An International Business Trip
After ten years with Trinity, I had my first international business trip. And of course, it was somewhat last minute! I bought my tickets to Germany on a Monday afternoon and flew out on Friday! For someone who hasn't traveled abroad in nine years, I had a lot to figure out in just a few days!
Because of the last minute nature, I wasn't able to extend the trip much beyond the business needs. That was a bit of a bummer, but I still managed to take in some of the local culture during my trip. That's what is neat about business travel. It is tiring and exhausting, but it still affords an opportunity to get a flavor of different areas, customs, etc.
One particular challenge in doing business internationally was attempting to have some insight as to customs and norms in the country you are visiting. I did not want to inadvertantly offend anyone. For example, in Germany, use of first names after an initial meeting is not necessarily the norm. Also, they shake hands a lot! Not just when you meet for the first time, but at the beginning of your meeting and at the end (not that unusual for us), but what I noted was that they shake hands with their working colleagues when they first see them in the morning and then often when they leave. That struck me as unusual. I might say "good morning" to my officemates, but I seldom shake their hands!
I was fortunate that the individuals I was meeting with spoke English. While I used to know German, it has been a long time since I've used it. I was able to pick things up here and there. I am thankful I did not have to conduct any meetings in German, but they certainly seemed to appreciate my efforts to understand when they did speak in German and to ask questions to learn some more vocabulary. I was certainly impressed by the number of individuals I met that had some knowledge of English - that was a big help to me.
I am looking forward to a possible opportunity to go back - I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. One of my big take-aways - some things are universal. Environmental personnel in Germany are frequently asked to do the next to impossible by operations personnel (i.e., get a permit ASAP) with very little information, just like their American counterparts. And from one office to another, regardless of continent, computers like to present technical challenges for their users!! Regardless of the users' nationality!