I feel like our office's intern program is on the verge of a growth spurt. We usually have between 4 and 16 interns, maxing out over the summer (see this graph). But I feel we're on the verge of being able to take on a lot more. I came to this realization yesterday after a series of interviews with prospective interns, and after talking to my district director, Susan, about our program. I left the office feeling elated and empowered.
Interns in our office do great work. In the past, they've enabled us to do a better job of things we already do: writing response letters, assisting constituents with casework, organizing district events. But with the start of the Ownership Initiatives and the leadership development program, our intern program will start to take on an entirely different character - it will allow us to do things we have never been able to do. We'll be able to proactively reach out to constituents (more than we already do); we'll partner with organizations to run health or safety or environmental programs; we'll put on educational workshops; we'll help neighborhoods organize. This is the vision of the intern program that motivates me.
I still need to grow as a manager and leader to make this vision a reality. I feel that I'm on my way down this path, but we also need to be thinking about what factors limit the number of interns we can handle. These are the factors I've been thinking about:
Space/resources: Our office is pretty big, but we do have a finite number of desks and computers. We'll have to figure out ways to fit more interns in here, or find ways for them to do work outside the office. We have a wireless network, so interns could work on laptops. We have a couple of other offices interns might fit into, but only after they've had significant experience in this office - this program works in part because I can help train interns. This brings me to the next limitation...
My ability to manage interns: I'm not quite at my capacity yet, but I may reach it yet, and I really need to ramp up the leadership development aspect of things if I really want this program to take off. I need experienced interns to be able to lead newer interns - I can't be the bottleneck through which everything must pass.
Our ability to find work for interns: As I see it, this is only an issue as long as we have interns working on our existing functions (letters, casework, events). As we develop the ownership initiatives program, more interns will just mean more projects we can take on. This will depend on successful leadership development, though.
The capacity of other staff members to help handle the interns: I do the bulk of the intern management, but other staff members play important roles. Karen reviews every letter after I review it. At the moment she feels well below her capacity, but as we have more interns, this may change. I can try to address this by having interns mentor other interns, and check each other's work before sending it to me, which will hopefully lead to a higher level of quality by the time it reaches Karen. This may decrease response times, though. Staff also do some managing when I'm away at class. This can be addressed somewhat through leadership development - interns can lead each other. It will also help when interns have more self-directed projects - at the moment, I assign them tasks, and once they've finished those tasks, there isn't much they can do. With self-directed projects like the ownership initiatives, they can come up with their own tasks.
I'm ready for our program to take off! I'll keep writing as things develop.
Interns in our office do great work. In the past, they've enabled us to do a better job of things we already do: writing response letters, assisting constituents with casework, organizing district events. But with the start of the Ownership Initiatives and the leadership development program, our intern program will start to take on an entirely different character - it will allow us to do things we have never been able to do. We'll be able to proactively reach out to constituents (more than we already do); we'll partner with organizations to run health or safety or environmental programs; we'll put on educational workshops; we'll help neighborhoods organize. This is the vision of the intern program that motivates me.
I still need to grow as a manager and leader to make this vision a reality. I feel that I'm on my way down this path, but we also need to be thinking about what factors limit the number of interns we can handle. These are the factors I've been thinking about:
Space/resources: Our office is pretty big, but we do have a finite number of desks and computers. We'll have to figure out ways to fit more interns in here, or find ways for them to do work outside the office. We have a wireless network, so interns could work on laptops. We have a couple of other offices interns might fit into, but only after they've had significant experience in this office - this program works in part because I can help train interns. This brings me to the next limitation...
My ability to manage interns: I'm not quite at my capacity yet, but I may reach it yet, and I really need to ramp up the leadership development aspect of things if I really want this program to take off. I need experienced interns to be able to lead newer interns - I can't be the bottleneck through which everything must pass.
Our ability to find work for interns: As I see it, this is only an issue as long as we have interns working on our existing functions (letters, casework, events). As we develop the ownership initiatives program, more interns will just mean more projects we can take on. This will depend on successful leadership development, though.
The capacity of other staff members to help handle the interns: I do the bulk of the intern management, but other staff members play important roles. Karen reviews every letter after I review it. At the moment she feels well below her capacity, but as we have more interns, this may change. I can try to address this by having interns mentor other interns, and check each other's work before sending it to me, which will hopefully lead to a higher level of quality by the time it reaches Karen. This may decrease response times, though. Staff also do some managing when I'm away at class. This can be addressed somewhat through leadership development - interns can lead each other. It will also help when interns have more self-directed projects - at the moment, I assign them tasks, and once they've finished those tasks, there isn't much they can do. With self-directed projects like the ownership initiatives, they can come up with their own tasks.
I'm ready for our program to take off! I'll keep writing as things develop.
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