time – Intercultural Training and Musings

Some days ago, I had to be in East Frankfurt at 9.30 am. As a good uncertainty avoider, I checked how long the drive would take (20 minutes) and added some time for the morning rush hour and looking for a parking space (30 minutes – hey, if I avoid uncertainty, I do it thoroughly). So I left 50 minutes before I had to be there. Of course, there was hardly any traffic and more than enough convenient parking spots (anybody living in Frankfurt knows that this is unusual), so when I arrived, I was 30 minutes early.

On another occasion, I had to go to downtown Frankfurt for a training. That time it was difficult to find parking and so I parked in a semi-legal spot. I had the choice between facing the danger of getting a parking ticket (or even getting towed) and being late. Good German that I was, I decided to risk the parking ticket.

Why am I telling you this? To show how important punctuality is in Germany. Continue reading “Being on time” →

After I had successfully established inhouse cross-cultural trainings at work, some of our European colleagues from international assignment departments were interested in adopting my model. In those cases, I adapted my training presentation to the respective country, checked it with my European colleague and then went to the country to discuss the training with my colleague there and do the first training in co-training with her or him.

It was always fun to do this. The fact that my model was of interest to other countries was of course very rewarding. Traveling and seeing new locations was interesting and the colleagues I worked with were all very nice. Usually, we went out in the evening after work and that was enjoyable.

The time I went to Spain was also a good learning experience for me. I already knew and liked my Spanish colleague, Laura, but I didn’t yet know how our cultural backgrounds would influence our working together. Continue reading “An Evening in Spain” →