It's funny how interns never have names. It's always, "have the intern do it" or "I talked to the intern". Or my favorite, "you're just an intern". That's how it was when I was an intern. A lot of the time I felt like I had INTERN written in permanent marker across my forehead and all I wanted to do was cover it up. Once people learned that I was an intern everything I said became questionable. But when I was actually able to cover my forehead, for example, when I was on the phone, was when I performed at my best. Not having that label made me feel much more confident in my abilities than when I had the label. People took me more seriously. I was respected and people listened to what I had to say because I knew the answer, not because of my title.
I think working with interns is where a lot of managers could improve on their leadership skills. There is a constant display of power by managers. I think that's why most get a kick out of assigning crappy jobs to interns and leaving them nameless. Leaders always want to prove how much more knowledgeable they are than their interns. To be more effective leaders should listen more and be open to the fact that they might not know everything, and that they can actually learn from their interns, just as their interns are learning from them. The best leaders are willing to listen and learn. Leaders should also work to transform internships. There seems to be this unwritten rule that nameless interns have to be initiated by endless amounts of filing, copying and coffee fetching. And my impression is that a lot of managers enjoy this because it's just how they were initiated at some point in their lives. But a good leader will look to transform an internship into something more than meaningless work. Yes, those kinds of tasks will always be there for a business to complete, but leaders need to look beyond the restriction of that's all interns are here to do.
Now of course my internship experience wasn't as bad as I made it sound. I actually enjoyed the experience very much and am very appreciative of everything I learned there. But there were plenty of times when I didn't have a name when I wished I did. I do wonder though how long this intern cycle of abuse has been going on. Were there nameless interns in the 50's? 80's?
I'm so glad you had a positive internship experience! You could speak about it at one of our SHRM meetings. :)
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the Pygmalion and Galatea effects. Supervisors told their employees are talented and likely to be high-achievers behave differently with their work group, employ different leadership strategies, positively impacting employee outcomes. Similarly, if we believe we are going to be successful we are more likely to reach higher levels of success.
Also, as you mention, internships could be used as a great tool to attract top students and future professionals in the field, and establish a positive and attractive image to interns - that will likely report their experiences to friends and other future professionals.
This is an interesting point. I interned at Microsoft (Summer 09).
ReplyDeleteDuring coures of the summer i found out that there was an internal mailing list known as "lightbulb" for ideas on how to run the company- but interns weren't allowed to be on it. I wanted to be able to participate in this important feedback culture, so I had my manager set up another mailing list called lightbulb - int (for interns). I convinced many interns (and full time employees!) to join the list and be willing to listen to what interns had to say.
The problem? No interns were willing to speak out on the list. They were either too busy/focused with their work, or were somehow afraid it might reflect poorly on them and they might not get a job offer.
It was a flop. Having now also been a full time employee, I know the original mailing list isn't THAT big of a deal (definitely interesting, but it's an internal mailing list with thousands of people, not a board meeting).
So, with interns it's also the question of "what are interns willing to say?"
I see a lot of interns not willing to speak up as well. And it's frustrating because you know they have lots to say. I talk very openly with other interns and hear about how they would like to improve things. Interns are always willing to confide in other interns because there's an automatic trust there.
DeleteI personally wouldn't want to work at a company that didn't care what I had to say. If I was an intern there I wouldn't have any interest in their job offer. Because if you start suppressing opinions as an intern who knows what you'll be scared to say down the road as a full time employee. Could you tell your manager that you think their idea is a disaster?
There are some fields (public relations, etc.) where interns are unpaid and really treated in abusive ways. I think I handed out a job posting "for the worst job" in my ORG 434 classes....essentially it was don't have a life and we won't pay you either.
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