Working down under

Viele Europäer gehen nach Australien, um dort zu leben und zu arbeiten. Sie alle werden immer wieder feststellen müssen, dass in diesem Land privat sowie im Geschäftsalltag ganz eigene Umgangsregeln gelten. Robert Gibson hat sich von einer Expertin die Unterschiede erklären lassen

Lea Köhler is one of the authors of Beruflich in Australien. Together with Ulrike Stilijanow, she has developed a training concept for Germans who go to Australia for work (www.beruflich-in-australien.de ). Lea Köhler currently works as a consultant at Siemens AG in Munich. Contact: Lea.Koehler@beruflich-in-australien.de

Köhler’s tips: working in Australia

•  If you want to persuade your colleagues of your idea but other viewpoints exist, don’t just emphasize your own idea. Never be negative about the views of your colleagues. What is important is that you win over your colleagues for your idea but at the same time respect other opinions.

• In Australia, most of the time it is not the 100 per cent solution that is aimed at. The preferred approach is more pragmatic. “That’ll do” is a typical Australian comment. Don’t try changing processes that work if there aren’t good reasons for the change.

• In contrast to Germany, it is not common to mention your own achievements. Instead, it is typical to downplay what you have done.

• If there is an important deadline and you need work from somebody else, it is more effective to ask for it several times beforehand rather than demanding it, even if you are in charge.

• Even though Germans usually think that small talk is too time-consuming at work, you should not try to stop it, especially when you start working with a new team. Twenty minutes of small talk about the weekend’s rugby results or other topics is quite normal. It is helpful to learn at least the basic rules of Australian rugby as well as cricket. Trying to get the others to start working sooner quite often leads to a lack of understanding, or a comment like “you German slave-driver”, rather than approval.

• Australian humour is different and rougher than the humour in Germany. Try not to take it personally, and try to take part in it if you can.

• Going out with your colleagues is a good opportunity to get to know each other. Even if there is no obligation to join the party, some people told us that they felt disadvantages at work that they thought were a result of the fact that they did not go to the team’s traditional social events.

You can read the full interview with Köhler in Business Spotlight 3/2009. For details on how to order back copies of this issue, see our archive.