Week 6: A Glimpse Into The New York Times Events Team

I cannot believe that I am already six weeks into my internship. Time has flown by so quickly and I have enjoyed every single second of my time at the company. I could write a novel about all of the cool projects I am working on, the speakers I get to attend, and the coffee dates I have been on while at the company. However, what I will talk about in this week is what has stood out the most for me at this internship thus far. I have come to realize how important it is to have an environment of trust and a feeling of respect between leaders and followers as well as a common desire among all of the team members to accomplish and end goal.

After six full weeks at The New York Times working with my small team I really feel like I know them all well and feel as though I have been a member of the team for months. I always feel like a member of the team and like my opinion is valued amongst my team members. I strongly believe that this is due to the way my team members interact with one another. Everyone genuinely cares about one another and has a common drive and motive to help the company succeed and help ensure that our team is performing to the best of its ability. I think that contingency theory plays a huge role in the success of our team due solely to the importance of leader-follower relationships. The contingency theory states that effective leadership depends not only on the style of the leader but on the control over the situation. There needs to be good-leader-member relations and tasks with clear goals and procedures. And I think both of these concepts are strong within our team. Each Monday we all meet in a conference room to go over each event coming up on the calendar to see what the status of the planning is. We outline clear goals and dates for when we want certain tasks accomplished, and the event manager, Alix, helps to ensure that each member of the team knows his/her tasks. If someone looked in on our meeting from the outside they would know that Alix is the clear leader of the group and they would quickly learn that while she has power she is not dominant and instead allows every member of the group to have their own voice. This respect between not only Alix and the rest of the team but every single member of the event team is so important to ensuring a calm and productive work space.

Throughout the summer I have been working to compile three master documents with over 200 venues, 300 vendors and 100 PR firms that is easily searchable and full of necessary information. With these excel sheets my team will be able to go in and search for a restaurant in San Francisco that can hold 20-30 people in a private dining room for when they get asked to plan a dinner for the SVP of Advertising for The New York Times. As I compile the list I will pull out cool new vendors that I find unique and interesting to present to our team. About three weeks in I found a caterer in NYC that focused on the presentation of food and making it more of a show and an artistic display. I arrange for our team to go to the tasting room at Pinch Designs to taste their food and talk to the manager about the company. Alix and Veronica allowed me to make the initial contact with the owner of the company, arrange the visit, and organize a good time for the team to go. They put this all into my hands and it was thrilling to be able to see that they had such confidence in me to get the job done. And I think this talks true to the contingency theory in that when a leader has a clear goal for their follower it gives that person the tools to accomplish that goal.

I think this trust that each member of the events team has in one another is really important for any company and any team. The New York Times holds a dinner at Shakespeare in the Park, a theatrical performance of a Shakespeare play in Central Park. We invite clients to attend the dinner with the SVPs and Executives of The New York Times, and manage the numbers and the RSVPs from our end. This week the event assistant, Sara, granted me the task of managing all of the RSVPs for Shakespeare in the Park. While it may seem small, this is an extremely daunting task for an intern because if I miss one name or miss a guest then we will run into a serious problem the night of the event. However, the trust that Sara placed in me to be able to accomplish this task well has helped me to gain confidence in myself to get the job done. This week in particularly I have really learned how important it is to have trust in those that I work with and have this environment of mutual trust, respect and a desire to contribute to the end goal.