Germans, hard or direct communicators?

Non verbal communication can almost always be misinterpreted and misunderstood, even when communication with your best friend who knows you inside and out. Even more complicated is non verbal communication with someone of a different culture. 

Let's discover what culture means, and uncover why vast differences exist between cultures.

Culture is a word used to describe a persons’ values in life, how that person conducts themselves, habits and beliefs. Culture is not habitual until adulthood, it is shaped by a number of influential factors during a persons' childhood, such as:

• The environment
• Country 
• Local customs 
• Religion
• Family heritage
• Behaviours of others

The German culture is to communicate in a very direct manner, getting to the point before discussing the details or social details. Japanese people however tend to spend a significant amount of time building relationships before getting down to business. 

So far my experience with Germans is yes, they like to get to the point - which was confirmed when I read the "ITC105 Communication and Information Management" text book. The book describes the communicators in Germany (and other countries) as low-context cultures. 

When communicating, people from low-context cultures will assume the other person knows next to nothing, so communication will be very thorough and to the point. This is opposite to high-context cultures where environmental and other cues would be used in communicating a message.

My experience communicating with low-context cultures has become apparent in my work as an Account Manager, communicating with my German client Karl via email. When I acquired the account I received no handover, the client was not happy with my predecessor and a lot of issues were encountered with reporting.

Each Monday Karl receives a report that outlines the status of his account. The first report that I had ever sent to Karl was incorrect, and his repose to my email containing the report was:

"I just don't get it - who & why was the report changed."

Although his anger and frustration was valid, I was shocked by his response and direct approach to communicate that the report was incorrect. After receiving this reply I immediately contacted Karl via telephone to discuss, and effectively communicated the requirements for the report. Over the phone Karl did not seem as displeased with me, as he did in the way I had decoded his email.

Since working with Karl I have learnt that the culture in Germany is to communicate in a very direct manner and I have adapted the way I communicate with Karl to accommodate his communication style. 

No matter whether news is bad or good, Germans tend to prefer a deductive style of communication. Deductive communicators get to the key message first, followed by the details and reasons for the message.

All in all, it is important to learn and appreciate the culture of others in order to understand and effectively communicate.