One common aspect of Danish working culture is “freedom with responsibility”. A Danish boss outlines a project with goals and timelines, supplies a budget and other resources, and then steps back and expects her team to run with the ball.
She won’t demand constant milestones, expect to be cc’d on every email, or deliver ongoing feedback. In fact, she might not be involved at all, unless a member of the team comes to her proactively with a request for help.
Danes love this independence. They see it as showing respect for their professional expertise. But many international employees misunderstand: they see this hands-off approach as an indication that the boss doesn’t care about the project and doesn’t care about them, says Kay Xander Mellish, a keynote speaker on Danish working culture, in an interview with Børsen Ledelse.
See the interview here:
“Noget udlændinge kæmper med er ofte den danske chef, der prædiker frihed under ansvar,” siger Kay Xander Mellish, foredragsholder om dansk arbejdskultur, til Børsen Ledelse.
”Den danske kultur er en med relativt få ledere grundet det flade hierarki. Så de ledere, der er, har ganske enkelt ikke tid til at micro-manage. Men mange udlændinge, jeg er i kontakt med, tolker det som ligegyldighed – at lederen ikke anviser nogen retningslinjer og er ligeglad. Lederen tænker, at de giver en masse frihed, mens medarbejderen står forvirret tilbage.”
