Cracking the Norse Code

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Recent years have seen a buzz of commercial activity in the Nordic region. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland are at the heart of the dynamic Baltic Sea region, an area responsible for 15% (!) of the world's trade. The Economist magazine has called it 'the biggest and most promising piece of the New Europe'.

The most concrete manifestation of the Baltic renaissance is the huge ¹resund Bridge that links, for the first time, the Scandinavian landmass with the European continent - including its Baltic neighbours in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Russia. Not since the heyday of the Hanseatic League in the mid-14th century, when towns around the Baltic formed a commercial organisation to protect and control trade, has there been such a convergence of peoples, cultures and economies in the region.

Healthy trade and export are essential to the relatively small Nordic countries, but views about Europe are anything but homogeneous. Finland is an enthusiastic member of the EU, enjoying its status as the only Nordic country inside the euro-zone. Sweden and Denmark are EU members, but they have distinctly eurosceptic populations and have yet to commit themselves to the euro. Norway has twice rejected EU membership and is likely to stay outside the Union as long as its oil riches keep its economy strong.

However, the Nordic people share an enthusiasm for new technology, and the area has the world's highest penetration rates for personal computers and mobile phones - and Finland leads the world in the use of internet banking. An increasing number of global corporations are establishing their headquarters for the Baltic Sea region in one of the Nordic countries. So far Sweden has enjoyed the larger share of this valuable inward investment.

Although corporate cultures are far from identical, there are fewer differences than between, say British and German companies. So let's take a closer look at what an international executive can expect when working in the Nordic countries.

Foreign executives from countries where the boss wields a lot of power and influence might have difficulties in adjusting to the egalitarian spirit of the Scandinavian workplace.

The idea of 'fair play' is important to Nordic people. In their management culture, bosses are not supposed to be overbearing or use force to achieve their goals. Nordic employees do not appreciate a 'do as you're told' attitude from their bosses. They are likely to rebel, and will do what they consider is the right thing. This often means they will talk to anybody in the organisation without going through the official hierarchy. (To an outsider the hierarchies are almost invisible.) The education systems in the Nordic countries train students to ask questions instead of learning facts by heart, and this is reflected in the relationship between employees and their bosses. Women are well represented in the public sector, although they may experience difficulties in reaching director or senior management levels in private companies. Recent initiatives in Sweden and Norway are trying to redress this imbalance.

A recent international leadership study by the Stockholm School of Economics showed that there are some distinct differences between Nordic leadership styles. Swedish managers were rated the most non-assertive. This prompted the Swedish daily financial newspaper, Dagens Industri, to provide the following headline: 'Swedish bosses weakest in Scandinavia'. For Finland the headline read: 'Here it is the boss who decides'. And for Denmark: 'No one tells us what to do!'

Scandinavian managers cannot motivate people with generous pay increases, as pay-differentials are low. Consequently they generally make a great effort to get the best out of those they command. Nor can they fire people easily. As Jorma Ollila, CEO of Nokia, said at a management conference in 2001: 'It is especially hard to make redundancies, because in Scandinavia you are not supposed to behave that way'.

A culture of consensus forms the basis of life in all countries. Consultation with colleagues before making a decision is mandatory, but the Finns and Danes tend to get through the decision-making process faster than the Swedes. To be suitably modest and take a low-key approach will be appreciated, as will punctuality and a structured agenda at meetings.

Scandinavians consider matters well in advance and they list all the 'pros and cons' before giving you their conclusion, which they will justify. Scandinavians look for pragmatic solutions, which make sense (to them!).

The concept of 'work-life balance' is something that the Scandinavians have been practising for years - not-too-long office hours are the norm. They value their spare time and believe that overtime will not necessarily produce better results. Maybe they are right - the Nordic countries have some of the highest productivity rates in the world.

The Danish and the Swedish teams involved in the building of the ¹resund Bridge said they learnt a lot from each other and have pooled their new knowledge. They are now working on another important bridge between Denmark and Germany. Maybe we can learn from the Nordic people about more egalitarian work practices and 'work-life balance'.