I attended Mary Opperman’s Rose Cafe on how to not annoy my supervisors. Luckily, I never had any problems in my past internships. My supervisors/the people I worked for were relatively young and relatable. But as I start to look for more internships, I knew that I should learn more about how to communicate effectively with my supervisors since it is not guaranteed that I will get along with them. Her most interesting point was to ask “How do you like to receive information?” It’s something that seemed pretty obvious but not something we actively think about or actually consider. With that in mind, thinking back to my past supervisors, I did notice that they did have different preferences on how they wanted to receive information. One preferred that I ask him any questions over the office chat system because it was more convenient. Another preferred to have group meetings with all the interns at the beginning and end of the day to discuss what we accomplished and our plans for the next day. I’m glad her talk helped me realize this small but important detail that will help me in the future determine how different supervisors work.
This is great! As someone who is pursuing internships, I had never really considered my actions important to the overall communication structure at the particular organizations I interned for. This post got me thinking about how I communicate, and how important adapting communication is in the workplace. Thanks for this!