Danish management style: When your boss says you "could" do something, she means you "should" do...

An international who has done very well in the Danish business world told me his biggest revelation was that when he realized his Danish boss said he could do something, that meant that he should do something. Could you maybe have this done by Friday? meant this needs to be done by Friday. But here in Denmark, we like equality. We don't like authoritarianism. So orders often come packaged as helpful suggestions. But they are, in fact, still orders. One Danish woman I know took this style of management with her when she went abroad. She said to her reports in another country, uh, if you have time, maybe you could do this. And they thought, oh, I don't really have time. So this never got done. So if you are a Danish manager, be explicit about what you want done and when you want it done. If you're an international with a Danish manager, learn to listen creatively.