Week 3: Leader/Follower Relationships

Now that I have finished the third week of my internship at O’Neill and Associates, I feel that I have a better understanding of the leadership structure and leader/follower relationships within  the organization. Although the government relations team consists of about 25 people total, I work primarily on a team of six people. I am assigned to two mentors, Jen and Ben, within this team. Both of my mentors are former interns. Jen is a Senior Director and has been working at O’Neill and Associates for fifteen years, while Ben is a recent college graduate and has only been working here since April. I have a regularly scheduled Microsoft Teams meeting with both my mentors each morning to check in and talk about what I need to get done that day. This first meeting lasts for about 30-45 minutes, and I usually check in briefly with one or both of my mentors two or three more times throughout the day. 

Within my team, I would say that there is not a standard procedure for how work is directed. The team consists of four senior directors, including Jen, two entry level employees, and myself. Since the four senior directors do more direct client work, most of my assignments come through them. When one of them has an assignment for me, they will usually send me an email and then we will schedule a meeting for later that day to check in and address any issues that might come up. Occasionally, a senior director will send a group message on Microsoft Teams to me and the two entry level employees asking one of us to help them with something, and then the three of us will work on the task together. Although I have had a chance to interact with all of the more senior members of my team, most of my assignments come through Jen because she is my assigned mentor. Because I am working remotely, I feel like I have had to figure things out on my own more often than I would have if I were in person and could walk into my mentor’s office whenever I had a question. However, everyone on the team has made themselves very available and approachable, and they usually respond quickly when I have questions, so working more independently has not been a significant issue for me thus far.