figures of speech Archives - Page 27 of 31

“Always room for improvement”

The political barometer of the German television station ZDF regularly gauges the country’s political sentiments. As a part of this, the country’s top ten politicians are shown with their approval ratings. The scale ranges from -5 to 5.

In July 2014, the political barometer was titled “After the World Championship: Angela Merkel sees highest approval ratings.” This clearly meant that amongst the persons polled, Angela Merkel, with a score of 2.8 took first place amongst the most important politicians.

2.8 out of a possible best of 5.0 points demonstrates how deflationary grades are given in Germany, even when one is quite satisfied with the overall performance.

As the Germans like to say: “Es gibt immer Luft nach oben” – “There is always room for improvement”.

Patience of an Angel

That Germans avoid rushing into action is imbedded in many of their figures of speech. They communicate the advantages of being patient, and the disadvantages of hastiness and pseudo-solutions to problems.

“Geduld bringt Rosen” – patience brings roses. “Gut Ding will Weile haben” – good things need time. Patience in the German language is often seen as a superhuman trait.

Chancellor Angela Merkel. 2019. Press conference. European Union Summit in Brussels postponed. 0:38 Gut Ding will Weile haben.

Germans speak of Engelsgeduld – the patience of an angel. “Geduld ist eine Tugend” – patience is a virtue.

Even when Germans have to move fast, when they know that they need to “hurry up”, they say “Eile mit Weile!” Eile is speed, rush, hastiness. Weile is stay, linger, dwell. Meaning something like “Hurry up, but take your time doing it.

Hasty

Überstürzen. To act impatiently; in haste, without thinking it through; to decide, act, react too quickly; a situation develops too quickly to react to; rapid developments.

Hastig. Hasty, due to impatience; lack of grounding, emotionally excited; in a hurried manner steps, breathing, movements, thoughts.

Holzweg. Literally wooden path. Middle High German holzwec, path in the forest where cut wood is transported; wrong path, path in the wrong direction; to misunderstand a situation, to think wrongly, to err in thinking.

Vertagen. To postpone; to push off to another day; to extend a decision, an event.

Vertuschen. To hide, cover up; to mask something unfortunate, embarrassing or incriminating.

Symptome. Latin symptoma, Greek sýmptōma, temporary characteristic, coincidental event; in medicine an indication of an illness; an observable trait or sign of something negative.

Nachhaltig. Sustained, sustainable, an effect which is lasting, of duration, of influence and importance; to make a sustained impression; to exert influence in a sustained way.

Etwas über das Knie brechen. Literally to break something over the knee. To do something out of haste, without reflection, to force something.

Gut Ding will Weile haben. Literally good things demand patience.

Wirkung

Effizient. Latin efficiens, efficient; a large effect based on little effort; to achieve much with less; economic, economical.

Wirkung. Effect, output, results; a change realized by energy, effort, input; infuence; a sustained, positive effect.

Wirtschaftlich. Economical; concerning the economy; monetary, financial; to work intelligently; to be frugal, to save money; to achieve the maximum based on available resources.

Weniger ist mehr. Less is more. To focus on the essence, on the core. Functionality trumps design, thus saving time, resources, money. Often heard in the fields of design and architecture.

Effizient, nicht effektiv arbeiten. Work efficiently, not just effectively. A figure of speech often heard in the German workplace, meaning to do more than reach your goals by doing it efficiently.

Kleine Ursache, große Wirkung. Literally small cause, large effect. A figure of speech pointing out how small things – good and bad – can lead to very significant outcomes. In the German context it is a warning to pay close attention to the details of one‘s work.

Was nicht in die Masse dringt, ist unwirksam. What doesn‘t reach the masses, is ineffective. A quote attributed to Karl Jaspers, one of Germany‘s most influential philosophers of the post-War era. It is often used in discussions about the effectiveness of advertisement.

Markenprodukte

Markenprodukte. Brand name products: Products which are immediately recognized as excellent based on the name of its producer; often products which are of average quality but remain in the minds of consumers due to constant advertising.

German companies have been exporting high quality products consistently since the end of the Second World War. Their products have gained an international reputation for being very good, often better than their competitors. The Germans view reliability as one of the key characteristics of a well-known brand.

Qualität ist, wenn der Kunde wiederkommt, nicht das Produkt. Quality is when the customer returns, not the product. This well-known saying indicates the importance quality plays in the German product philosophy. A product which does not function perfectly and therefore needs to be returned is an embarrassment to the producer.

Tischtuch zerschnitten

Der Tischtuch ist zerschnitten. The tablecloth has been ripped in two.

In the German context, to escalate a conflict within the team to the next management level is considered to be a sign of failure. Failure of the conflict parties to resolve their problem. Failure to at least come up with a proposed resolution which they can take to their team lead for her input, and perhaps her decision.

Escalation is the equivalent of going to court, of one party suing the other. For Germans, the severity of such a step just about rules out any chance that the two parties will be able to work together again. And regardless of how their German manager assists in the resolution, regardless of the outcome, she will view her two team members as having failed themselves, the team and her.

„Streit vom Zaun brechen“

Streit vom Zaun brechen. To let a conflict get out of control. Germans prefer to hide their internal conflicts for as long as possible. Conficts attract attention and curiosity. They force the conflict parties to take a stand, to explain the problem.

This, in turn, offers management and related organizations an opportunity to get involved, to exert influence on the conflict parties, thereby reducing their ability to address the problem alone and independent of outside influence.

Germans, therefore, try their best to avoid escalating a conflict to the next management level. The side which chooses to do so is viewed as impulsive and thoughtless. Germans would rather give in a bit in order to reduce tensions than to strike back. Avoiding open conflict is seen as intelligent, restrained and prudent. Conflict is for the unsophisticated.

Der Klügere gibt nach. To be willing to compromise instead of insisting on being right; to see the other side‘s point of view as valid; to take the hit in order to reduce the tension.

Das Feuer schüren. Literally to stoke the flames. To provoke; to start a fight; to turn a difference of opinion into an open conflict; to whip up the emotions.

Germans want to be responsible for their work and to perform it independently. They want their work to be clearly defined and distinguishable from the work of their colleagues. Germans do not feel comfortable with having to explain or justify how they complete their tasks.

Every form of supervision or monitoring is a sign of mistrust. Escalating a conflict is risky, therefore, for it invites a third party, typically the next level of management, to take a closer look into how the conflict parties actually do their work. This makes them vulnerable to outside influences on how they work.

Autonomy. Greek autonomía. Independence, self-governance. From autos, selbst und nomos, law. To be responsible for oneself, self-determination, self-reliance, decision making freedom.

Process-Pope

Klaus-Hardy Mühdeck, current CIO of ThyssenKrupp and former CIO of Volkswagen, is considered Germany’s Prozesspapst – literally process-pope. He is the first CIO to change his title to Chief Process Officer.

In an interview with Computerwoche – Computer Week – in 2006 Mühdeck described his fascination with process management:

“Processes network functions, no more and no less. Throughout my entire career I have been involved in processes. In most companies it is under the board member responsible for strategy. But the trend is clear. CIO’s are defining processes and systems.”

It is the CIO, says Mühdeck, who is the bridge between the demands of the company and the systems platforms and company-internal processes. CIOs need to be able to communicate with and understand the areas of development and manufacturing.

You can only truly understand a company’s processes if you understand how the various functions and departments actually work.

„If you can‘t say anything positive”

Euphemism: The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant: eliminate for kill; suboptimal for below standard; interesting for bad; issue or challenge for problem; career change, early retirement opportunity, career transition, involuntarily separation for being fired;

economically disadvantaged for poor; temporary negative cash flow for broke; substandard housing or economically depressed neighborhood for slum; collateral damage for deaths of women and children and old people; pre-owned vehicle for used car; adult beverages for alcohol.

Almost every American has at some point in their lives heard the statement „If you can‘t say anything positive, don‘t say anything at all.“ Americans are careful about giving negative feedback. Charles Schwab has been quoted: “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.”

Dem Ingenieur ist nichts zu schwör!

Qualität. Quality. Latin qualitas, how something has been made, a characteristic; how crafted; the sum or totality of characteristics; the level of workmanship.

Beschaffenheit. The outer, inner, material, make-up of something.

Tüftler. Tinkerer. Someone who with patience and stamina can work on a complex problem; a kind of inventor; a person who finds new ways to solve a difficult problem.

Ingenieur. Latin ingenium, an ingenious person, inventive, complex thinker; to create, produce; one trained at a university.

Dem Ingenieur ist nichts zu schwör! For the engineer is nothing too difficult, with Ingenieur and schwör rhyming, from the Engineer‘s Song by Hinrich Seidel, a German engineer and novelist of the 19th Century.

The text of the song contiues: Dem Ingenieur ist nichts zu schwere – Er lacht und spricht, geht dieses nicht, so geht doch das! For the engineer is nothing is too difficult. He laughs and claims: It this doesn‘t work, then that will!

Wo man ihm ein Rätsel schenkt, steht der Ingenieur und denkt. When he‘s given a problem, the engineer stands still and ponders, with schenkt (to give) and denkt (to think) rhyming. Engineers are tinkerers. They‘ll work on something until they find an acceptable solution.