I'm starting to piece things together as I learn little things around the office. I'm learning about the different businesses of the company and how they use to be treated as separate businesses but this last year or so they have come to report under the same big umbrella and are joining forces in one big company, the big T. The typical problem that happens now is you have duplicate processes, different ways of working and many employees doing the same or similar work. Some businesses have typically been slower and some businesses have typically been quite faster. So it's the joining of these German companies into one large company that is currently under pressure to work itself out into a new culture. And boy, I bet that is going to be interesting to see that play out! And while we're at it, Germany spends quite a bit of money with typically a small return on the investment, according to the telecom industry. So Germany will start doing more with less money. Or so that is what was indicated today that may have surprised employees and is making them nervous. Sounds like they will be counting pennies and will want to see big results coming back on their penny investment. I can't blame them at all. Just interesting that it took the German company this long to figure out. I really think they should have sold off the US T-Mobile a few years ago while it was starting to take a dive downwards. Either that or put in a new CEO sooner to turn it around (Just my opinion).
However, the most interesting part of the day was attending the CTIO speaking to his entire team/dept of employees, which now includes me. I got to hear about the goals to achieve, what they have achieved, the new direction they want to take within the company and of course, the most interesting part is to see the response of the employees on how they interpret this change and how will they handle that. It seems to be a BIG change of culture happening here in "The Big T" (it's no longer called T-Mobile) and I have this feeling that some Germans do not do well with change. I have to admit, it seems like it could be a very interesting time as the company is shifting and going through change. In a way, I feel like I've already been through this phase in the US with T-Mobile. Doing more with less money. How will the company stay alive, grow and perform in order to stay or become a leader in the business.
However, the most interesting piece was the discussion about the tough decision of Germany facing about selling the US T-Mobile business. What a mess the US company has been in and their decision to either fix it or sell it. Obviously the choice to sell was selected. Also by selling the US business, they are losing half of their procurement size, so that pushed them to be proactive to address that too.
It was really quite interesting and I'd like to see how this plays out. How will processes be streamlined by combining companies into one company? How will they reduce redundancy in employees (very hard to do in Germany). Will The Big T achieve this or will it at some point just be too much change for the employees and company? I'm very curious!
So, after the employee meeting with the CTIO, there was a BBQ in the park across the street. Although, there were a few sprinkles of rain here and there, it did get a bit cold and to drink a cold beer or ice cream just seemed to add chills on me without a coat. I sat with a few employees and chatted with them about what they thought on the speech and how this has been done in the past. All so interesting!
So, stay tuned and let's see how this all irons out to become streamlined and simplified. And how long will this take? Will people reject the change and if employees reject to cooperate, which I hear is happening, what will the outcome be for that employee? Hmmmm....yes, as you can see, I'm curious on how this will be handled. Especially as I'm familiar with the US side, but the Germans handle this differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment