M’s the word: Learning the German psyche
New behavior needs a few pioneers
By on Jan 31, 2012This has been my first weekend in Wedding, which is one of the suburbs of Berlin. It is not a name that appears on the souvenir mugs or tea towels. The most upbeat estate agents will tell you it is an up-and-coming area of the city, but they are liars.
When I finally took the time to move out of the clinical isolation ward that was my original venue, I hit upon this place. It has a couple of things in its favor. A washing machine, a microwave, a bath and it is only 5 minutes’ walk from the office.
Now if you do not know Berlin, I should tell you that there are some nice, historic areas (that do appear on mugs and tea towels) but they are 30 minutes away, and when it is cold an wet in Berlin (and it really does get cold, freeze-your-eyes cold) you do not want to be coming in from 30 minutes away. They do not grit the roads, and there are better places to spend an evening than Notfal at the Charite Hospital.
So from the outside, the apartment looks depressing, like a bomb should hit it, or like a bomb did hit it and there was not enough money to afford an architect to re-design it. But with a new sound system, and some plants, it feels OK.
I do not want something that feels luxurious, because I am here to work. My evenings, such as they are, are usually spent in the office. There I go, tugging at your heartstrings. Actually, if I have to work away from home I really enjoy working. I have been told that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and I have even written about my potential career as a bass player in a rock band, and I am definitely using some of the saved travelling time to improve. I am also learning more German, which is a good thing.
And I am getting to terms with the German Psyche. Today was one example. I cannot send documents to my home printer, because there is a block on adding new printers. So I was not able to print a boarding pass. Instead, being only 5 minutes from the office I went in. Well I went to the office. There are two German guards, in nice uniforms, sitting there in a warm office with arms folded (not a good sign) who smiled, and then Hans asked Wolfgang if I should be allowed into the office, and he said no. He smiled, but there was not going to be a discussion. So I went home.
Now I am sure there are rules. But I do not know how hard it would be to allow me up to my floor to print off a boarding pass and make my life a little easier at the airport on a Sunday afternoon. So now I am trying not to be irritated, and trying to understand that this rule makes sense. And I am to see it in the context of an organization that has adopted Leadership, Integrity, Flexibility and Efficiency as a mantra.
I think back to the Broken Windows theory put out by Wilson and Kelling in 1982. Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Well this theory works the other way too. New behavior needs a few pioneers, and they do not have to be senior managers, just people with influence, like the two guards at the office today.
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