Week 5- Solving Problems/Improving Leadership

In this week of my internship with Wells Fargo, the program is focusing on reviewing interns’ progress as this is the midpoint of my internship. As I am reviewing my progress and my thoughts on how the internship is going thus far, I have noticed and observed some areas that could be possible opportunities for leaders at Wells Fargo to create advancements or improvements in the virtual program. The main area that could be improved is the platforms of communication and the way in which interns are able to communicate with each other as well as with other employees. With the internship being virtual, there are apparent difficulties with communication and engagement. It is in these situations that leaders often emerge with the possible solutions.

When talking with interns across the program as well as with managers, most people use email, which is effective, but it is not always the fastest. If there was a way to contact others in real time or more quickly, I think it would improve the communication between employees at the company. In addition, engagement for interns is limited due to the internship being virtual, so ways in which to increase this engagement would be making sure interns get to know each other as best as possible, which could be having more networking opportunities on a weekly basis, or other engaging meetings that get interns who are not working on the same teams to meet each other. This would really improve and positively impact the environment of the virtual internship.

When working with groups and teams on projects, I have noticed that taking initiative and speaking up has solved a lot of problems and has really developed the leadership required in these team projects. I found that when doing an entire project online with other people can be difficult, as it is not as personable and team members do not know each other as well. I found that having cameras on during the meetings and making sure everyone is included in discussions while also taking initiative, allows for the most successful teamwork to be done. It is also important to take advantage of the online tools and resources available because of the virtual internship. If this was an in-person internship, then I would probably only really get to know my team and groups that I would work on projects with during the internship. With the virtual internship, we are able to contact and meet interns across the entire program, an opportunity that would probably not have been presented to us otherwise.