A lot is going to happen

In 2004 the Deutsche Telekom Group was strategically realigned to focus on the three business units broadband/fixed line, mobile and business customers. As part of this new strategy the units „T-Systems Business Services" and „T-Systems Enterprise Services", which have been working together to serve business customers under the name of „T-Systems" since January 2005, were to position themselves on the market jointly as a leading ICT service provider. In order to serve the new segment „business customers" old organizational units with employees from different legal entities had to be integrated and re-structured. The framework for a comprehensive change process was provided by a new strategy developed to reach the set targets, a project program set up to implement this strategy, the new business model and the new organizational structure. The success of this process will determine whether the targeted results are obtained or not.

What does „Leading in Change" mean?

A major communications campaign was put into action to persuade as many of the 52.000 new T-Systems’ employees as possible of the need for change and of the positive opportunities that it would bring. Alongside top management road shows and numerous other direct communication activities for all employees there was a special measure which was conceived and implemented to develop and establish the role of the 5.000 management staff as „Leaders of Change".

„Early Adopters" break down barriers

The direct target group for the measure „Leading in Change" were the 5.000 management staff in the new T-Systems. The indirect target group covered the more than 50.000 employees who would be affected by the changes to some degree. Why the management staff were seen to be the key to the success of the change process is answered as follows:

In order for a change process to be successful a critical mass must be achieved as quickly as possible – just as when a new product enters the market. For a new product to become established on a market certain initial investments are necessary in the relevant sector – e.g. advertising or promotion. The objective of this is that multipliers are won, the so-called „Early Adopters". These recommend the product to their friends, relatives, colleagues, in chat rooms etc. If the number of early adopters grows fast enough then there will be a kind of snowball effect and product penetration will gather momentum. When applied to the change process this means that multipliers must be reached as quickly as possible so that these take on a role as "Early Adopters" to persuade the rest of the employees of the benefits of change. Management staff are particularly suitable here. As they tend to be a voice of authority it is easiest for them to focus their employees’ attention on a specific subject. Management staff also air their opinions purposely or inadvertently by supporting or rewarding certain behavior, developing roles, and reacting to critical situations in a specific way. Employees notice this and use it to deduce their own orientation framework, which enables them to survive and develop within the influence area of their manager. This all makes the degree to which a manager can exert influence very clear. By using this knowledge a significant share, about 30% according to experience, of the employees can be won over to support the change and they will then "infect" their colleagues with enthusiasm.