German Meetings

As in all cultures there are various types of meetings which people will approach in different ways. On the whole though, Germans could be described as ‘pre-planners’ who like to attend meetings having done a considerable amount of preparation in order to help them debate their point of view with conviction. This sense of conviction, coupled with the often very direct nature of debate, can be mistaken by people from other cultures as intransigence, pedanticism and even arrogance.

As German companies tend towards the development of specialists, rather than generalists, meetings are often large with a designated specialist from each area involved in the matter under discussion. People are expected to contribute to the debate when discussions touch their area of expertise but are not necessarily expected to have an opinion on everything.

As direct, often strong, debate is expected and encouraged in order to promote the development of the ‘right’ answer, meetings can sometimes seem to be quite heated. People from those cultures whose communication style is rather more diplomatic than direct can often misinterpret these discussions as overt, deliberate confrontation.

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