FAQWhat is Magee‘s vision of a functioning transatlantic organization?

It‘s not so much about our vision as it is about our clients‘s vision. It‘s driven by their very unique situation, context, parameters. Our job is straightforward. We help our clients gain from differences in national cultural approaches.

I can, however, give an idea of what the signals are when a transatlantic organization is performing. We all know very intimately the scenarios.

The highest form of a functioning organization is the family. Parents and siblings pulling together as one team. Family members know each other to a greater depth than any other unit. „Family.“ To be familiar with. To know and to understand. Now we all know that families are very complex, have plenty of problems, many of which are never or seldom addressed. Life is complex. People are complex. Nothing new about that. But, the loyalties are there. Unspoken truths, commonalities, ways of thinking and doing.

The next form known to many of us is a sports team. Football, basketball, baseball, soccer (Fussball), hockey. The many types of teamsport. As spectators, whether in the stadium or viewing on television, we immediately recognize a team with is cohesive, which plays as a team. And that goes for teams who don‘t play well as a team. The results are predictable, too.

Well functioning transatlantic organizations, like successful teams, have certain things in common. You sense an atmosphere, an air, a spirit. It‘s light, optimistic, creative, humorous. Colleagues communicate openly with each other. The focus is outward, on solving problems, not inward. People form groups, teams, put their minds together, naturally, instinctively, without bureaucracy. Information flows fast and freely.

And certain negative things have disappeared: not-invented-here, internal competition, escalation of conflicts, turf wars, small-mindedness, bad mouthing, blaming others, including blaming the customer.

Colleagues are curious about each other, listen more than they talk. Transparency is the rule not the exception. Colleagues want each other to succeed. „Your success is my success.“

German and American colleagues welcome the dialogue about fundamental approaches. They‘re not fearful of giving up something, of doing things in a different way, in experimenting. At the same time, if they believe strongly in their point of view, method, tradition, they explain it carefully, patiently, helping colleagues from the other side of the Atlantic to understand. All the while open to the possibility that they might convinced to let go of their way. Neither sides fights to have the say.