figures of speech Archives - understand-culture

Not see the forest for the trees

Den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sehen – to not see the forest for the trees – is an often-used figure of speech in Germany (and in the U.S.) describing how one can fail to see the bigger picture due to focusing on the details.

This figure of speech always has a negative connotation and implies that a person does not have everything under control, is not capable of stepping back in order to assess the broader situation.

This is considered in Germany to be a serious weakness, for in their work they strive to orient themselves on universal (generally valid, admitted, accepted) conditions (prerequisites, requirements, premises, suppositions).

In doing so Germans try to maintain a certain amount of distance from the details of their work, in order to always recognize (be cognizant of) basic structures and patterns.

Fauler Kompromiss

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.

No Agreement

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.

Look at my work

German non-governmental organizations – NGOs – are confronted by the dilemma that they need to function well as organizations, but do not want to give their members the impression that they work for an organization.

Internal power struggles are poisonous for small, low-budget organizations. Members need to know that they are serving a higher purpose and not an organizational structure, much less specific people within that structure.

For Germans, their work, what they accomplish day in and day out, is very much a part of their personal identity. On the one side this makes it difficult for them to maintain distance from their work.

On the other, however, it enables them to work very conscientiously and independently. The German logic is: “Do you want to understand who I am? Look at my work.“

Not Your Bitch

In 2009, author Neil Gaiman, who was born in England but has lived in the US since 1992, wrote a blogpost titled Entitlement Issues. In it he discusses a letter he received from a fan of the author George R R Martin, who complained that it seemed like Martin wasn’t spending enough time working on his latest novel.

Gaiman comments on how readers tend to think that, once they spend money on one of the books in a series, the author no longer has the right to do anything other than write the next one.

At one point he writes “you’re complaining about George doing other things than writing the books you want to read as if your buying the first book in the series was a contract with him: that you would hand over your ten dollars, and George for his part would spend every waking hour until the series was done, writing the rest of the books for you.”

The English-American author also attempts to convince readers that authors are not obligated to fulfill their readers’ every wish, saying, “George R R Martin is not your bitch.”

Der Weg ist das Ziel

Der Weg ist das Ziel. The path is the goal. Eastern thinking. Not Western. However, a figure of speech many Germans use, and an entry point into how they understand the importance of process, of how the work is done.

Prozesse. Processes. Garantie. Guaranty. Kein Werkzeug. Not a tool. Germans would say that a final product is only as good as the process which led to it. Process. how the work is done. And a process is only as good as the product it produces. Zwei Seiten einer Medaille. Two sides of the same coin. Processes. Not a tool.

If you work with Germans, you’ll know how intense and constant their focus is on how the work should be done. You’ll experience discussion after discussion, meeting after meeting, debate after debate. It can appear as if they are obsessed with process. All this at the expense of the user, of the internal or external customer. It can appear to threaten the very purpose, and success, of the activity.

But wait. When Germans engage about how the work is done, they are, in fact, talking about the customer, about how best to serve the customer. Two sides of the same coin. If you get the process right, you get the end product right. For the customer. In the German context, talking process is talking customer. The Germans may not use the term customer, or the term serve, or value. But this doesn’t mean that they are not focused on it.

For Germans true focus on the customer is focus on how to do the work right, correctly. The path is not the goal. In the West, the goal is the goal. The path gets you there. Chart that path carefully. Walk that path the right way. “The right way”, lots of room for discussion there.

pure wine

Jemandem reinen Wein einschenken. To serve someone pure wine.

This expression originates from the Middle Ages, when innkeepers added various ingredients to their wine (e.g. sulphur, acetic clay, water, etc.) and sold it as wine. In this way, the innkeeper could make even more out of the limited supply of wine. Only if he poured real wine, as he claimed, was he telling the truth.

Customer is not King

In Germany, at the beginning of the business relationship the responsibility for how the work is done – methods and approaches – is transferred from the customer to the supplier. For the customer has contracted the expert to solve a problem, to complete a task, to manage a project. It is expected that the expert do so with limited involvement of the customer. For the two parties have already discussed and agreed on the details of how the work will be done.

The German client, therefore, wants to know upfront the methods and approaches used by the supplier. At the same time, the customer respects how the supplier works, including adapting customer requirements to supplier methods and approaches. In the end the supplier has the say about her own processes, which produce the results desired by the customer.

Every product and service is a clear indication of how a company works, their methods and approaches. And German customers are deeply interested in how the work is done. They want to understand how the supplier works. They want to be convinced by the supplier‘s expertise. The German customer also knows that the success of the business relationship will depend on close collaboration, on the coordination of work processes from both sides.

Whenever a company as the customer contracts an external supplier, they are implicitly admitting to a gap in their own expertise, implicitly stating that the area of expertise of the supplier is not a part of the their own core expertise. Companies small and large, regional and international, are constantly defining what their core expertise is, what business they are in. Defining that means defining what external suppliers they need to draw on.

This is one reason why for Germans the customer is not king, but instead a partner. German suppliers expect, and in many cases demand, that the customer accept them as partners, accept a partnership of equals, auf Augenhöhe, literally at eye‘s level.

Germans see a customer-supplier relationship as complementary, with each side having its respective strengths and weaknesses, its core and non-core areas. To do business together means to help fill each other‘s gaps in expertise, to complement each other, to serve each other.

Auf Augenhöhe

Augenhöhe. Literally at eye level. Equals. On equal footing.

It is said that Germans will work without stopping until they have completed the task. A prerequisite for such effort is that the parties involved are partners at eye level, are equals, the opposite of a master-slave type of relationship. Germans, as employees and as companies, want to work more as consultants, as experts, than as mere service providers or as servants.

Germans are self-confident about their abilities and skills. Even when the relationship in terms of the contract, the law or societal expectations cannot possibly be one of equals, they expect, and often demand, a business relationship auf Augenhöhe, at eye level, to be treated like colleagues.

To collaborate at eye level is not just a matter of good form. It is a serious demand especially from small- to medium-sized companies, the famed German Mittelstand. Many German companies advertise their willingness and ability to work together with business parters auf Augenhöhe, signaling their desire to be open, transparent and honest.

Companies which promise collaboration at eye level are stating that they treat all partners, regardless of size or prestige, as equal partners. Respect is critical, not the size of the contract or the nature of the partnership. This includes informing the other partner immediately when things go wrong. One‘s expertise is put to good service for the other partner. Neither side looks to gain advantage.

Germans strive for a high level of openness and honesty from the very beginning of a business relationship. As a well-known German company once stated: Zusammenarbeit auf Augenhöhe sichert Qualität. Colloboration at eye level guarantees quality.

To serve a good cause

Einer guten Sache dienen. To serve a good cause.

The Germans believe that when you serve another person – dienen – you have to accept the value system of that person. He who serves, has to do things, has to act in a way, which he might otherwise fully reject. Even more, the person serving is obligated to do his very best.

Germans do not consider this a relief, not as a transfer of moral responsibility from the one serving to the one being served. On the contrary, it represents a burden for them, knowing from the very start that they will invariably come into conflict with their conscience.

On the other hand, when Germans are willing to serve a good purpose, a cause they believe in, they are freely submitting to a belief, taking a moral stand, agreeing with a set of arguments. They can formulate those arguments in a way which fits their values. If one can no longer support the cause, there is no obligation to continue contributing time and effort.

Psychologically this means that serving a good cause, whether through action, financial assistance or communicating a message, means serving one’s own value system. One is obligating oneself freely. Independence and self-determination are protected.