Working with Germans

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Episode description

What do Mercedes, BMW and Audi all have in common? First, they are considered solid cars, but second, they are all German. Are this German quality and engineering prowess true to a German in the workplace?

 ‍In this episode about working with Germans, I spoke to the CEO of Crossculture Academy and native German, Steffen Henkel, about the work culture among Germans. He gave me some precious insights about how the German workplace mentality brings forward the value of having someone from Germany on your team.

About the guest

Steffen Henkel is an intercultural coach, facilitator and entrepreneur with strong expertise and experience working with companies worldwide, especially from the US. He is a native German and lives in Germany as we speak. He is the CEO of Crossculture Academy. Their impressive client list includes companies such as Audi, Recaro Carl Zeiss, Robert Bosch, Accenture, GlaxoSmithKline and many more.

Steffens professional experience includes:

Project Manager at the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, responsible for the intercultural management and training program Management of a global pool of trainers, including the development of a tool for high-quality trainer selection

Founder and Managing Partner of compass international gmbh. relocation, training, consulting (2002 – 2009)

Founder and Managing Partner of change.project gmbh; Development of the intercultural online portal www.crossculture-academy.com

COO of Globiana, Inc. and Global Mobility Online Platform to support international assignees and their family members

Researcher at the Bavarian Research Cooperation FORAREA on "Risks and opportunities of intercultural business collaborations of German SMEs in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia" 

Long-standing board member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research SIETAR Germany e. V.

Lecturer at various universities, e. g. Heilbronn University of applied sciences and the European Business School, Wiesbaden, Germany

Research visits and study tours in the Middle East and Southeast Asia In 2005, member of the Round Table of Stiftung Warentest Test for intercultural training providers, Berlin, Germany ‍

If you want to connect with Steffen and read more about his work and company, please look him up on LinkedIn or visit his website crossculture-academy.com

👉 Full episode transcript and details

The working with us podcast is a podcast by global business strategist Paul Arnesen, created to learn and educate professionals, businesses and others about how it is to work with people from different nationalities. 

As the world has become ever more globalised in the last decades, and the previous few years with the rise in remote work, the knowledge and understanding of how to work more efficiently in global teams is more critical than ever. 

Established companies need to re-educate themselves as they welcome a new generation with a global mindset, and there are new start-up companies with global dominance as their goal. An often forgotten aspect of international expansion is knowledge and experience working with someone different from their work culture.

By listening to the Working With Us podcast intervie