During the first month and a half of internship, three people left, all of whom were relevant to my team of interns. This posed a challenge for me and my team.
The first one to leave was C., the Head of the Labs department. He was the person I did my job interview with. He also covered the role of internal internship supervisor. My team had already been timely informed about his departure, and this gave all of us time to be ready for the moment he would leave. Gladly enough, before he left, he also managed to identify a new internship supervisor to take his place (G.J.), so that things would keep running smoothly for our personal research projects. Thus far, my team’s and my responsibilities remained mostly unchanged, with the exception that it is now up to us interns to keep in touch with all the people that are relevant to the client’s projects.
But things got more complicated when H. left. She was one of the five interns that made up my team. Her departure left a substantial gap in our workflow, so we had to quickly adapt to this unexpected change and redistribute her tasks among the remaining interns.
Finally, the third person that left is T. He has been the Head of the Labs EMEA department. His departure has impacted our team the least on a practical level, as Tim would usually work from Eindhoven, but it equally meant having one point of reference less.
This situation raised issues, such as balancing our existing workloads and ensuring that our personal projects were not overlooked. It was challenging to find the right approach for redistributing our colleague’s tasks effectively, but we all collaborated and did the best we could, respecting each other’s pre-extant responsibilities and still being able to deliver successful presentations.
In conclusion, the initial phase of my internship was marked by unexpected departures that challenged our team dynamics and workflow. Despite the additional workload and responsibility, I appreciated the opportunity to adapt and grow in a ‘real-world’ work environment. This experience required me and my team to balance our personal projects with redistributed tasks effectively, demonstrating the importance of collaboration and respect for each other’s responsibilities. The experience really set the tone for the whole internship, and it reinforced my ability to navigate through change and uncertainty, delivering successful presentations despite unforeseen issues. Ultimately, these challenges served as invaluable learning experiences, shaping my professional growth.
