By Sehr, Nov 17, 2016.
It’s been about 10 weeks since I became an official #ROMIntern, and not a single meeting with my supervisor has gone by without me at some point exclaiming, “This is so cool!” Despite this, though, not everything has been rainbows and sunshine. There’s one thing in particular that, as a new intern, I think I could have done a better job of: asking general questions.
Now, I certainly did a good job of asking for important information, clarification, or guidance on matters that seemed to be important and relevant to my ability to do my job. But when it came to asking questions that seemed more general and not directly relevant to my work… I hesitated. I think I hesitated because I felt very wary of imposing on others’ time. I definitely didn’t want to be seen as “that” intern who needs so much help and guidance that managing them turns out to be more exhausting than just doing the work oneself.
But this turned out to be a poor way to avoid making that impression. In truth, picking up general information about an organization, its formal structure and policies, and also its informal procedures, is very valuable for a few different reasons. In this post, I want to take a few quick moments to go over why it’s so important, why it happened to me, and how you might be able to prevent it from happening to you.
All this general knowledge of a company is firstly really important for making you a more valuable employee. Every workplace is different – and in the cultural and heritage sector in particular, the internal structure and operations of institutions can vary really widely – and knowing the ins and outs of your organization, its policies and procedures, and its day-to-day rhythms can in fact actually affect your ability to do your job well, even if it may not initially seem like it. I learned this the hard way: I spent a few hours of my time looking for research leads in one department when I should have, in fact, been looking in an entirely different area. This mistake was entirely preventable: had I taken the time to ask my supervisors more about how the museum organized itself, I would have known right away that the department that sounded like the right place did not in fact have the resources that I needed!
An important point to build on this: your employer will most likely recognize that this general knowledge will actually make you a more effective and valuable employee. Therefore, this often means that your employer is happy to answer your questions! If you have any sort of worries about “imposing” on others or making them annoyed, this should be the thing that sets your mind at ease. Most likely, the fact that you’re interested and taking initiative in building this general knowledge base will impress them!
A second really important reason to collect general information about your organization is to take full advantage of the networking opportunities it offers you. I won’t delve too deeply into this, as you’ve likely heard the spiel many times before. In a nutshell, building a broad and strong network of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances is a fantastic way to gain knowledge of and access to job opportunities. A senior researcher advised our internship class that especially with an industry such as the cultural sector, which is significantly populated by introverts, having people remember your face is often half the battle. There’s another reason why they’re very important, though: strong relationship networks, including those at work, are important simply for your own wellbeing and support as you navigate the tough intricacies of your career!
This leads me to a final often-overlooked but crucial reason to continuously collect general information about your industry and institution: it can be a critical part of keeping you happy and engaged at your workplace! In many industries and jobs, but very much so in a field such as museum work, it can be extraordinarily easy to work in great detail with a handful of different ideas, texts, or objects, and in so doing lose perspective on the bigger picture of why they’re so important. Therefore, an awareness of what’s going on in other parts of the museum can actually help you keep that broader perspective and remember why what you’re doing matters, and why it is, in fact, cool!
Like me, you may have already been aware of some or all of these different reasons for collecting general information. And yet, like me, you perhaps still did not engage in it. If this is the case, it might be a good idea to sit down and really think about: what is it that’s holding you back? Then, even if you only manage to come up with half of an answer, try experimenting with different practices and behaviours that might help you address these concerns. For example, I tended to avoid bringing up general knowledge topics because I felt it took away from both my and my supervisors’ time to do our jobs. Therefore, my simple fix was to book time with them specifically for this purpose. In my weekly email to my supervisor, I included a couple of lines that went something like: “In addition to the above, I’d like to take a little bit of time to ask you some general questions about the division of work amongst the various departments in the museum, and who does what. Please let me know if this is fine!” In this way, I gave my supervisors the chance to either consent to this use of their time (“Sure, I’d be happy to set aside 15 minutes for this!”), or to push it back to a time that worked better for them. In this way, both parties consented to and felt comfortable with the use of their time, which makes sure that nobody is feeling unhappy with being taken away from their duties, and makes for a more productive conversation all around.
If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself that all this stuff is extraordinarily basic, you’re spot on. That being said, the basic things are sometimes the most difficult to do. Of all the various elements of my internship, I chose to focus on this in my post because I feel that it can have a large effect on your experience; plus, if you can master this skill, you can take it with you down the road to all the positions you may have in the future and yield extraordinary results. So, I hope that if you’ve been struggling, this post has helped prompt you to keep at it and experiment with some different ways of addressing your worries about your situation. Good luck, and can’t wait to check in with you again soon!