Week 4 Reflection– Leader/Follower Relations

The organizational structure at ILA seems to be pretty simple. There is a CEO and a COO. Then there are a number of directors who work beneath the CEO and COO. All of the directors then have associates and interns who report to them. In general, the directors lead their small teams virtually. However, when a project requires attention in more than one area, the teams will join together. For example, I am working on a project with my supervisor involving interviewing current members who currently have a new type of membership, so we can improve on that membership type. Also, using the information I gather from these interviews, I will create marketing material. In this project I am of course working with the membership and marketing team (my team), but I am also working with the communications team. So, recently, I had a meeting with Marcia, my supervisor and the marketing director, and the communications director to review the questions that I have written for the interviews. 

This organizational structure helps to create an environment where even people who are not in formal leadership positions have influence on others in the organization and on the work that is done. In my position as an intern, I have absolutely no formal leadership, however, I have the opportunity to not only get critiques on my work from more than one person, but also to give my own opinions and critiques on many different projects that the company is working on. For example, in my recent meeting with the marketing director and the communications director, I got both of their critiques on my interview questions, but also I shared my own thoughts about what I liked in the project and what I thought could be improved on in the project. I could tell that both of them took my thoughts seriously, even though I do not have a formal leadership role within the company. 

I think that this type of collaborative organizational structure is generally very productive because in companies, those with leadership roles tend to be those who have been at the company for a long time. However, sometimes fresh opinions combined with a high level of experience results in the best work.