If you want to do business in Poland, then you’ll need to brush up on your Polish. But you can forget all that language you picked up during your Harvard MBA. If you want a successful career in Poland, then it’s more important to learn the vocabulary of a farm. The Polish language is full of farming metaphors, and Poles often see their workplace the same way a farmer sees his barn. Pick up this key agricultural vocabulary on the Farmyard MBA, and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Ignore it and the only one laughing will be a horse (koń by się uśmiał) at your poor decision-making.  

Take for instance the Polish word: gospodarka. As well as referring to the economic output of the country, it also means ‘farm’. This can be confusing. When you see some figures on wzrost gospodarczy, you may wonder whether it refers to the growth of the Polish economy or the birth of a new calf. Likewise, whereas many English idioms, such as ‘taking coal to Newcastle’ come from a post-industrial world, many Polish idioms come from earlier, agrarian times. Instead of ‘taking coal to Katowice’, the equivalent expression in Polish is nosić drzewo do lasu (take wood to the forest).

So what issues might a foreign business person face when coming to work in Poland? How can they switch their mindset to talk and think like a farmer? How can they communicate so that no Pole, in reply to their strange opinions, will ask czyś ty z byka spadł?!? (did you fall off a bull?).

Communication

The first barrier you’ll encounter when working in Poland concerns communication. As well as language difficulties, you’ll also be facing a different working culture. Indeed, there will be occasions, perhaps during meetings or presentations, when you’ll have no idea what’s going on. At such times, Poles will look upon you as a farmyard animal. Either they’ll compare interactions with you to a conversation between a goose and piglets: rozmawiać jak gęś z prosięciem, or, seeing you stare with open mouth, they’ll view you as a young calf who’s been transfixed by a painted gate: patrzeć jak cielę w malowane wrota.

How to handle such communication barriers? Well, it’s actually best to embrace the role of a farmyard animal, and ask your co-workers to talk to you as if they were chatting to a cow. Just say ‘talk to me like a farmer explaining something to a cow in a ditch’ and they will immediately recall the idiom tłumaczyć jak chłop krowie na rowie (explain something simply) and switch to a more straightforward communication style.

Simply put, when it comes to effective intercultural-communication, be the cow!

Office Politics

The farmyard can be a hierarchical place where the geese, oxen and hens battle it out to be the top dog. It can get to a point at which even the egg thinks it’s smarter than the hen (jajko mądrzejsze od kury). Your company’s headquarters may just as brutal, packed full of office politics and power struggles.

When working with Polish managers, you’ll need to bear in mind that Poles use farming metaphors to describe various management styles. One common style is to rządzić się jak szara gęś (lit. to rule like a grey goose) which means to abuse one’s position of authority. If any managers are strutting round the office like a dominant goose in the farmyard while their subordinates siedzą jak mysz pod miotłą (lit. sit like mice under a broom), then you may need to bring this up during the annual 360º performance review (as long as the mice are willing to share some feedback!).

Another characteristic of poor managers is when they are too tough on junior members of staff. You may need to remind such managers that they were also young and naive at one time. The Polish proverb zapomniał wół, jak cielęciem był (the ox forgot that he was once a calf) will help to get this point across.

As well as the geese and the eggs around your office, you’d be wise to watch out for any employees who behave like goats. If you’re in a tight spot, don’t reach out to them for help because they’ll only take advantage of your weakness. As all Poles know, na pochyłe drzewo wszystkie kozy skaczą (lit. all goats jump on a fallen tree), so choose your allies carefully and don’t fall victim to such workplace bullying.

Negotiation

When negotiating with business partners and clients in Poland, you also need to think like a farmer. While your MBA taught you not to overpromise and underdeliver, the equivalent concept in Polish is not to offer pears on a willow tree (gruszki na wierzbie). Basically, a negotiation will be fruitful (owocne) provided you don’t bring up the subject of fruit at all.

After years of research, the mathematician John Nash won a Nobel Prize for his work on Game Theory, and helped business people come to the conclusion that the best outcome to a negotiation is win-win. Poles have known this for centuries. So don’t try to school your negotiating partners. They know full well that wilk syty i owca cała (wolf full, sheep whole) is the best outcome for all parties. So openly announce your intentions by saying ‘I’ll feed your wolf as long as you don’t touch my sheep’ and any negotiations with Poles will proceed to a positive outcome for all concerned.

Of course, there’s always a danger that a business partner might play some dirty tricks, so it’s always useful to hire a good legal team. Choose a lawyer carefully – you want an old dog who knows all the tricks. Whenever a rival tries to outfox you, it will be like a scythe smacking a stone (trafiła kosa na kamień) as he or she comes to blows with an equally strong opponent.

Work closely with the lawyer to prepare strategies for various scenarios in which another business person may try to deceive you. If you have been turned into a horse (zrobiony w konia), what will be your legal response? Likewise, if you are led up the garden path and thrown into the raspberry bushes (zostałeś wpuszczony w maliny), what will be your exit strategy?

Time Management/ Productivity

Poor planning and sloppy time management can lead to unproductive work. So which working habits in Poland might have a negative impact on productivity?

The two questions you need to ask are ‘where am I plowing?’ and ‘am I plowing at the right time?’ All Poles know that it’s hard work to plow fallow land (orka na ugorze), especially when your time management skills are poor, and you end up working from the fence to lunch (pracujesz od płotu do obiadu). Use a time management tool, like a to-do list or prioritization, to schedule the right place and time to plow.

Of course, it’s important to set goals effectively, but instead of the SMART model, Poles are guided by the do’s and don’ts of farming. Rule number one is to avoid setting goals that are too high. If an eager colleague is aiming too high, then tell them nie porywaj się z motyką na słońce (lit. not to aim for the sun with a hoe) and they’ll refocus on more realistic targets.

That said, while long-term goals are useful, sometimes you need to focus on the here and now. If, over a cup of coffee, a Polish colleague hints that you’re a turkey, then don’t take this as an insult. He or she is merely referring to the proverb myślał indyk o niedzieli a w sobotę łeb mu ścięli (lit. the turkey thought of Sunday but on Saturday they cut his head off). Basically, they’re suggesting that you should focus on more immediate dangers rather than long-term plans.

Finally, modern corporations use ‘recognition schemes’ to identify hard-workers. These are also common in Poland, however, you may need to adapt to local culture when it comes to the name of program. You see, to the Polish way of thinking, to work hard is harować jak wół (lit. to work like an ox). So if your boss asks you to come up with a new name for the ’employee of the month’ scheme, then play cleverly with the word ‘rock star’ and suggest naming the scheme ‘ox-stars’.

Team-building / Building Relations

Modern teams just don’t work effectively without an annual team-building trip. However, when working in Poland, you’ll need to get used to a new set of team-building activities. Instead of paintball or abseiling, Poles build strong relationships by engaging in more agrarian tasks. Don’t be surprised, for instance, if you’re asked to eat a barrelful of salt with your co-workers. As the Polish proverb, zjeść z kimś beczkę soli testifies, once you’ve all been through this ordeal, then you’ll have a much stronger bond (and, unfortunately, much higher blood pressure).

How will you know when you have fully gained the trust of a co-worker or business partner in Poland? Well, there are some clear signals, but they are easy to misunderstand. One thing you might hear is that you are a równy chłop, and you might take this to mean that you’re a drunken peasant who’s flat on his back in a ditch. Similarly, once you have built a strong relationship with a Pole, then they might suggest a shared project, namely, stealing a farm animal together. If a business partner says the following z tobą można konie kraść (lit. with you, one can steal a horse), you might fear that he or she is suggesting that you kidnap a prize stallion in the middle of the night. Don’t panic. Both of these are just Farmspeak, and are Polish ways of saying ‘you’re a nice guy’!

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How important is this farmyard wisdom? Will your career grow and prosper in Poland if you don’t think like a farmer? Perhaps. You may get lucky and find yourself in the right place at the right time. As the Polish proverb says, trafiło się jak ślepej kurze ziarno (even a blind hen finds grain).

But why risk your future on stumbling across a few grains of corn? Why not aim higher? Thanks to our unique academic program based on folk know-how and real farming case studies, your career will flourish like a well-run farm.

Złap byka za rogi (grab the bull by the horns) and sign up for the Farmyard MBA today!