Danish meetings start on time and run long, with flat hierarchies where junior staff challenge executives as equals. Expect no fixed agenda, direct disagreement with bosses, and decisions that might flip tomorrow if new facts surface. Being part of the consensus matters more than reaching one.
Chapters
Chapter 11, Handling a Meeting in Denmark. Danish business meetings can be brisk and efficient, or they can be extraordinarily long as the people attending seek consensus on whatever issue it is they need to discuss. There's an old Danish saying that a disagreement is a discussion that ended too soon. So get to the meeting location precisely on time. Or even a couple of minutes early, and be ready for the long haul. One thing that sets Danish or Nordic meetings apart is that every single person, from the boss down to the student helper, will be having his or her say on the matter at hand. There's no particular hierarchy or order in a meeting, often no written agenda, and no requirement that any one particular person speaks first, or speaks last. The only thing that's a must is that you're well enough researched in your part of the meeting to have an intelligent opinion, and that you express it directly and politely. Well-considered and even provocative questions are okay too, as long as they relate to the topic at hand. One of the most difficult things for people from hierarchical cultures to learn is that it's perfectly okay to disagree with your Danish boss at these meetings. Assuming you do so respectfully and have facts to back up your point of view. In fact, your managers will probably be angrier if you act like a yes-man and fail to point out obvious flaws in their argument that might lead to a disastrous business decision. Why didn't you say anything? Danish children are brought up to challenge their parents and teachers. In this anti-authoritarian culture, silent obedience buys you nothing. Whatever gets decided at the meeting may be reversed the next day if someone gets a better idea, or if new information comes in. In fact, you may leave the meeting feeling you've accomplished nothing at all. But you have.
