Germany: Let's Make a Deal! - Part 4

From ExecutivePlanet.com

What you should know before negotiating

Unless you have made initial efforts to address each side's priorities and expectations for initial meetings, expect Germans to show up with a very detailed agenda that they will work through efficiently point by point with very little time given to small talk or other secondary points they have not considered important. This problem-oriented, time-managed way of conducting meetings can result in some very typical communication patterns, especially if the intercultural communication language is German.

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The “Q & A exam”: meetings, even initial ones where you think the two parties are meant merely to get acquainted with one another, will often acquire a tone similar to an academic oral examination. Questions will often come hard and fast after a brief introduction of persons. You may often be interrupted in the middle of your answer, once the other party has the feeling of having received a satisfactory answer to his question, at which point he will move on to his next question. This will be especially tricky and quite uncomfortable if you happen to be alone, sitting across the table from four or five Germans.

Interruptions are also quite common if the other person has the feeling you are getting off topic. Persons from highly relationship-oriented cultures, where emotional comfort and the preservation of “face” has priority over truth-based issues, must therefore be careful of being “run over” in meetings and discussions with fact-oriented communicators. Typically, the former is conditioned to “give way” for the sake of group harmony, while the latter is focused on the logic and integrity of the facts of an argument and feels no restraint in carrying out his or her point.

Since interruptions are effective tactics for being heard in a discussion, Germans will often continue to speak, or continue to speak louder in order to avoid being interrupted by someone else. In such cases, one continues to speak until the other simply gives way.

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