Encinas Blog Post 1 – Leader/Follower Relationships

Over the past few weeks, I have learned a lot about leadership structures of BRG and the corporate world in general. As a relatively large company, BRG has a very clear structure and hierarchy but there is a lot of flow. At the bottom level, there are teams that can range from two or three people to dozens. I am on two of these teams that are both on the smaller side, about three to ten people. Within these teams, there is a hierarchy of (from lowest to highest) interns, associates, consultants, managing consultants and directors. Even with this clear level-style division of leadership, I find there are not strong barriers between each level. Even though the internship is virtual, the constant communication and delegation of tasks makes the leadership structure seem flat. I am also lucky to have very helpful supervisors and while I am the least experienced on the team, I feel like an important part of it. Additionally, there is strong encouragement for the lower levels to interact with higher up employees. For example, I have weekly meetings with a buddy who is one year older than me so I can hear about her experience and always have a resource outside my immediate team. There are also weekly “Meals with an Expert” where the interns hear from a manager about what they do and how their work differs. I like that I can see the clear projectory through the company, but I never feel unsupported as a new hire.

One thing that surprised me about how work is directed is that it varies a good deal from team to team. There are a set of guidelines that are recommended at the BRG corporate level, but details tend to vary in practice. I have seen this in styles of communication, format preferences of final work products and the way an assignment is given to me. I think there is a lot of trust between leaders and followers. On the leaders’ side, I have seen the value they place on the input of their followers; decisions are team decisions and all input is taken into consideration. On the follower side, I have seen an enormous amount of respect for the leaders. It is reassuring that everyone speaks highly of each other. Not only does that transfer into a better work environment, but I think the work that goes out is of higher quality because of this respect.