Management of Issue Positions Researchers
Role of Issue Positions Researchers
Issue Positions work is not something that can be completed by one or two people. It is a team effort that requires several people who can help to collect the most accurate research possible. Having multiple individuals reviewing research also ensures the quality of the determinations made for all candidates.
While staff numbers are a big part of working through Issue Positions Research through each election cycle, the inclusion and support of Vote Smart Interns in the Issue Positions program are a valuable part of the research team. It is likely that Issue Positions staff will be managing multiple interns at one time. Below are some useful tips and tricks for managing those other staff/interns:
Role of Manager
Your role as a manager is to act as a point of first contact for your interns and to serve as a middleman for your interns and your supervisors. You are also to serve as a person who interns can turn to if they have any questions or would like something to be reviewed.
Intern Training/Tracking
First Assignment
One of the best ways to teach interns how to do the work is to give them a blank sheet with an incumbent and challenger on it. You can create this test research sheet following the steps on creating a sheet: Building Research Sheets.
Depending on the flow of work at that point in the election cycle, you could give them a sheet you’re currently working on to monitor their progress and spot-check them when they’re completed. Always be open to questions that they may have–this research in particular can take a while to get good at.
Tracking Intern Progress
An easy way to track the work of interns is to create a work tracker for each work of their internship. This is where interns will list how many candidates they researched in each state over the course of the week. You can also ask them to give you the number of candidates that they researched at the end of each week (one thing that also works well is to ask them if they researched any interesting candidates–like, Dr. Oz running for PA-Sen in 2022, for example).
Communication and Corrections
It is important to maintain consistent communication with your interns, to build and sustain a positive relationship within the team. This ensures that the interns feel a part of the team, and their work is appreciated, as well as being more comfortable in dealing with discussions on corrections and improving research abilities.
For communication, feel free to utilize all avenues for communication, both in-person (if possible) and via digital, including g-chat, Google Hangouts, email and Slack to communicate regularly with all interns. For corrections, it is valuable early-on to utilize face to face discussion (either in-person or through Google Hangouts) to ensure understanding of corrections that are being made.
Remote Interns
On occasion you will be asked to manage and supervise interns who are out of the state. You will not meet them in person, instead being tasked with communicating with them through email, webcams, and instant messaging. Managing interns in these situations requires adapting. It is critical to build this relationship with interns even if they are not physically in the office with you. While it is best to build a friendly relationship with your interns you should never forget that you are their supervisor and that it is your responsibility to ensure that they fix mistakes and are doing the work assigned to them.
There are numerous ways to ensure that interns are completing the work that you assigned them. The method that can work best is to create a work tracker and have them track how much work they do on a daily basis. This, along with reviewing their work after they leave, helps to ensure that they are on the right track with their workload and helps you to see things that might need to be reviewed.
Tips for Successful Management
- The biggest tip about managing interns is to make sure that the intern feels that their work is appreciated. This could be something as simple as thanking them at the end of the workweek for all that they did or by highlighting specific things to praise during an evaluation. If an intern feels that their work is appreciated and that you view them as a true part of the team they will be motivated to do better and be more accurate in order to help maintain that positive relationship that you both have developed.
- In Issue Positions in particular, the intern’s work is incredibly important not just in holding candidates accountable, but also for giving voters the analysis they need on the most important issues to them. Explaining the stakes to them can go a long way in making them feel like the work they’re doing is making a difference.
- Create a personal bond with your interns. The best way to do this is by taking an interest in their lives outside of the internship. Ask them how their classes are going. If they are in a club or on a team talk to them about how that club/team is doing. Find a common interest. It’s all about getting to know your intern and becoming someone that they are not afraid to talk to you if they have problems.
- It’s important to remember that interns are (as of writing) not paid, and they’re doing this either entirely for free, for credit, or for a scholarship. We don’t want them wasting our time and likewise we don’t want to waste theirs. We want them to come out of this internship feeling accomplished and feeling like they got something out of it.
- It’s also important to remember what your life was like during college. Your interns are going through the same experiences and learning opportunities that you went through. Keep this in mind if they may need to leave early once or twice to take advantage of a college event, so allowing flexibility, while balancing an understanding of the commitment they made for the internship is an important distinction.
For additional resources and useful management tips, see CategoryManagement
