"There Is Always Something That Can Be Done Better”

Thorben Stange is Communication Manager at Deutsche Telekom. His job is to explain complex technical topics in an understandable way. “This requires a certain amount of humility,” says Stange. In addition, you always have to be willing to learn and ask questions to understand the details behind technical innovations.

Worksite: What does a communication manager actually do at Telekom?

Thorben Stange: At Telekom, there are many different communication tasks behind the job title. We basically differentiate between two job profiles for communicators: communication specialist and communication manager. While the specialist’s tasks are more in the operational area, from creating individual texts to planning larger communication measures, the manager is also responsible for overarching communication concepts and strategies as well as the technical management of teams.

In my case, this currently means for the Group Technology division: setting up the internal communications and events team, developing the internal communications strategy and corresponding formats, helping to position the division and our Group CTO in terms of communications, and also organizing events, moderating, editing videos and writing texts.

What experience or talents should you have for the job?

For us, divisional communication requires a wide range of skills and often involves juggling different roles. In my case, for example, these are the qualities of a storyteller, consultant, translator and networker. The stories about the technical innovations that our colleagues develop naturally take center stage. How can I communicate these in as many ways as possible to the right target group via the right channels and in the right formats? As the teams in divisional communications are often quite small, it’s an advantage if you can handle many different formats from social media to classic reports and maybe even pick up a camera or podcast microphone yourself – in other words, if you’re are well-rounded.

In terms of content, my job usually involves very complex technical topics. That’s why I see myself as a bit of a translator: if even I, as a trained business economist, understand the technology, I need to be able to explain it creatively and simply for everyone else. However, the work often starts as a consultant, regardless of whether they are managers or tech experts: What is the exciting news? What should the storyline look like? How do I generate the desired interest in the topic? And is there already any progress worth reporting on, or is something still missing?

For my work, it is crucial that my colleagues first develop good new technical solutions and make progress in their tasks so that I can tell a story at all.

- Thorben Stange

What appeals to you about your job?

Basically, I think it’s great that the communications job offers something new every day. You always have your finger on the pulse, help to explain progress and are constantly learning. What I appreciate even more is working in an international environment with a wide variety of colleagues, whether in Europe or the USA.

The additional task of organizing internal communication gives me a lot of freedom, but at the same time, a lot of responsibility. I must switch between the operational role as a communicator and technical management, think about resources and plan strategically. You can lose yourself in it, but above all it’s an exciting challenge.

What are the biggest challenges in your job?

In the current phase, it is indeed a challenge to maintain an overview and not get lost in the constant change between day-to-day business, team development and strategic discussions with management.

One communication challenge in our area is that although our colleagues in Group Technology are developing and piloting highly innovative technical solutions, it will take some time and further steps before these are implemented in the network by Telekom Deutschland’s technology colleagues, for example. So, we are communicating exciting future topics. But it’s not always easy to tell stories about topics that won’t reach our end customers for another 3-5 years and contain many technically complex details. That’s why it’s important to understand who the target group is. Should I translate a highly complex topic for non-experts, or do I want to make Deutsche Telekom standout as an authoritative expert on the topic?

What has been your biggest flop on the job so far, and what have you learnt from it?

Fortunately, I can’t remember any really disastrous flops. But what I have definitely learnt is humility. After publishing my first press release, the first social media posts on channels with six-figure followers, Facebook livestreams, YouTube videos, etc., I sometimes had the feeling that I could do anything now and had an opinion on everything. You switch from one topic to another and have more contact with management than other employees – all this can quickly give you the feeling that you’re on top of things.

But the opposite is true. As a communicator, I can contribute a lot to the image of the company, but for my work it is crucial that my colleagues first develop good new technical solutions and make progress in their tasks so that I can tell a story at all.

That’s why my motto for every topic is: questions, questions, questions. Understanding things in detail, getting to know the colleagues behind the solutions and helping them to better present their great work. One of my former bosses had the motto ‘always better, never perfect’ – this fits very well with communication and events. You’re never perfect and there’s always something you can do better next time. You just have to take the time to critically scrutinize things and learn from them.

Thorben Stange

… is Communication Manager at Deutsche Telekom. Whether text, video, audio, social media post or strategic communication concept – in the last 10 years he has been involved in the external and internal presentation of Deutsche Telekom’s technology topics in a wide variety of areas – initially within Corporate Communications, later directly from the various technology units in Germany and Europe.

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