Our Blog: where do you stand?

Getting to Know You Part I

By: Susan Iskiwitch | 09/24/2007

As a new permanent team member and former Standing intern, I was encouraged by my mentor (Marijean) to arrange a series of lunches with other former interns where we could discuss the transition from intern to account coordinator. The office is chock full of employees at all levels who began their careers at Standing Partnership as interns: Beth, Jadea, Maria, Patrick and now Kathleen and I join the ranks.

During the lunch hour one Monday, Beth, Maria and I prepared our lunches in the Standing kitchen and took them to a nice outdoor patio behind our building furnished with shaded tables for dining. Between bites of my microwavable, healthy-brand frozen entrée (Beth had the same one), I asked questions like, “what can I expect from my first review,” “how can I gain client trust,” and “how do I prove that I'm ready to take on the account coordinator position?”

What did I glean from our lunchtime chat?

I should use my first several months in this new position as an opportunity to grow: As a new employee just beginning a career, I should take calculated risks so that I either do better work or learn through trial and error how to do better work. Maria provided me with a great metaphor to prove this point. At one time Maria had the goal of becoming an Olympic skier and took a trip to Colorado to train with other skilled skiers like her. After completing the downhill of a double black diamond without falling, Maria was gleaming; after all, she was the only member of the group other than the instructor who didn't fall. The instructor, however, was uninterested in Maria's self-perceived accomplishment and instead seemed more pleased with the skiers who had to tuck and roll down the slope. He told her that she was never going to build her skills without taking risks and making mistakes; he would have been prouder if she had fallen. From Maria's metaphor, I more greatly understand that I need to take some time to fall down the mountain (hopefully not too hard) so that when I finally do make it down unscathed, it's well-deserved.

Client trust is more easily lost than gained and to this end, I shouldn't expect to be the first person to contact a client or be the first person a client contacts. Instead, I should lay low, do a good job at what I'm assigned, and when it's time, assimilate myself to the team. I do good work; I was hired because of it, but it takes time to get to know a client and for a client to get to know me.

Next time, sitting down with Jadea and Patrick…

Posted in Internal/Employee Communications, Where We Stand, Employee Relations