#TBT I definitely hit the intern lottery with Vidhi Kirti Bhanushali! She was such a great addition to the team and immediately jumped in and took ownership of her project.
Managing an early career professional was a great stretch opportunity and I wanted to make sure I got just as much out of the experience as I hoped she did.
Here are 5 things I did to make sure she (WE) had a successful Summer:
1. Made a plan. My goal was to make sure Vidhi got everything she needed and received an offer to return to Reynolds American Inc. once she graduated. With a truncated timeline and lofty goals, I treated her 10-week internship like a sprint and tracked her progress against predetermined milestones. I established weekly goals and we made adjustments if we encountered any delays. In full transparency, the project plan was more for me that her. I wanted to make sure all the bases were covered and that she had all the tools she needed for a successful project.
2. Provided regular updates to my own manager. He and I already have great communication so, this was easy. Our VP gave us a general idea of the topic and I had an idea of what I wanted the final deliverable to be. Together we worked to nail down the specifics and refine the plan.
3. Used this as an opportunity to deepen my understanding of the Business. To complete her project Vidhi had to build a cross functional coalition with some colleagues that I hadn't yet had the pleasure of working with directly. I made some introductions but Vidhi took the lead to build the relationships. Sometimes she even let me tag along to the meetings. :)
4. Carved out dedicated 1:1 time for us to touch base. Our business can be complicated and nuanced and I joined Reyolds from a totally different industry so I empathized with how overwhelming it can be to ascend the learning curve. But Vidhi was up for the challenge. I was impressed with how quickly she mastered our technical tools and understood the fundamentals of the Business.
5. Got out of the way. Vidhi is driven, intelligent, curious, diligent and thoughtful. She really did all the hard work and demonstrated a strong leadership capability and ability to get things done. Vidhi is technically savvy and innovative. She made my job easy as all I had to do was create the space for her to shine
The result? Vidhi Kirti Bhanushali NAILED her final presentation. Although she was the last to present, she still received great feedback. (I reminded her that Beyonce always performs last, so she was in the best possible position :) Congratulations Vidhi, on a VERY successful Summer and best of luck on your final semester at North Carolina State University!
Congratulations to our outstanding summer interns for successfully completing their transformative 10-week program! We thank you for your hard work and invaluable contributions and wish you success in your next adventure.
#ReynoldsAmerican #BAT #Internship
