Kay Xander MellishExpert on Danish business culture

Danish leadership practices: Individual achievers vs group culture in Denmark

4 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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1:05

The speaker explains that Denmark’s workplaces prioritize a group‑oriented culture over individual accolades. While Danish companies recruit top performers from around the world—people who have a history of personal achievement—their success model expects collaboration and collective results, not “employee of the month” style recognition. The speaker advises Danish managers to privately brief new hires about this cultural difference, reassuring them that they need not outshine colleagues and that the group’s success is valued above individual glory. The speaker notes that this guidance was crucial when they first arrived in Denmark.

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Here in Denmark, we hire the best individual achievers from all over the world. These are people that have excelled in school, excelled at university, excelled on their jobs. And we bring them here to Denmark and we say, that's not how we do it here. This is a group-oriented culture. There's no employee of the month here. These are people who have spent a lifetime showcasing their individual achievement. So if you are a Danish boss, a Danish colleague, take your new arrival aside and explain to them that it's different here, that it's the group that succeeds, not the individual, and that they don't have to outshine their colleagues. Take them aside, let them know. When I first got here, somebody had to explain it to me.