It Can Get Ugly
Despite the fact I could probably write the sequel to Intern Nation in place of this blog post from my experiences over the last few weeks, I will try to pick a specific part of my internship and relate it to a communication theory / aspect.
A few weeks ago I was offered a full time position within the company / parent company I am currently interning for. The position I was offered was a great one, however the position was not one I felt was suited to my strongest suits and one that I would enjoy thoroughly, and so I respectfully declined. The changes that occurred over the coming weeks were phenomenal.
The biggest difference was the change in communication style. Whilst typically over the past few months communication has been very much rapport talk, there was a monumental shift from rapport to report talk. As a project leader, I’ve for the most part been left to my own devise, with my supervisor and mentors calling and dropping by when needed, often in a casual manner. Now however, it’s simply restricted to a work only conversation, often extremely brief, conducted via email. My communication with my clients remains unchanged, it is far less linear and often the meaning of the conversation is generated as the conversation goes on and it is far more rapport than report. Within my internship, it’s much more linear with a more ‘call and response’ feel to it. It is obvious (as we discussed in our meeting) that they no longer feel the need to provide as much guidance and time to me, seeing as I will not be becoming one of their assets. The amount of communication has dwindled and I often find myself in the dark a lot of the time, but I guess that’s all apart of the learning experience. I will certainly be going into more detail about this situation in my executive summary.
