Becoming the T !

When I moved to Germany many years ago, I still used to get letters addressing me as Mr. T (more on the idiosyncrasies of my name in the article All about a name). Little did I know back then that I would be writing about "Becoming the T" on completing four years at Deutsche Telekom ??

The next step in the evolution after completing the Magenta Metamorphosis is that you start identifying with the T Culture.

The T3 community

If the first three years were a roller coaster ride with the steep learning curve on things I hadn't done before - hardware & devices, consumer marketing and partner negotiations, the last year was a fun ride on an "inward" journey. It started with the EQ Master training in the T3 community, followed by the wisdom I gathered in the mountains and culminating in me exploring my limits with the Limitless training.

I have to admit that I was quite skeptical at the beginning about these trainings as I thought I had an okayish EQ. I was proven wrong by the depth of the "inner" exploration to not only make us better leaders but also better human beings. The T3 community is a special place at Deutsche Telekom where we go on these journeys together, discover ourselves & others and support each other professionally as well as personally. The bonding with some of the folks I met at the T3 community has been just awesome ??

Hybrid Work

After being stuck at work from home for over a year, I finally enjoyed starting to meet people in "real" and being on the train & airplane again. I really liked being on stage at the Digital X and Mobile World Congress talking about "Magenta Voice Assistant" and being able to finally see the "live" reactions from the audience.

It's not a secret that I like working from home. There are so many reasons.

1. Living 70 kms away from my regular office location and 220 kms from the HQ, I spend less time in commute and getting less angry when I miss the Deutsche Bahn connecting trains ??

2. Though I am an adept (trained) ambivert, my preference for introversion makes it much easier to focus and get a lot of work done when I am working from home.

3. I regularly find time to do my workout and meditation every day helping me find a balance for the mind and body ????

4. I spend more time with my wife & kids and taking care of the daily household chores.

But, the two years of the pandemic has taught me that the office location is equally important for many reasons.

1. The value of co-creating on a whiteboard or flipchart (also digitally) physically with others in the same room is immense.

2. The chance encounters with people on the hallway or the coffee corner with whom you don't interact in your normal work and keeping an ear open for what is happening in the broader organisation makes a big difference for the organisational health.

3. The non-verbal and non-digital cues go a long way in making courageous conversations on conflict topics, difficult feedback work for the people involved.

4. My brain get's recharged with a change in scenery and environment and breaking from the routine of just seeing and being in my house everyday.

I have come to the conclusion that #hybridwork?is the way to go with flexibility between an effective, focussed?#workfromhome?and?#gettingtogether?with people in the office.

Magenta Voice Assistant - onwards and upwards

The amazing work we are doing with the Magenta Assistant continued last year where we launched our "Voice Assistant crafted with love" on new customer touchpoints - the Mein Magenta App and the Magenta Zu Hause app.

Not stopping there, we published our Voice Assistant strategy (the flywheel) with the broader voice community on the telekom blog as well as on voicebot.ai.

The latest thing I am quite excited about is bringing the voice assistant on the telephone line to help with an everyday problem - booking appointments. Check out the cool video our communication colleagues made to explain the use case and the benefits.

Read, read & Write, write

One thing I continued doing last year is to read a lot of books and continue to write a lot on LinkedIn. Check out the book recommendations post for some interesting stuff to read.

I had my brief 5 seconds of fame when our CEO Tim said in an Executive meeting that he follows my posts on LinkedIn and he appreciates me for being a good ambassador for the brand ??

One of my biggest realisations last year is that - given the uncertainties of the world we live in today, don't forget to take good care of yourself (rest, sleep, me time etc) so that you are able to take care of others. Onwards and upwards ??

ps: If you have read the article until here and curious to read more, check out these stories from the previous years - The Magenta Metamorphosis 2021, 730 Days Later - Bleeding Magenta 2020, Transitions... 2019, From Blue To Magenta 2018.