A speaker contrasts Danish workplace communication with American and Southern European styles. Danes prefer blunt, direct feedback rather than the "hamburger method" of wrapping criticism in praise. The Danish idiom "put the prune on the counter" means cut to the chase.
Chapters
Are Danes very direct, as I've repeatedly said in my speeches? Or are they conflict-averse, as a member of my audience insisted last week? One of my favorite experiences as a speaker is when an audience member openly challenges me, as happened at a recent presentation for about 70 people at a major life science company. When someone raises their hand and tells me I'm wrong, The entire audience gets energized— is there going to be a fight?— and begins to sit on the edge of their conference room chairs. This man, who was originally from a country in Southern Europe, said he felt his colleagues in Denmark were much less direct than, say, the Dutch or Austrians he had worked with. He felt his Danish colleagues avoided confrontations whenever possible. Taking a passive-aggressive approach. I disagreed, but perhaps that's because of my own U.S. cultural background, in which negative feedback is often structured according to the hamburger approach. In most corporate settings, Americans don't want to be a jerk, so the meat of a negative message is couched between 2 bready positives. Thanks so much for sending me this suggestion. I don't think it's right for us, but always come to me with your ideas. I love your initiative. For Danes, this type of approach is confusing. Do you like my suggestion, or do you hate it, or do you want me to provide some more clever suggestions? Isn't it just more efficient and time-saving to say, yeah, I don't think we can use that? I see the Danish way of communication as much more direct and more likely to put the prune on the counter, a Danish expression I have never really understood. It might be expressed in English as cut to the chase.
