Before this internship experience, I would not have really considered myself a leader. I have had to work on group projects before at school, but I usually stuck to doing the work I was assigned with rather than taking the lead. However, during my time as an intern abroad at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), I have been given assignments that have helped me grow both personally and professionally. One important aspect I have learned is how to take initiative without needing specific guidelines. I have learned that leadership is about being resourceful and confident in making your own decisions.
One way that my leadership skills have improved from this experience is when I was asked to redesign the shop website for IMMA, using the platform Shopify. I wasn’t given specific instructions on what to change, just a general goal to improve the site. So, I learned to take the lead by coming up with a plan on my own. I started by looking at the current website and figuring out aspects I liked about it and others I thought could be improved. A few issues stood out right away – for example, some of the text on the slideshow banners was hard to read because the image behind it made the words blend in. There was also random text in the footer that didn’t belong and a duplicate menu with different titles but identical links. I fixed those by increasing the opacity of the slideshow images so you could read the text, removing the random text in the footer, removing the duplicate menu, and giving the menu I left a better title called “Quick Links.”
However after fixing those problems, I had to think more about what could be improved for the site overall. The first thing I noticed from a user experience point of view was that the navigation bar seemed a little disorganized. I liked all the headings that were already there, but I thought they could be organized in a better way. I would say this improved my leadership skills as I wasn’t told to change the menu but I took the initiative to do so. I learned how to go into Shopify’s theme settings in order to create my own menu and change the way things were displayed on the site.
One thing I’ve definitely realized is that being a leader doesn’t mean you’ll always get things right on the first try. Not every choice I made during this internship was perfect. Sometimes I got feedback that something I changed didn’t work the way I thought it would. But I didn’t let that discourage me. I’ve learned that being a good leader means listening to feedback, staying open-minded, and being willing to revise your work. I’ve gotten better at acting when something needs to be done and adjusting when things don’t go as planned.
On a more personal note, another thing that has played a significant role in my leadership skills is traveling independently. Little things such as navigating a new country, learning how to use unfamiliar modes of transportation, and getting used to different cultural expectations have taught me to rely on my own judgment and critical thinking skills. Just this past weekend I traveled to Amsterdam by myself, a place I’ve never been and didn’t know much about beforehand. I took the initiative to do research, and I figured out the most worthwhile attractions and built my own itinerary as well. For example, one of the top suggestions was to take a canal cruise. I had originally planned to do it on my final day, but after checking the weather forecast and seeing it was likely to rain, I made the decision to move the activity earlier in the trip so I could get a better view of the sights. These decisions may seem small but they have helped me practice skills such as thinking ahead, adaptability, and decision making. All of these are important skills of being an effective leader, and I’ve become more confident with them through my travel experiences.
Overall, these experiences have reshaped how I view leadership. I have learned that leadership is about being confident in your choices, being open to feedback, and being willing to take action when something needs to be done. As I continue to grow both professionally and personally, I want to keep utilizing these leadership skills in future roles, whether I’m working on a team or taking the lead on an independent project.
