Internal internship days at Younium 🤓
Background to the initiative
This fall, we have tried something new - internship days within the company. It has been fully voluntary, both signing up as a mentor and being an intern for half a day in another department. Curiosity and a willingness to understand other functions better were the driving forces for this initiative.
Interest
So, how about the interest in this initiative? Well, this initiative ended up with 24 opportunities where colleagues met over the functions. 24 occasions where knowledge was shared, not because it was forced, but because there was an honest interest. 24 cross-functional meetings, all from Marketing and Development, Finance and Customer Success, and Sales and Product.
Experiences
One of our Business Development Representatives, Esther van de Merwe, was an intern within the Marketing team. She met with Sezen Uluhansin, our Product Marketing Specialist. In a LinkedIn post, she shared her takeaways from the experience.
"It was an eye-opener for me to have a peek into the actual process of preparing to publish the data of Younium’s content. Also, it was cool to hang out as a +1, and have a mentor that answered all my questions patiently and see my colleague move with lightning speed!". - EstherAnother successful internship experience took place between our Marketing Coordinator, Linda Johansson, and our Product Stars, Björn Schlingmann and Viktor Falk Jiminez.
"Besides all the interesting facts and shared knowledge from the guys, I also got a bigger understanding and respect of the work 'behind the scene'. Like wow, guys - this is like a big puzzle where you just have to figure out where to place each piece." - Linda.
I, myself, met with our Head of Customer Success, Erik Forsgren. I wanted to get a better understanding of how we actively work to prevent churn and increase our NPS. We also had time to discuss what customer value we bring and how we can increase our upsell opportunities.
The reason behind this initiative
So, why do we see the internship within the company as a great and important initiative? Well, I can make a long list, here are just a few examples of the importance of sharing knowledge between the teams.
- Understanding and respect between functionsThe number one reason is that it increases understanding between functions and teams. To have a narrow perspective and just proceed from your and your team's point of view is very common, and harmful to the organization. Sharing knowledge is beneficial for so many reasons, it does not just help you get a bigger picture, it will also give you a better understanding and respect for others.
- Beneficial in your daily work A clear benefit we see is that you get a better understanding in other areas than your main role, and you’ll benefit from it in your daily work. For example, if you work in sales, it would probably help if you dig deeper into product knowledge.
- Reduces communication barriers As a remote team, where we have doubled our number of employees in the last year, communication is more important than ever. By showing interest in other functions but your own, you reduce communication barriers that might occur. You also create a feeling that you are a united team, not just different teams within the company.
