Best Practice for intercultural competence: Germany, Austria and Switzerland—so close and yet so far!

For years, the Rhomberg Group has been conducting successful international work in the realms of construction, resources and railway technology at several sites in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In doing so, Rhomberg always includes sustainability and places great value in considering social developments.

We interviewed Manuela Pölki, an employee in the Human Resources Department of Rhomberg Bau in Bregenz, Austria, about cultural differences between Austria and its neighbors, Germany and Switzerland.  

Ms. Pölki, what made you decide to take a D-A-CH training course? 

We have been working with companies in the D-A-CH region for decades and asked ourselves why, even after so many years of collaboration, there were still so many differences and misunderstandings that we had never actually been conscious of before. It turned out that the problems were of a cultural nature, so we decided to have some intercultural training on D-A-CH cultures.

Was there a special reason that you chose to work with ti communication?

After a great deal of research and experience with other intercultural trainers, we came to the conclusion that Ms. Hegner was the best choice for us. It was a fantastic course!

How do you personally assess the cultural differences in the D-A-CH region, and why do you think training is important or necessary?

In reality, the cultural differences are much greater than we had originally thought or predicted. Austria is very divided into small sections; conventions vary from one city to the next. There, people don’t orient themselves toward the lifestyle in a big city, but rather toward what they experience in the region or their own village with regard to culture and dialect. However, we aren’t aware of this ourselves. Whereas, in Germany, cultural regions have a somewhat larger area, in comparatively smaller Switzerland, there is the canton system and in Austria the federal states, whose inhabitants insist on being different than the others. So, you have to consider that, too, in intercultural cooperation.  

What competitive advantage does a construction company like Rhomberg hope to gain from it?

We expect improved mutual understanding! That misunderstandings can be avoided or that, in the event of friction, we can recognize why progress isn’t moving as expected. Because that can quickly lead to resentment if nothing is done. Unfortunately, people all to rarely have an idea of what the underlying reason could be.

What did you personally gain from the training?

Ever since the training, the “subtle tones,” which, for instance are popular in Switzerland, have become very important to me. If you are not made aware of them, you can easily miss them. Because in Germany and Austria, people are used to the hard line, a direct communication style. If you know what communication styles are important to whom, you go about things in a completely different way. It’s the only way to reach a common denominator. At our company, meetings often take place with people from all three countries together: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Using the correct approaches learned from the training, communication is considerably better. 

What is a good example that illustrates the differences between the D-A-CH cultures?

The different types of feedback. They come in rock hard from one side (Germany), a bit “softened” from another (Austria) and not at all from the third party (Switzerland). In the training course, you learn that it is sometimes necessary to give your (culturally differing) counterpart space so they can really open up. In this way, strategies can be developed on how to deal with different cultures in a targeted manner. And some people may approach a discussion with a bit more restraint.

And one last question: Did you and the other participants find the training course to be fun and enjoyable?

We did very good preparation work together with ti communication and discussed in advance and in great detail what the situation in our company is. Of course, in the end, it comes down to how much the attendees actively participate. Internally, before the course, we tried to find examples of situations that need improvement or where there were problems. Many of us could not spontaneously think of any such examples. It was only during the training that we became aware of situations that we hadn’t previously recognized as being cultural differences. Through the theoretical input and practical examples of the participants, you can recognize your own stories and learn from them. The training at ti communication was thus very informative and helpful!