizing Coke, sugar and capitalism itself, Mr. Buffett said he would continue to drink his favorite beverage, Cherry Coke.

Woodstock of Capitalism. Sports arena. Ca. 20,000 shareholders in the audience. Long Speech. Critical. Not just of Coke and sugar. But of capitalism, also. German.

Source: “Warren Buffett, at Berkshire Meeting, Condemns Republican Health Care Bill.” Michael J. de la Merced. New York Times. May 6, 2017.

“Whattya want from me?”

The 2014 Soccer World Championship. Prelims. Germany vs. Algeria. It’s a nerve wracking game, but in the end Germany wins 2:1. It was a tough game for the German team, but in the end they prevailed. Grounds to celebrate, one would think.

Boris Büchler, however, the ZDF television reporter who interviewed center back Per Mertesacker directly after the game, saw things differently. After a short “congratulations” he went straight to his criticisms: “What made the German players so sluggish and vulnerable?”

Mertesacker, already slightly annoyed, emphatically stated that the victory is all that matters: “I don’t give a ****. We’re in the final eight and that’s what counts.”

But Büchler won’t back down: “But this cannot possibly be the level of playing at which you expected to enter the quarter-final? I think the need for improvement must be clear to you as well.”

Mertesacker can no longer keep his cool: “What do you want from me? What do you want, right now, immediately after the game? I don’t understand.” But Büchler stays firm, and repeats his criticism: “Firstly, I congratulate you, and then I wanted to ask why the defensive plays and turnovers did not go as well as one would have liked. That’s all.”

Mertesacker: “Do you think think there is a carnival-troupe (meaning a bunch of clowns) amongst the final 16 teams or something? They made it really hard for us for 120 minutes, and we fought until the very end to prove ourselves. It was a real back-and forth Of course we allowed a lot from them. But in the end our victory was well deserved…”

Mertesacker once again emphasizes how the German team won, in spite of his concession that not everything went as one might have hoped.

But not even this was enough for Büchler: “An absolute show of strength. A high-power performance. Do you think that we will see the same sort of wow-effects again that we saw in the 2010 World Championship, so that the team’s game will improve?”

Mertesacker: “What do you want? Do you want a successful World Championship, or should we just step down and call it a game already? I just don’t understand all of these questions.”

Germany won 2:1. But there will always be something left to criticize. In this case: Just because you won does not mean that you played the game well.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMJJMpufE2g[/embedyt]

No Political Correctness

The Germans communicate directly, transparently, honestly. They speak their mind freely. Especially when it concerns critical feedback the Germans try to be clear and straightforward. They avoid the use of euphemisms. Germans reject any kind of smooth-talking. Aalglatte, literally eel-smooth or eel-slippery people are viewed as having questionable character. They are not honest enough to state their opinion openly.

Das Kind beim Namen nennen. To call the child by its name. To describe a situation as it is, directly, in no uncertain terms; without flowery, positive language; to avoid describing a situation indirectly; to communicate clearly; to get to the point.

Kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen. Literally to not put a handheld fan in front of one‘s mouth. To address a subject directly, to state one‘s opinion; from the early days of theater when members of the audience held a type of fan in front of the lower half of their face in order to shout out comments of the play without others attributing the statements to them.

Continuing Education

The Germans consider education, and continuing education, to be the foundation of their economy. Their companies, large and small, set aside generous budgets to continuously broaden and deepen the skill sets of their employees.

Training organizations, management consultants, subject area experts all market their expertise in helping companies to reduce errors and to optimize work processes. The key from the German perspective is anticipating and preventing problems.

Roughly 45% of all German employees participate in continuing education sponsored by their employer. 25% of those programs run for several months. 60% of all continuing education in Germany takes place within companies. The Germans are keenly aware of the important role knowledge and skills play in their economic future.

Focus on Weaknesses

In feedback discussions the Germans focus on what isn‘t working. This is a shared logic. Both team lead and team members address primarily weaknesses. The Germans waste little time discussing what is working, instead taking direct aim at deficits.

This problem-orientation is considered positive, constructive and future-oriented. It is a proven approach to assessing suboptimal work results and laying the foundation for improvement. Germans are very pragmatic about reducing mistakes. They often say: „That was good work, but ….“

Every German hears at a young age the statement: Selbsterkenntnis ist der erste Schritt zur Besserung, self-critique is the first step towards improvement. Critique of others and of oneself is legitimate and necessary in order to improve. Germans believe that the individual needs first to admit their own weaknesses before being able to eliminate them.

Common and Unoriginal

According to Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, authors of the book Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage, American culture is solidarity-based – which means that it is based on creating a sense of equality and belonging. It is because of this that Americans seek to find a way to compliment each other for very basic things – to form bonds and a sense of belonging.

Additionally, in 1981, Nessa Wolfson published a study on the use of compliments in various cultures, and her assessment of American complimenting culture, where compliments are “as cheap as chips,” was that “the most striking feature of compliments in American English is their total lack of originality.”

Wolfson wrote that 23% of American compliments include the word “nice,” 20% include “good,” and 54% follow the pattern: “noun/phrase is/looks (really) adjective.”

Praise Inflation

Awards in the American culture are omnipresent, ubiquitous – everywhere. A critical, and self-critical, discussion has begun. It is small, but growing. Many in the U.S. believe that there is too much praised given, often when not earned, often inflated.

The fear is that generations of Americans are being raised with unrealistic expectations, with an inaccurate estimation of themselves, of their abilities. The danger is that these generations will become frustrated, angry, or even worse, not willing to work as hard as is needed in order to succeed.

A growing number of Americans are no longer willing to call things great, super, fantastic, awesome, or amazing. They do not believe that schools systems should give grades higher than what is statistically possible, such as higher than a 4.0, which is equivalent to an A or a 1.0.

Encouragement

Encouragement: the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something; the expression of respect and gratitude. From Old French preisier ‘to prize, praise,” from Latin pretium ‘price.’

Positive thinking: The act of thinking good or affirmative thoughts. Many people engage in structured positive thinking to rid themselves of depressing, unhealthy, negative thoughts. It’s based on the idea that the mind can affect the body. It is a way of enhancing health without the use of drugs.

There are 27,978 book search results under the search term “positive thinking” on Amazon.com, including “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, and “The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles” by Bruce H. Lipton.

Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) – one of the first writers of personal success literature, the author of “Think and Grow Rich” (1937, 20 million copies sold), and an advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt – once said:

“Your mind has a secret invisible talisman. On one side is emblazoned the letters PMA – positive mental attitude and on the other the letters NMA – negative mental attitude. A positive attitude will naturally attract the good and the beautiful. The negative attitude will rob you of all that makes life worth living. Your success, health, happiness, and wealth depend on how you make up your mind.”

Motivation: The reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way; the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

There are 32,346 book results under “motivation” on Amazon.com. Popular titles include “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel H. Pink, “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, Change Your Life Forever” by Steve Chandler and “Creating the Perfect Lifestyle – Success, Achievement, Motivation, Oprah Winfrey and Tony Robbins” by Oli Hille.