Leader/Follower Relationships (Josie)

Within my company, Rose & Co, I report to two analysts on a daily basis. Lucky for me, the two of them are very kind and always willing to help. At the end of the day, I find they always want me to succeed and try their best to play their part in my role at the company. Obviously, working remote isn’t the most ideal for the leader-follower dynamics. Instead of building a relationship with the people who surround you in the office, it rather felt like I was thrown right into things. I don’t think this is anyones fault but more a result of working remote and how much less you talk to your co-workers. I personally find it much more uncomfortable to write an email or a message on Teams asking how someones weekend was. While in person this would be a very casual conversation to help get to know those who surround you more. As I mentioned before, I am very fortunate to have two female analysts who are very friendly and try to reach out beyond just assigning me tasks. However, moving forward I hope these relationships do improve when back in the office.

The dynamic at Rose & Co is very much that everyone has their own assignments. Whether its business development or sales, every person seems to have their own role and list of to-do’s everyday. With that said, every morning we have a morning meeting via Zoom. One of the analysts will announce the priority for the day and from there every member of the team will execute their own duties. In this case for me if a certain company is named as priority I will begin starting their profiles, updating their contact info, and logging their past activities in a database. These tasks don’t have to be repeated on a daily basis but are rather instinctual to everyone on the team.

One of my favorite aspects about the company is the respect all members have for each other. There is a large age gap between the senior executive members on the team and the analysts and I. With that said, I have only ever been treated with respect while at this company. For those people who are not in formal leadership roles, their opinions are just as valued as the founder of the company. Even in my role as an intern I find that my voice is always heard. I think this is a benefit of working at a small company. With only 20 people on a Zoom it is much easier to gather peoples opinions and understand the teams thought process.

Since going remote, I must admit trust is a foundational part of a company. Not being able to look across the office and remind someone of a task or make sure someone is working requires trust. Especially at my company, some of the senior executives are not as well-versed in technology. They are used to calendars with exact dates and times and a place to meet the client. Today, as I work with the analysts to create zoom invites, schedule and re-schedule meetings, adjust times and people who are assigned to the call, these senior executives have to trust that we are organized enough to stay on top of these schedules.