Constant updates

“It seems that Americans want constant updates, and that Germans want first to get it perfect. Why?”

John Otto Magee

Both statements so true! And they involve several foundational topics. Let’s look at three:

Americans are pragmatic, “down and dirty.” Whereas Germans are perfectionists. Both logics work, but not necessarily in the respective other business culture.

Yes, Americans want constant updates. They maintain short lines of communication. It is critical to their leadership logic. Germans maintain long, or longer, lines of communication.

Ah, German perfectionism. So true, especially when it comes to engineering, which is all about how they define quality.

List up-front their concerns

“How can we get German colleagues to list upfront all of their concerns before saying no?”

Perhaps you should anticipate their concerns, then build your arguments into your request, thereby demonstrating that you have done your homework, and that you have taken their perspective into consideration.

Secondly, perhaps you should not confront Germans with yes-no questions, to which you expect them to respond with a yes immediately, without them having time to understand the request, and to do some serious reflecting on whether they should agree with it or disagree. 

In other words, there are alternative ways of introducing your request, maybe as a thought, as a suggestion, as something to collaborate with them on.

Reconcile two approaches

“Germans enter into an agreement only after they have gathered all of the relevant information up-front. In the U.S. business context, however, speed and rapid reaction time are critical success factors. How can we reconcile the two approaches?”

First: explain to your German colleagues as often as possible how mission-critical rapid reaction time – speed – is in the U.S. business context. Use concrete examples how speed led to new business, to profitable business, to business growth. It is not enough to simply repeat how important speed is in the U.S. market. Provide examples of wins and losses, and the role reaction time played.

Second: always acknowledge the rightness and legitimacy of the German logic. Honor the strengths of the German approach of gathering all relevant information up-front in order to decide whether to make a commitment. Remember, when German commit, they commit. They will do their absolute utmost to live up to their commitments. 

Third: discuss with them, as partners, how you can together reconcile the two strengths – American speed with German reliability. 

For example, ask your German colleagues what information they need up-front in order to commit to an early-stage piece of a commitment. In other words, break down a larger commitment into pieces or stages. Then move, together with your German colleagues, stage for stage. Do not be shy about asking them what kinds of information are critical vs. nice-to-have.

In addition, always give your German colleagues a sense for the risk involved when breaking down a commitment into smaller pieces. The American logic of breaking down complexity into its component parts – see CI’s content on the topic Persuasion – then focusing only on the key parts, is their way of not only maintaining focus, but also of managing risk. 

Compared to Americans, Germans are risk-averse. When coaxing your German colleagues to move faster, for example, by asking them to make mico-commitments, provide them with your assessment of risk. Simply say:

“Look, colleagues, we’re breaking this commitment with the customer, or potential customer, into smaller commitments. This allows us together to move faster, while at the same time reducing risk. What (truly critical) information do you need from us in order to enter into this micro-commitment?”

Fourth: this may sound not only counter-intuitive, but also potentially dangerous for business, but do your best to manage the time expectations of your customers or potential customers. Americans are too speed-oriented. Rapid reaction is often unnecessarily important. The importance of speed is often a result – a bad result – of poor planning, of nervousness, of allowing oneself and one’s team or project to be driven faster than necessary. 

Yes, it takes real courage to say to the customer: “We can hit that date. But frankly, if you will be patient, if you will give us a bit more time, we will deliver even better results than you are expecting. How critical is the due date you are requesting to your needs? Please be patient with us.

We mean this respectfully, but isn’t it often better to receive great results a little bit later than less-than-great results quickly? We want to be fully in synch with your schedule, but we also need to coordinate with our colleagues in Germany. Would it possible to sit down and do into a little more detail about your schedule pressures, and the parameters within which we are operating?”

Get by German-no

“How can we best get by that initial German-No response?”

First, never assume that the German-No is hard and fast. Often it is simply their immediate response to a question which has been stated to them requiring yes or no. In other words, they feel that they have to make an immediate decision. 

Just as an American-Yes can range from 98% to 68% to 38% to 18% in terms of level of commitment, so can a German-No be anywhere in that range.

Second, in order to get an initial sense for roughly where the German-No is in the commitment range ask in a friendly and polite way:

“Why not?” or “Ok, but can you, please, tell me what the barriers are to you giving me a yes?” or “Ok, I understand. Well, what can I do in order to make it easy for you to say yes?”

Third, take whatever responses you get – the reasons for the no – and work on each one individually. Think of what it is like to whittle down a stick with a penknife, stroke for stroke, cut for cut, shaving for shaving. In other words, overcome each no-reason, one after the other, patiently, but persistently.

Binding character

“In the German context does a verbal agreement have the same value – binding character – as a written agreement?”

In the German context there is no higher level of commitment than making a written agreement. The written word in the German culture is extroardinarily binding. It is a reason why Germans are so careful about signing their name to an agreement.

A verbal commitment has almost as high a level of commitment – binding character – as a written agreement. In general, as a culture, when the Germans say and/or write yes, they consider themselve to have given their word. It is binding. And not in the American sense of different levels: 98%, 68%, 38%, 18%, 8%, even -8% and so on.

Maintain overview

“Our German colleagues prefer to deliver complete results, even if late, over incomplete results, but fast. In addition, their frequency of follow-up is low compared to ours in the U.S. How can we American colleagues maintain constant and accurate overview of the agreements made with our German colleagues, including factoring in new agreements they may have entered into?”

First, ask yourself when is it truly necessary to do follow-up. Americans do a lot of follow-up purely out of nervousness and anxiety. Start with taking a critical look at your own logic.

Second, when entering into individual agreements with your German colleagues, discuss and agree on the frequency of follow-up. Be sure to point out to them the American logic regarding follow-up. Sensitize them to the cultural difference. 

Continually explain to your German colleagues the nature of the American business environment, especially the important of follow-up in maintaining an on-going overview of commitments, priorities, decisions, projects. 

Third, when following up with your German colleagues simply ask them if the follow-up frenquency is still good, effective, working well. Yes, literally ask them. Give them a chance to signal to what the right frequency is. At the same time, explain to them the parameters within which you are operating, which, in turn, require follow-up.

Fourth, at an appropriate time reach out to your German colleagues and ask them to explain to you how Germans fundamentally handle follow-up. Ask them literally what the German logic is. Chances are your German colleagues will ask you about the American logic.

Always acknowledge the rightness and legitimacy of their logic. Honor the strengths of the German approach to follow-up. Remember, Germany has the fourth-largest economy in the world with only about 80 million people. They are certainly doing a whole lot of things right. Which means that how they handle agreements in general, and follow-up specifically, works and leads to success. 

A final point: you must have all sorts of shared documents which inform both sides of the Atlantic Ocean about projects, customer interactions, and such. It should be technically possible to simply add another piece of information, another parameter. 

Name it Follow-up. Then give it some pieces: project name; customer involved; information needs of customer, of US, of Germany; what information, in what form, why, by when, sent from whom, to whom.

And be sure to have a space for “factoring in new agreements the Germans – or the Americans – may have entered into.”

Avoid irritating German colleagues

“We have established expectations regarding both individual agreements and to how we will handle follow-up on those agreements. How do we then avoid irritating our German colleagues with requests for updates?”

First, ask yourself when is it truly necessary to do follow-up. Americans do a lot of follow-up purely out of nervousness and anxiety. 

Second, when entering into an agreement with your German colleagues, discuss and agree on the frequency of follow-up. Be sure to point out to them the American logic regarding follow-up. Sensitize them to the cultural difference. While doing so allow them to sensitize you about their German logic.

Third, when following up with your German colleagues simply ask them if you are upsetting them. Yes, literally ask them. Give them a chance to signal to what the right frequency is. At the same time, explain to them the parameters within which you are operating, which, in turn, require follow-up.

Fourth, at an appropriate time reach out to your German colleagues and ask them to explain to you how Germans fundamentally handle follow-up. Ask them literally what the German logic is. Chances are your German colleagues will ask you about the American logic.

Keep customers up to date

“After entering into an agreement Germans do far less follow-up than do Americans. Customers in the U.S., however, often want to maintain high frequency follow-up with their suppliers. How can we get our German colleagues to acknowledge that and help their American colleagues to keep their U.S. customers up to date?”

This is an extraordinarily important question. Why? 

It is one thing if collaboration between Americans and Germans about the frequency of follow-up leads to internal problems. It is a wholly different thing if those problems affect their relationship with customers. 

Let’s first look at my response to a previous question about how to handle follow-up within the organisation, and not regarding customers. The question was: “How to follow up on an agreement without upsetting German colleagues?”

First, ask yourself when is it truly necessary to do follow-up. Americans do a lot of follow-up purely out of nervousness and anxiety. 

Second, when entering into an agreement with your German colleagues, discuss and agree on the frequency of follow-up. Be sure to point out to them the American logic regarding follow-up. Sensitize them to the cultural difference. While doing so allow them to sensitize you about their German logic.

Third, when following up with your German colleagues simply ask them if you are upsetting them. Yes, literally ask them. Give them a chance to signal to what the right frequency is. At the same time, explain to them the parameters within which you are operating, which, in turn, require follow-up.

Fourth, at an appropriate time reach out to your German colleagues and ask them to explain to you how Germans fundamentally handle follow-up. Ask them literally what the German logic is. Chances are your German colleagues will ask you about the American logic.

Ok, let’s now look at the question stated above: how to coordinate follow-up with your German colleagues when it involves keeping the U.S.-customer informed.

First: Continually explain to your German colleagues the nature of the American business environment, especially the important of follow-up in maintaining an on-going overview of commitments, priorities, decisions, projects. 

Folks, this will require a lot of patience on your part. You will have to do a lot of explaining. And explaining of things which for you as Americans in the U.S. business context are seldom discussed, seldom debated, seldom questions. It is what it is. 

Well, you are working in a global environment. Or more precisely, you are working in the US-German environment. You have no other choice but to address the deeper-lying cultural differences. Good. Do it. Get good at it. Combine the strengths of two great cultures. To the benefit of your customers. And to the detriment of your competitors !

Second: always acknowledge the rightness and legitimacy of the German logic. Honor the strengths of the German approach to follow-up. Remember, Germany has the fourth-largest economy in the world with only about 80 million people. They are certainly doing a whole lot of things right. Which means that how they handle agreements in general, and follow-up specifically, works and leads to success. 

Third: in the case of specific customers, go into the details. Explain to your German colleagues: 1. the concrete follow-up needs of the customer; 2. the customer’s reasons for those needs; and 3. the deeper-lying logic in the U.S. which drives such needs.

Fourth: then, together, formulate a follow-up plan, and with the customer. Yes, seriously. First you ask your customer to define their information and follow-up needs. Get into their heads. Identify what their real needs are not their nice-to-have needs. They’ll have plenty of those. 

Then discuss those customer-defined needs internally, come up with a draft plan, send that draft to your German colleagues for discussion. Then work out a joint-plan. Take that back and discuss it with the customer. When doing so, explain to the customer the German logic. 

I’ll bet they will find that interesting. Why? Because they, too, are probably working in and across cultures. They, too, experience cultural differences. And they very likely will be impressed by how you and your German colleagues manage the cultural complexity, and most importantly, get the complexity to work for them as the customer !

We overpromise

“We Americans overpromise. Much more than do our German colleagues. How do we strike a balance between overpromising to our American team-leads – and/or to our American customers – and underpromising or realistic-promising to our German colleagues?”

Reduce the overpromising to your American team-lead. Get real. Get realistic. Only promise what you can deliver. Reduce inflation in the broadest sense in the U.S. Take that chapter from the German book. And encourage your American team-lead to reduce their overpromising to their next level management.

On the other side of the coin, encourage your German colleagues to aim higher. The term encourage means literally to give courage. The Germans are chronic underpromisers, to a fault. The can reach higher and achieve  more. They take things too safely, too often. 

Third, make this a topic in your collaboration with both Americans and Germans. Stating it in an oversimplified, but accurate, way: Americans are inflationary. Germans are deflationary. Work together towards the middle.

There is no hiding from this cultural difference. Therefore, address it head-on.

Get two logics to work together

“Before making a commitment our German colleagues like as much clarity as possible up-front. However, developing opportunities in the U.S. business context is an ongoing, interative process together with the customer. The goal is to understand and define their needs. 

In other words, the nature of the commitments with the customer can change during the process of iteration. Add to this the American inclination – and it is a shared logic among both customers and suppliers in the U.S. – to take a “Yes, let’s give it a try” approach. 

How can we get the two logics to work together in order to serve the customer?”

The question imbedded in the question above is the following:

Entering into commitments in the American business context is an on-going, iterative process. Americans, both customers and suppliers, reserve the right to at any time back out of a commitment or to end it at any stage. 

This is why an iterative approach is taken. Iteration – moving in smaller, incremental steps – allows for flexibility, for changing direction, for adjusting to changing parameters. In the American culture there is seldom such thing as a commitment written in stone.

This is why a high level of communication between customer and supplier is critical to the success of that relationship. Both parties are operating in a dynamic environment with all sorts of factors over which they have little or no control.

There is no getting around this reality. It is in the air that Americans breath. No German, or any other culture’s, approach will change it. Nor should it be changed. It is the American approach and it works well for them.

Key will be, as always, to help the German colleagues to understand this deeper-lying logic in the U.S. You have no other choice than to take the time to explain the American logic.

Once they have understood that logic, or at least are open to its legitimacy, you need to then discuss with them a joint response. Define together, on a case by case basis, how you both interate with customers – American colleagues in the U.S. – and how you will then iterate across the Atlantic.

If you and your German colleagues have a common understanding of the cultural differences between Germans and Americans regarding agreements, information needs, whether up-front or iterative, then you can work out the details.

Accept the German need to have a lot of information up-front. Don’t fight their logic. Work with it. For example, break down commitments into micro-commitments. Then ask your German colleagues what information they need up-front in order to commit to an early-stage piece of a commitment. 

In other words, break down a larger commitment into pieces or stages. Then move, together with your German colleagues, stage for stage. Do not be shy about asking them what kinds of information are critical vs. nice-to-have.

A final point:

Germans do not feel comfortable with the American “Yes, let’s give it a try” approach. In fact, learning-by-doing is viewed negatively in German. It’s a sign for: not having learned something, not being trained properly; taking unnecessary risk; making things up as you go along; poor planning.

You need to explain to your German colleagues the following key points regarding learning-by-doing:

First: in many situations there is no other choice but to experiment.

Second: often the risk, the downside, of learning-by-doing is minimal.

Third: Americans customers, as Americans, feel comfortable with learning-by-doing. It has led to positive results for them. They learn important things. Which often has made the efforts very worthwhile.