Ahva Sadeghi, co-founder and CEO of Symba.
getty
If you’ve ever found the thought of managing an intern daunting, it’s time to rethink that. Although an intern may need more support than anyone else on your team, as it might be the person’s first time in any job, the responsibility has clear advantages for managers. Internship programs can be instrumental in developing homegrown talent, so it’s critical that managers are trained and fully on board with developing the company’s future leaders.
Below are just a few reasons that internships are not just a win for interns and the company, but also for managers.
Interns develop managers’ mentorship skills.
Intern managers are tasked with teaching their interns new skills and opening doors when they’ve earned it. It’s not enough for managers to simply be the people interns report to; they need to serve as mentors in order to have a greater impact. This means setting clear goals and scheduling time to regularly check in on the interns’ progress while offering advice and guidance during the program. Many managers are motivated by this: It’s rewarding to support the next generation and to have a meaningful impact on someone’s career progression. Being a mentor and seeing your mentees succeed is something to be proud of.
In addition, having managers serving as mentors could create a better overall working environment. According to findings from the CNBC/SurveyMonkey “Workplace Happiness Survey,” employees who have a mentor are “more likely than those without to say they’re well paid and to believe that their contributions are valued by their colleagues.” According to a Vistage survey, 86% of CEOs surveyed agreed that mentorships were essential to their career progression.
Intern feedback helps managers improve processes.
Working one-on-one with mentees is an excellent opportunity for managers to get detailed feedback on their leadership abilities and identify areas that need work.
While 360-degree reviews are irreplaceable, there are few single sources of feedback more effective for a mentor than their mentee. In a true mentorship arrangement, interns work closely with their managers and can point out what the latter does well. At the same time, they can call attention to areas of their management or communication style that aren’t working out.
Managers who seek out this feedback become stronger leaders and help their companies grow. Gallup reports that those managers have 14.9% lower turnover rates and their units were 8.9% more profitable than those who don’t receive feedback. Improved communication between mentors and mentees leads to stronger management as well as improved job satisfaction for both the manager and their employees.
Interns can help managers think outside the box.
Interns are typically part of the next generation of workers at a company, bringing a fresh perspective with them, which can spur creativity and new ways of approaching problems. If managers trust interns with projects addressing real-time challenges the company is facing, there is an exciting chance that the interns can help managers see something new. For example, a NASA intern discovered a new planet on his third day.
Managers and interns can build a winning team for the future.
Managers make critical hiring decisions that impact their team and the company as a whole. Their work with internship programs, one of the most common entry points to the company, means they are directly influencing who may be leading major parts of the organization in the future.
By taking on mentorship roles with interns, managers can develop a stronger understanding of their talent's strengths, weaknesses and needs. This helps them adapt to the department or company environment to better support the interns, which in turn leads to greater satisfaction with the program and higher rates of interns converting to full-time employees. And of course, those full-time employees are more invested in the company than outside hires, which bodes well for their future careers at the organization.
Internships don’t just help interns get ahead—they help everyone at the company, particularly those who lead them.
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