In this weekly episode of Beat the Throw, I’m talking to employers that have employees reporting to them.
What I know is from experience, from my numerous part-time jobs that I have held for years, my various internships, and my observations.
The first thing to remember is that everyone wants to feel important.
And they deserve to. Delegating work is crucial in order to keep employees happy but also to be most effective.
I for one, am working on sharing the work load and handing out assignments. It’s challenging for me because I like things done a specific way and I am a man of routine. But after all these years, I am seeing that the best work environments keep everyone involved with unique tasks.
If your company can and does bring in interns, put them to work. For instance in the sports media world, because that’s what I’ve been involved with, don’t just send the intern to get dinner, or your scripts off the printer. Utilize them for story ideas, writing scripts and teases, and ask them for suggestions. Obviously the employee is the one with the experience but two minds are always better than one.
Too often, I have heard of interns having bad experiences where they are used to promote the station, do the grunt work, and they don’t take much away from the summer gig at all. I understand some of those aspects are part of an internship. But when the intern only remembers the experience for the bad things, it’s clear the student wasn’t used to his or her full potential.
It’s not just with interns but employees who have a boss. And we all report to someone. When working with those below you, try to assign them meaningful tasks–tasks that contribute to the grand scheme of things and that can be essentially shown off.
Not only is it important to take care of your employees or interns, but also make them feel valuable and apart of the team.