Week 1: Leader/Follower Relationship

Throughout my first week at AlphaSights, I have participated in extensive training to get up to speed on the company and clients we support. On my first day, I was paired with a trainer who will support my learning throughout the summer. In addition, I will work with my manager directly to go over tasks, questions, and further my professional career.

My first week at AlphaSights has been remote, but I will begin going into the office during week 2. During this initial remote week, it has been helpful to shadow my trainer in meetings to get a feel for the role as an associate. In addition, I have met with my trainer multiple times this week to check-in and ask questions on the learning course we have been completing as part of our training to be a summer associate this week. The virtual world can be tricky to dive into a new role in, but the structure of the program has allowed me to learn a lot in just one week about the company and my role more specifically. In addition, it has been helpful to have my trainer to contact with any questions I have thought of throughout the week to support my learning and growth in my role.

In addition to my trainer and manager mentoring me, my team seems like a great support system. In the marketing department, we have weekly lunch sessions, weekly touch-ins, and weekly end of the week calls. This allows our team to get on the same page about projects and initiatives within the company. Thus, the team is very structured in order to drive the most demand for our services and the company as a whole. Individuals are able to act as leaders in these meetings by spearheading new initiatives and being creative with new projects.

My trainer and manager act as strong leaders to me, the intern. They are strong communicators and even in a virtual setting, I feel very supported due to their strong leadership styles. Even though my trainer is only a senior associate, he is able to serve as a leader within the organization by having me as an intern for the summer. There seems to be opportunities for leadership within my team even if individuals are not in senior leadership positions. So far, I have seen great leader follower exchange interactions between both myself and individuals on my greater team!