Most people, when considering bringing on an intern, look for work that no one wants to do before offloading those tasks on the intern. If they’re lucky, after that, the intern may want to return. Others think it is too much work to train someone for a short-term assignment. I suggest you think completely different about interns. They possess the three hidden strengths that your current team doesn’t have.
Before bringing on an intern, think of a problem that if solved quickly, and at low cost, would add value to the business. Once you have the outcome defined, the main role for you as a leader is to set the expectations, parameters, add clarity and support them. Give the intern enough freedom to learn, experiment, and try things their way to reach the results you described. If you dictate every step in the “how “– do not bring on an intern! Your staff is probably already working that way.
I have been fortunate to work with interns both in my small business and in the corporate world. What I found is each time I worked with them, I learned something, the rest of the team learned something, and the intern made a positive business impact. All went on to have amazing careers. Don’t shortchange the interview process – you still need to make sure you have a good fit. If you hire right, they will bring in unbiased perspectives, positivity, and a fresh set up skills to push everyone to a higher level. Let’s dig deeper into those three areas:
1) Fresh eyes – An intern will be able to look at a situation without knowing how something was done in the past, the outcomes, and are typically more curious. They will ask lots of questions and form their own opinion. Your roll is to coach them to listen and not assume the information they are being given applies to the current project.
2) Positivity – While your current team may have a “we’ve done this before and it failed” or “it will never work” attitude, an intern will be different. An intern, as long as you’ve hired right, and set a clear expectation of the outcome expected, will not have “experience” bias. They will not be paralyzed by the fear of failure resulting in the inability to start. Focus on a short-term project and what success looks like. Check in on progress and coach to keep on track. Be careful not to step in with the “how” unless absolutely needed (think safety). As part of their internship, they will typically be expected to complete one or more projects. They will find ways to accomplish them in innovative ways no one else can see or think of due to the “experience baggage”.
3) Current skills – Your intern in most cases will be very experienced in Social Media skills. Think TikTok, using a variety of visual filters, and general creativity. Allow them to use that creativity and skill set. As a final project, have them teach what they know to the current staff. A bit of reverse mentorship. This creates a win / win and hopefully a person that you will consider hiring in the future.
Think through
The experience I’ve had with bringing on interns can be described as nothing less than amazing. I gave one a problem statement that the catering business is down and not where it should be. They designed a survey and personally called all previous customers. It was an eye opener and gave us candid feedback we couldn’t get from the current managers. Everyone was “perfect” when in reality, late deliveries, missing items, and other issues were being hidden. The intern offered ways to make it right including a personal meeting with one of the co-owners.
In the corporate world one memorable project was to get technical and sales information to global team members so they could quickly access current information. The current process was a mess with everyone needing to know who to contact and hopefully get the information in time before meeting with a prospect or customer. The intern developed a sales and technical resources kit that was easy to navigate with content everyone raved about. The more experienced people didn’t want to contribute and never submitted anything for the initial release. When they heard the positive feedback from the field, they quickly jumped on board to ask how they could participate in the next update.
Would love to hear your experience with interns and feedback. Feel free to post comments or email them to me. Small Business, Big Lessons ® How will you leverage the strengths of an intern?
Small Business
About the Author:
Gregory Woloszczuk is an entrepreneur and experienced tech executive that helps small business owners grow their top and bottom line. Gregory believes in straight talk and helping others see things they need to see but may not want to with a focus on taking responsibly for one’s own business. He and his wife, Maureen, started GMW Carolina in 2006.
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