Working in Pairs at TLC
Interning in the Regulatory department at The Lebermuth Company is always interesting, because you get to be a fly on the wall for many conversations. In particular, I enjoy hearing about the IT developments that our team works on. Joe and Chris are two individuals in IT who have been tasked with building web portals on the company website. In short, they are web developers but also programmers.
The task that they have been given is very difficult. It requires them, in effect, to build new code for the website. Though they understand how difficult their job is, they still manage to stay up on their feet throughout the work day. I often will pull up a chair and talk to Joe about rugby while we wait and see if their new code works. I know that it is impossible to code all day, but these two guys certainly try!
Joe and Chris follow each other around the workplace like an inseparable pair. They will grab Jimmy Johns and eat at their desk, while they bounce new ideas off of each other. Additionally, the white board in their cubicle is rarely blank. There is always a flow chart or model full of ideas that depicts what they are working on. In sum, they are a creative pair that work very effectively together.
I enjoy working next to people in the IT department because I can learn more about what they do. The computer science specialists never cease to amaze me with how much they know about machine learning.
So it sounds as though Joe and Chris work fairly autonomously and that – at least in regards to their web work – they are the decision makers. In regards to leader/follower relationships, how do they interact with those who work on different projects, their supervisors, etc.? As for the solving problems/improving leadership element, I would encourage you to consider other elements of the prompt (operational issues and/or ineffectiveness and ways in which these may be addressed; under-use, misuse, or abuse of leadership by those in formal or informal positions and ways in which such issues could be addressed; insights about teamwork and collaboration that could positively impact the environment and work product at your site; ways in which you as an intern, who is majoring in leadership studies, might identify issues and share concepts and strategies with supervisors and colleagues that could address the issues; etc.) as you continue with your internship as insights around these items will be useful to you when completing the academic components during the fall semester.