Smoking elephants in Austria

Photographer Nick Brandt's image of a smoking elephant in his collection 'On this earth, a shadow falls'.

'You know what?', said my colleague Lynn today, 'I couldn't sleep last night because I stank!'

Now this might be a strange thing to say, but not once you understand the context. The evening before we had been out to dinner in a local restaurant here in Austria - called the Elephant.

Although Austria is a member of the EU, it apparently hasn't applied all EU regulations as yet. One of them is smoking in restaurants. The air and walls of the Elephant were thick with smoke and we reflected over how quickly you get used to environments that are smoke-free. It wasn't that long ago in Sweden and many other EU countries that you could also smoke indoors. But since this has been abolished, no smoking has quickly become the norm. And you only realise that you have adapted to the changed norm when you are confronted by a place where the norm is different.

Like Austria. Like smoking indoors. Like being so smelly that the smoke smell lingers in your clothes, hair and skin for hours afterwards and makes it difficult for you to sleep.

But will Austria fall into line like the rest of the EU?

Well, according to Wikipedia's list of smoking bans, Austria has in fact implemented several laws which limit or outlaw smoking in certain areas. Smoking is prohibited in all offices with certain exceptions such as bars, discos, restaurants etc. If all employees agree on allowing smoking in a work place, smoking may continue.
As of January 2009, a new law was put in place which mandates all restaurants, bars, discos and pubs larger than 80m² to introduce smoking rooms and non-smoking rooms. Below 50m² the owner may opt to either be a smoking or non-smoking place, between 50m² and 80m² there is an option under certain circumstances.

The smoke-free law has however encountered controversy initially, as well as inconsistent enforcement.

As we discovered last night in the Elephant.

Neil

Teacher Appreciation Day

Lynn and I are in Sinsheim, Germany, at the moment running a 2-day workshop. Today is the end of Day 1. We feel that it went well. In fact, we know it did.

At the end of the day, when we declared it over, a strange thing happened. Al the Germans in the room clenched their right fist and banged it on the table top infront of them. We were somehat taken aback but were informed that this is a German way of showing appreciation, rather like clapping the hands is in other countries.

Inspired by this feeling of appreciation, I later made a fantastic discovery on the internet - there is something called 'Teacher Appreciation Day'. Apparently, the 5th of October is an international celebration of teachers, and different countries celebrate this is different ways.

An essay competition was initiated in Quebec for students aged 6 to 17. Entitled “Mad, mad, mad about my teacher”, the competition gave children an opportunity to write about a teacher whose influence on their lives was decisive.

The Queen of Spain gave a reception to teachers. Teacher appreciation was shown with many activities and a special classic music concert at the national auditorium in Madrid.

in Finland, 20000 apples were given to pedestrians at the main railway stations of Helsinki to express “Teachers’ humanity and personality”.

Algerian students demonstrate on the streets to show their teacher appreciation.

Namibia organizes a teacher appreciation song and poetry event, and awards are given to the best performing schools.

In Estonia, local authorities and educational institutions held festive receptions to honour the teachers and show this Baltic nation’s teacher appreciation, together with concerts, theatre performances, and balls.

In Mozambique, a national homage to teachers is conducted by the country’s media during the whole week.


I like it! More teacher appreciation please!!

Neil

Spanish eating habits

After a week in Madrid, we’ve gained a little more insight into the eating habits of the Spaniards.

Lesson 1: Lunchtime. We were running a workshop with Spanish participants in the subject of value communication. As workshop leaders, we are responsible for telling participants when coffee and lunch breaks will occur. Our suggestion in Spain was to take lunch at 12.30, which we thought was rather late. ‘Not possible’ we were told. ‘Not possible to eat lunch before 1pm. The restaurant might be open but the kitchen certainly won’t be’. Compare this to lunch time in Sweden which is usually 11.30 and can be even as early as 10.30! There are probably a lot of hungry Swedes in Spain.

Lesson 2: Dinner time. If you suffer from late night indigestion, Madrid is probably not the city for  you. Turning up to eat at restaurants at 9pm, which we thought was late, we were the only guests there. The food was rolled out half an hour later and lots of it! We needed to take a couple of tummy-soothing tablets when we returned to the hotel.

Lesson 3: Tapas time. Many people are familiar with tapas. But do you know where the word comes from? We didn’t either until we were told by a Spanish person one lunch time. Firstly, Spaniards usually don’t eat tapas at home unless they are having a party. Tapas are reserved for bars and restaurants. Tapas originated from patrons standing by a bar and having a drink. Because of the heat, the practice was to put a small saucer (tapas) on the top of the glass to act as a lid and keep the flies out of the precious liquid. Then some smart Alec, or maybe an Alfonso, saw a business opportunity and put a small bite to eat on the saucer. And the tapas was born!

Neil and Lynn

Love thy neighbour

             Students march in the parade to celebrate 'No' day

I find myself working from Cyprus this week. While Cyprus public relations works hard to distance itself from the economic woes of their Greek neighbors, that distance does not over-ride tradition. Especially when a public holiday is involved!

We arrived to Cyprus on October 28th,  just in time for Oxi day, the Greek national holiday otherwise known as ‘No day’.

This holiday commemorates the day on October 28, 1940 when the Greek Prime Minister rejected the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to allow Italian troops to come into Greece at the beginning of WW II. Had the Greeks not said "No!" (Ochi or Oxi in Greek), World War II might well have lasted considerably longer. Facing Turkish aggression, the Cypriots drew inspiration from Greece's refusal to let Italian troops invade. 

As a result, while it’s actually a Greek holiday, Oxi day is also a public holiday in Cyprus - one of 18. Parades and celebrations took place throughout Cyprus, with the main one being along the road outside the Greek embassy in Nicosia.

Love thy neighbor - makes sense...I’d be happy to celebrate with the neighbors on May 17th (Norway), June 5th (Denmark), and December 6th (Finland) for a few more days off!

Lynn

How to overcome the small talk barrier

Last week I was on a trip to London and I was struck by how true one stereotype is. Standing in the bus queue, perfect strangers would start talking to each other to pass the time. In shops, staff were friendly and would chit-chat about nothing just to chew the fat. The stereotype about the small-talking Brit is true - even in the capital city.

There is no denying that small talking is a really important element of life and for some cultures it is much more important than for others. And this often carries over into the world of business. For many cultures, small talk in business is the way to get things done. In other words, small talk is BIG, important talk.

Although many Swedish people are aware of this in theory, putting it into practice isn’t always that easy! I receive many, many questions saying, ‘I know it’s really important, but I still feel really nervous or stupid when I am expected to small talk with visitors in English or when I'm at an international conference. How do I actually do it?’ In other words, how do we overcome the small talk barrier?

Sometimes it seems that we don’t want to initiate conversation unless we have something useful or funny to say. However, the first thing to remember is that the purpose of small talk in business situations is to get the conversation going and involve the other person. When we realise this, we understand that nothing is too inane or uninteresting to say. We should also bear in mind that we are in this situation together with another person, and they might be feeling just as uncomfortable or insecure as we are.

Overcoming the small talk barrier is quite simple if you follow these few simple tips:

What to talk about?

Option 1: The person themselves (eg ‘I understand you work as a Clinical Research Officer. How long have you been doing that?’)

Option 2: The situation and location (eg ‘Have you been to Stockholm Waterfront before?’)

How to kick off the conversation?

Option 1: Pose a question (eg ‘What do you think of the art exhibition here in the head office?’)

Option 2: Offer an opinion (eg ‘I think this seminar is going to be very interesting.’)

Option 3: State a fact (eg ‘There’s always a lot of traffic on the motorway from Malmö.’)

But which is the most effective way? In my experience, it is always best to ask a question that requires an answer. In this way, we involve the other person more than if we simply offer an opinion. Asking a question that requires the other person to give their opinion is an especially useful way to increase another person’s involvement and interest in the conversation.

So, overcoming the small talk barrier isn’t so difficult if you think about these simple tips. And remember, in business with your international colleagues, customers and visitors, small talk is not a threat – it’s an opportunity!

Wouldn’t you agree?

Neil S

What Spaniards think of Swedes

I was recently running a workshop in Madrid and took the opoprtunity on a lunch break to ask some of the participants what their perception of the Swedes is. Since they work for an international Swedish company, I thought they might have a valuable insight that could help me in my work as a cultural diversity trainer.

Upon receiving my question, they immediately boomeranged me with a question back. Did I mean Sweden or did I mean Swedes? Both, I said.

They thought about it and then said in a unanimous voice,

'Sweden is a very modern country. One of the world's richest. The people there have everything. They are happy and healthy and secure.'

What about Swedes themselves then? I asked.

Again some thought.

'They're very nice. Very polite. But I don't understand why they have to pretend to be interested in what everybody thinks when they make a decision. It just wastes time, and they don't really mean it anyway.'

Neil S

Stir-fried fish with barbecue sauce – Estonian style

It worked like this. The buffet was full of raw seafood, fish, meat and vegetables that you should put on your plate and take to a kitchen counter. At the counter you would choose a sauce, the chefs would stir-fry the contents of your plate and the waitress would bring the resulting meal to your table. At an Asian-style wok restaurant in Tallinn that is exactly what we did.

As we sat at our table and waited for the meal, we nibbled on sushi and salad. The waitress approached with our stir-fried food. One of my travelling companions, who is always friendly, smiled at the waitress and said

‘Mm , this’ll be good. Barbecue sauce, what d’you think?’

The waitress looked blankly at him, then at his plate and then back at him. Without the slightest flicker of a smile, she said

‘With fish? No.’

And she walked away.

Wow, we thought – that was direct! Not ‘I’m afraid I can’t say, sir’, or ‘Yes, some people like that combination’ but simply and frankly  - ‘With fish? No.’

This brief encounter highlights one of the ways in which culture affects communication. How direct is it ok to be before you cause offense? In Estonia, obviously, you can be pretty direct.

Different cultures have different tolerance levels for directness. Some cultures require a lot of ‘padding’ of the language in order for it be polite. Others don’t. But one thing to bear in mind is that, no matter if a culture is direct or indirect, both cultures are selecting what they say with care. The direct culture desires to be clear and honest with no misunderstandings about what they mean. The indirect culture desires to keep harmony in the relationship, not rock the boat and not cause upset. Both cultures feel they are being respectful.

So if ever you’re visiting Estonia don’t expect any pussy-footing about. Be prepared to take it on the chin and to be told exactly what they think.

With niceties? No.