We’re finally back to 25C (70-80F) weather today after a week of being in the 40Cs (100F+)! I’m not sure how far this news is being talked about outside of France, but it’s a major topic right now in the news as some cities outside of Paris have lost electricity and water for days and very few French buildings have air conditioning. I’ve been lucky to only have experienced a short hours long outage in my neighborhood over the past week, with only one train delay due to the extreme weather. My intern friends who live further out in the city have had it much worse with their commutes.
Despite the extreme weather alerts and heated discussions in the news about the situation, I finally have managed to visit some art museums. I even hung out with some of my intern friends yesterday to draw at one and then grab lunch after.
Speaking of my co-workers, our work was pretty slow moving this week due to the heat. A majority of classes had to cancel due to their schools being closed for the weather and the warmth of our brick building made it hard for everyone to focus (especially when our team had grown to 5 college and highschoolers just for the week). But it was still fun! We got as much work as we could every day and would have ice cream afterwards or eat lunch together when it was too hot to go to the park like usual.
It was pretty fun having our little team for this week though. As three of them were fairly new, it kind of felt like I was the first person to ask for help or check in with after my boss, which I did not ask them to do nor did they need to do that most of the time. It was kind of funny though, and I think it didn’t help that I am the kind of person to get snacks for everyone when I am craving snacks, so doing things like getting ice cream seems to have unintentionally reinforced my position as team lead or a mini-manager? I’m not really sure, but I’m glad I’ve gotten to meet so many interns so far!
Before this internship, my leadership style was less direct. I typically don’t like being in a leadership position as I feel much more comfortable in more of an assistant or backstage aide to support those I see as good leaders. It’s only when I feel like there is no one willing or able to do the role that I step up a little to guide others. I think a part of me worries about if I will be respected by others and if I can show proper respect and guidance to others in turn.
However, after being at my internship for many weeks now, I think I am starting to understand how to walk the line between being listened to and respected while respecting others in turn. It starts with reading my audience and understanding when to be strict and when to be responsibly lenient. I think back to all the classes I’ve had to supervise. The first few weeks, I did not know how strict or lenient I should be as someone who is not their teacher. After meeting many groups, I learned when to ask them to change their behavior, when to gently remind them not to do something, and when to tell them off. In this way, I haven’t had to bring the matter up with their teachers or make them feel bad for mistakes and rowdiness. One strategy that has helped sometimes in guiding students to redirect rowdy behavior has been to show them alternative objects or activities they may interact with instead of something that might harm them, others, or displays.
Leading other interns and visitors is a much different matter of course, but I try to keep a similar approach where I offer help, criticism, and alternatives when necessary. For example, if our boss is busy at the moment, but someone does not have a project, I might offer one of my tasks to complete or explain how they might continue with one part of their project while they wait for help from our boss.
I am still learning how to be more forward about establishing myself as a leader for future experiences, but this internship has taught me how to not shy away when I am looked to for guidance and support. It has also taught me that presenting myself as a leader is not too far from the support roles I tend to enjoy; leadership roles are starting to feel like slightly more refined versions of support roles in the areas of clear communication and taking a firm stance.
June has gone by so fast! I hope I can remember to really stretch out these last few weeks into July.
