Efficiency as a Culture
The key words here are: Punctuality, German vs. Japanese culture, Filipino time, Radical Candor
During primary school, 9 out of 10 times I would be the last kid to be picked up. Not that my parents were neglectful, they were just busy. And they never informed me that they would be late either, if I was just notified, I wouldn’t have cried so much.
The impact of this incessant juvenile tardiness now shows up to my anxiety whenever I have meetings scheduled. I would be so nervous each time all while thinking “This has happened before, you are worried for now reason!” Funny thing is that these days it feels like I’m the only one who is in this mindset.
My unease with commitments and schedules comes with the expectation that the person or people that I am about to share my time with similarly respects and values the efforts we are about to make to one another.
But to tell you now, the past appointments that I have on my calendar all ended up in an implosion.
Yes, of course I am being dramatic, but it’s driving me crazy how people can commit and bail in such an “easy-breezy” fashion.
I wasn’t always like this, my culture allowed for Filipino time, after all. This means that you can be up to an hour late, show up to your meeting and be wondering why the other person arrived exactly on time and now looks like he wants to do a seoi-nage on you.
Now that we are in the realm of Japanese martial arts, we can smoothly transition to the Japanese culture, specifically their work ethics and respect for time.
It is usual for the Japanese to show up at a meeting 5 to 10 minutes early in an effort to avoid potential lateness. If it is scheduled at 4pm, then 4:01 is considered late and would be seen as rude or offensive already.
One contradiction in this obsession with punctuality is that it often only applies at the start time, not the end time. Many of the working class in Japan would have unpaid overtime and this is commonly accepted because it shows that you are a good employee, but ultimately this kind of assumption from the company or employer, would actually result in a suppressed dissatisfaction of the worker.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the German work culture, where the number of hours at the workplace is strictly observed and time of leisure is very much valued.
My light research tells me that the 9 AM to 5 PM schedule is common. All productivity should be, more or less, released within this time frame because as efficient as the Germans are at their professions, they are definitely more drawn to spending their time at the park, hanging out with friends and basically relaxing and having a good time.
In short, the reason why they work so hard during the day is so that they are able to have more hours in recreation and socializing.
Though I have only been to Japan and Germany as a tourist, I’ve observed that the one practice that both nationalities have that we can all benefit from is clear communication and follow through. Being able to express yourself to others in the most accurate manner in any context would save a whole lot of time and energy.
Scenarios where this can be applied? It can be as simple as declining an invite to watch a movie because you either have something else planned or you simply are not interested. Or updating the person you will be meeting that you will come at a different time than as planned, at least 10 hours before the schedule.
There are many situations, and there will be some emergencies or unexpected events that might cause us to go astray from the standard path, but if there is anything that we can agree on, is that when the transmission of information between parties is successful, it’s a win-win. And who doesn’t want to be around people that set each other up for success?
Lastly, there is always a way to be able to deliver your message in a way that it can be properly received by the other. Be mindful of the line between straightforward and disrespectful communication. One simple tip for this is to put whatever uncomfortable truth you have to say into context and say that you don’t mean to be offensive.
Here comes the disclaimer: I’m not an expert at any of this, but do count on me to show up on schedule 85% of the time unless I am with my family, then that is another story.
