Malaysia – Truly Asia!

After a staggering week with the other trainees in Kuala Lumpur, I sit here at Fornebu as a gently tanned and a slightly more reflected man. What a feeling

First things first
After a long flight from Oslo to KL, some of us in the trainee-group arrived Malaysia a couple of days early and headed directly to the shore. The idyllic images of white sandy beaches, palm trees and easy living were quickly set aside as we arrived Port Dickson, and a huge oil-refinery emerged in the horizon. But that couldn’t stop a group of Telenor-trainees (with an unhealthy strong belief in their own sun tolerance) having a great time and getting more or less severely sunburned. We never learn, do we?:-)

K.L.-confidential
A few days in the sun we were all eager to meet up with the rest of the trainee-group in Kuala Lumpur, with two big things on the programme: Having a really good time, and doing some serious reflection on ourselves and group-dynamics. Having a great time with the other trainees came, not shockingly, really easy. As for the reflection part that’s a whole different story!

Learning to know yourself
Guided by our “mentors” from Telenor Group HR and an external consultant, we continued the reflection-tour we started in October ’07, exploring ourselves as individuals and how we work in a group setting. For those of you inexperienced “reflectors” I can tell you this: It’s really hard work, scary, interesting, frustrating and of course fun at times. But having gone through the ups and downs I have to admit (although a bit reluctantly): It is very helpful!

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
Lao Tzu

Maybe the old Chinese had a point:-) 

One of the trainees after a week of reflection: True wisdom and True power! 

12 cats out of the box
During the trip it was also revealed where we are going to spend our 2nd period in this programme. My cat is called Dtac and lives in Bangkok, Thailand, and it was definitely love at first sight! And who knows, I might talk more about the cat later…