Week 9: Day 4-5

On Thursday afternoon, my meeting with Margaret began. Laura and I sat at the table as time passed. I assumed that she must be an uncaring or unmotivated person because she missed our meeting last week and had the audacity to come late to this one. As it turns out, my assumptions were incorrect. She was actually quite pleasant, coming into the meeting with one of her teammates. She and her teammate, Alita, were very candid and helpful in our meeting. They laid out all of the information that Laura and I needed to make an effective process map. Towards the end of our meeting, Margaret made us promise to make the map as short as possiblee. She pulled out an older process map that Meridel made that was over 12 pages. Margaret explained to us that it was almost unreadable, alluding to this being her explanation for skipping our meeting. I did not like that explanation, but I certainly understand why an employee would consider process improvement to be a waste of time. Immediately after my meeting with Margaret, my meeting with Tarik began. One of the first differences that I noticed between Margaret and Tarik was that he was less helpful. He kept digressing from the points that I needed addressed, forcing me to break my choreographed routine. I tried my best to contain my frustration and he certainly noticed. It became clear to me, after hearing the details of what he does, that he was just stalling. He does not do any part of his job correctly. After an hour and a half of what felt like harsh interrogation, I lost my composure. I politely scolded him for missing our meeting last week and wasting our current meeting, forcing him to get back on task. It took Laura and I hours to make sense of the details that he gave us. It amazes me that anyone can be this incompetent and keep his or her job.

Week 9: Day 1-3

My ninth week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis was devoted to conducting interviews for the Training and Travel Process maps. Unfortunately, the meetings for the maps were scheduled for Thursday, theoretically keeping my schedule open for Monday thru Wednesday. On Monday morning, when Meridel called me into her office for a meeting, my assumption was proved false. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss how I felt about my internship experience. During our meeting, Meridel and I talked about the maps that my teammates and I created so far. I was pleasantly surprised when she commended me on all of the progress that I had made. Statements as simple as “Good job” and “I’m proud” mean a lot when they come from your boss. I told her about how much I was enjoying my experience. Our discourse was going well until she asked me why my meeting with Margaret and Tarik was pushed back. I froze up at the question. I hesitated to answer because I do not like to talk bad about people when they are not in front of me to defend their actions. Meridel continued to pry for an answer until I gave her the information that she wanted: they did not come to the meeting. The expression on her face became unsettling. I struggled to keep my composure as she complained about how useless some members of her staff are. She referred to Tarik as “useless” and Margaret as “lazy” as I sat there awkwardly. When she started to calm down, I decided to come up with explanations to excuse their behavior. Big mistake. I posited the idea that they may have just been busy or forgot the meeting. Meridel interpreted my explanation for their inequities as excuses, making her angrier by the second. Meridel began her tirade from the beginning again, which taught me a critical lesson. I learned that it is best to allow your boss to vent when they are frustrated. Countering your boss, even if it is meant to be constructive, might only further enrage them. When that occurs, there is little more that you can say without further offending your boss. After Meridel finished venting, we went over two internship evaluations. The first evaluation pertained to this class, while the second is usually used to rate employee performance. The results of both evaluations were pleasing, fairly indicating my many accomplishments and strong work ethic. I spent remaining days of the week preparing for my big Thursday meeting with Margaret and Tarik. I wanted to have everything that I had to say choreographed and rehearsed so that I could better hide my displeasure with them. Honestly, I did not want to meet with them. I felt that they purposely disrespected me by deciding to miss our meeting last week. Thursday afternoon, which was the day of my second meeting attempt, would provide the perfect venue to test my strategy.

Week 8: Day 2-5

By Tuesday and Wednesday, both of our appointments were rescheduled for next week because both parties were unable to meet with us. How did we find out? When we went to our meetings and no one else was sitting across the table from us. That really angered me. All of my enthusiasm and energy were wasted this week because certain people within the organization are not as professional as they should be. Perhaps it is time that I changed my approach? I think that I will start setting up meetings by walking into people’s offices rather than relying on e-mail for correspondence. When I do use e-mail, I will definitely CC my supervisor and theirs to ensure an adequate response.

Week 8: Day 1

My teammates returned from their Program Management class on the eighth week. I was surprised by how happy I was to see them. We have grown tremendously close to each other because we work in such close proximity every day. After comparing notes with each other on how our week apart was, we combed through our task list in search of more work to do. We sat there for a couple of hours, contemplating what we would do for the remainder of the week. Almost on cue, Meridel appeared in our office. She is getting better at entering our office when we wonder what our weekly tasks will be. During our Monday meeting, she gave us four new tasks. I could barely contain my happiness once I discovered that they were all substantive. She told us that she spent the weekend reviewing all our maps. Two thoughts came to mind as she spoke to us. First, I would never want my workload to reach the level where I had to review my subordinates’ work on the weekend. I understand having to be in contact in case of emergency and/or having to communicate with an equal or higher level employee outside of work hours. I would never want to devote my weekend to work the way that she does. My second thought was that Meridel must be telepathic. She gave me a certain glance while she was talking to us, leading me to believe that she was aware of my displeasure at being assigned the Internet task. There is a good chance that she observed the displeasure on my face. For now on, I will work on controlling my facial expressions in order to better hide my thoughts. Meridel’s four tasks were our last remaining process maps. Apparently, we had even less remaining than I originally calculated. The first task was to redo the Training Procurement map. She told us that Tarik gave us the wrong information, which I do not find surprising. The second task was to meet with the Budget Group and add several more subprocesses to the Status of Funds map. The third task was to meet with the Physical Environment Group in order to determine how they reimburse employees for their travel expenses. I have the feeling that I will enjoy hearing about that one. It sounds interesting. The fourth task is to meet with the Customer Assistance Group (a.k.a. Mailroom Staff) to determine how they utilize and maintain their online database. My teammates and I were all surprised that the mailroom clerks have IT skills to begin with. After thinking about it for some time, I wonder if their IT skills were acquired while working with the BEA? If my assumptions are correct, then that reflects positively on Brian and Meridel’s leadership style. They truly believe in workforce development, educating and uplifting even their mailroom clerks. Ultimately, my teammates and I decided to pair up in order to tackle the projects more effectively. Jeff teamed up with Eric and I teamed up with Laura again. Laura and I decided to tackle the first and third tasks while Jeff & Eric handled the rest. By Close of Business Monday, Laura and I had set up appointments with Margaret (PEG) and Tarik (Training) for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Week 7: Day 2-5

The next day, with two of our teammates gone, Eric and I brainstormed tasks that we could do for the remainder of the week. Our master plan was this: Eric would make detailed overviews for every map and I would write guides detailing how to read the maps. When Meridel came downstairs for our usual 9:30 meeting, she looked genuinely surprised by our idea. The look of shock on her face betrayed her thoughts. She seemed impressed that two unsupervised intern would come up with their own work. She was nearly speechless for the remainder of our meeting. After she left, Eric and I continued the painstaking task of going through and making a guide and overview for each and every map. The weight of the task took us the rest of the week to complete until our teammates returned.

Week 7: Day 1

During my seventh week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, I found myself in the middle of a unique situation. On Monday morning, Meridel came into our office and informed us that the Bureau was having another training session. Apparently, the BEA was having another training session that was going to take up the entire week. The thought of everyone being out of the office again, like my second week at work, upset me. I was upset by the information because it removed the option of continuing forward with our few remaining process maps. I immediately thought of ways that I could keep myself occupied. Before I could complete my thought, Meridel threw a curveball at me.

Meridel explained to my teammates and I that the class was on Program Management. She told us that she talked it over with Brian, convincing him that the class would help us with our coursework and professional development. She caught us all by surprise when she asked us to attend the class. Jeff and Laura immediately decided to attend while Eric and I committed to staying behind. Meridel and my two partners were astonished to discover that I would say no to more learning. I explained to them that I was already enrolled in 3 classes for the summer and was “all learned out”. Eric repeated those sentiments, explaining to the rest of our team that he is in class as well. It is funny how graded classes can be a disincentive for leisurely learning.

Week 6: Day 2-5

The next day, Tuesday, my teammates and I informed Meridel and Brian that we were running out of tasks. That morning, we looked at our list of processes to map and there were only a handful remaining at most. Meridel smiled at the news, telling us that she could find plenty for us to do. She assigned the four of us new tasks by Wednesday morning. Laura and I, as a team, were tasked with navigating the BEA website and finding dead links. We were responsible for reporting these links and other errors to Meridel and Brian by Friday. I was happy to have something to do, but I quickly grew tired of looking at the BEA website.

Week 6: Day 1

During my sixth week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, I gained a new teammate named Eric. I was caught off-guard when I walked into work and the Human Resources supervisor was waiting for my teammates and I at our office. She looked somewhat disheveled, which I found surprising because she was normally well put together. She talked to us at a speed rivaling a mile per minute, leading me to believe that she was in the middle of an unexpected crisis. It took me a while to understand what the source of her panic was. Apparently, my third teammate was due to arrive later that day and 60% of the senior staff had taken the Monday off. Both Meridel and Brian forgot that it was Eric’s first day and took the day off as well. I have to admit that I completely forgot as well. In retrospect, Meridel told us during our orientation that we would be getting another teammate during the summer. Due to everyone’s memory lapse, the Human Resources supervisor delegated the task of showing Eric around the building and teaching him about the organization to my teammates and I.

Two hours after being assigned our new task, the Human Resources supervisor called my teammates and I upstairs to the conference room in order to meet Eric. When we first met Eric, I noticed the typical deer caught in headlights facial expression that every new employee has on their first day. I had the feeling that he was going to turn out to be a funny guy. Before I had enough time to organize my thoughts into a disarming introduction, the Human Resources supervisor started inching towards the door. Her last words to us before she left were, “Alright, he’s all yours”.

The silence in the room was deafening. My teammates and I struggled to find the right words to say to the tall stranger that was left in front of us. Ironically, it was he who broke the ice by asking the easiest question for a college student to answer, “So, where do you guys go to school?” The rapport between the four of us grew as we all had the opportunity to talk about ourselves. Eric is an undergraduate student from the Ohio State University. At OSU, he double majors in finance and accounting. After his program is over, he hopes to work for a year before enrolling in an MBA program.

Eric and I got along almost immediately. One of our strongest connections comes from the fact that our schools are big college sports rivals: Ohio State vs. Florida. After our introductions, my teammates and I took him on a tour through the building. He was generally impressed with the facility, especially the intern office that he would be sharing with us for the remainder of the summer. As our tour ended, he asked, “So, I understand that you guys are working on process maps. How much more work do you have left to do?” It was at that point that I reflected on the work that I had completed thus far. In reality, there was no more than a handful of processes left for mapping. I was a little disappointed when I had to tell Eric “Not too much more”.

Week 5: Days 4-5

On the fourth day of the workweek, I made Brian’s changes to the Excel sheet. I also conducted an interview with to discuss the Training Procurement process. Matt was the individual I was assigned to meet. His position has similar responsibilities to Shirley, the lady that I interviewed last week, which gives him a role in completing the process. My interview with him filled in a lot of the blanks left unclear after speaking with Shirley. He was friendly, quirky, and I enjoyed his sense of humor. I almost died laughing from his response to a question that I asked him. I asked what he does with the information that he receives from Tarik. His response was, “Double check it because it’s probably all messed up.” His response confirmed my suspicion that Tarik is the cause of many bureaucratic nightmares in the BEA. My conversation with Matt challenged my professionalism by putting me in a situation where I could easily berate another employee behind his back. However, I made the decision not to contribute to interoffice banter. My contributions would have only served to further alienate myself from an employee whom I might need a positive relationship with in the future. After the conclusion of my meeting, I spent the remainder of the day adding Matt’s information to our map. I also devoted the last day of the week to interviews with Gary and Stacy on more details surrounding the Status of Funds map.

Week 5: Day 1-3

During my fifth week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, I mastered the art of navigating interoffice conflict. I began the first three days of the week by mapping Meridel’s Printing Process and reconciling Tarik and Shirley’s information on the Training Procurement Process into a single document. After completing those tasks, I scheduled two interviews for Thursday and Friday in order to garner more details on the Status of Funds and Training Forms processes. I was under the initial assumption that the week was going to be quiet until Meridel arrived in our office for our regular meeting. She inquired into our status, asking why we were taking so long to complete the tasks that we were assigned. My teammates and I were flustered by her disapproval. We quickly informed her of how much work we had completed so far, raising awareness to our completion of one map per week. Meridel nodded, tacitly admitting to us that she was just trying to keep us on task. In retrospect, I appreciated her intervention. It is always encouraging knowing that your supervisor is watching the work that you do and aims to make it better.
An hour after Meridel left, Brian came into our office to ask us several questions about progress reports that we have been sending him every Friday since our second week at the BEA. Judging by Meridel’s prior reception of our work speed, I was prepared for him to follow suit by scolding us for taking too long to finish our projects. Surprisingly, that is not what he wanted to talk to us about at all. Brian wanted to discuss his difficulty with understanding our document, claiming that it was confusing and counterintuitive. His harsh criticism surprised me. I tried my best to hide the irritated expression on my face as he continued to speak.
Brian spent the next hour presenting several layout changes that he felt would make our document easier to read. I found it hard to believe that the head of a critical government agency could not understand the one-page Microsoft Excel document that we have been sending him every week. My teammates and I were curious as to whether or not he even attempted to read the documents at all. We began asked him several questions in order to see if he read them or not. The questions were crafted in a way that would gauge his opinion on several details delineated in the sheets. His less than satisfactory answers helped us realize that he never put much effort into reading what we sent him. As the meeting concluded, he pressured us to increase our pace even though he had no idea about our current accomplishments.
Honestly, I was very resentful of Brian’s interference. First, what is the point of directly answering to your supervisor’s boss? I cannot imagine a management structure in any other organization where that would be the norm. Second, how can a manager accurately gauge the quality of an employee’s work without making an honest attempt to look at it? I do not think that is fair to the employee at all. Third, how can you run a major government agency and not have the necessary skills to analyze simple sentences in a Microsoft Excel file? You have to be kidding me. Fourth, I do not like being micromanaged. As a future public manager, I aim to empower my employees to make decisions and get work done. Workers should be terminated or marginalized if they cannot be trusted to perform a task. An employer that micromanages their workers wastes everyone’s time.

Week 4: Day 4-5

My teammates and I spent the last two days of the week mapping Tarik’s information while preparing for an interview with Shirley. When I walked into Shirley’s office, I was surprised to see a small, gentle lady who was working diligently on the paperwork covering her desk. When we sat her down and asked her what role she played in the process. She explained the entire process to us in less than ten minutes. Clearly, she knew what she was talking about. There was no way that this could be the person that Tarik described to us.
When we asked her how we could help complete her task, her response to us was, “Develop a clearer form so that there would be less errors in the paperwork that I receive.” I found her answer startling. I was surprised that she did not throw Tarik under the bus. She must have known that he said bad things about her. When I asked her if Tarik sends her incomplete or wrongly completed forms, her answer to me was, “When I get a bad form, I send it back to Tarik for him to fix it so that no one can say that I made any mistakes.” Her response brought a smile to my face. It was refreshing to see someone hold themselves to a higher level of class and dignity in the workplace.

Week 4: Day 3

The next day, my teammates and I had a meeting with Tarik. Tarik is one of Jack’s group members, working directly with the process that Jack mapped out for us last week. We decided to meet with him based on the information gathered from Jack’s sample process map. The meeting with him was very helpful. He spoke clearly, giving us all of the information that we needed to complete the details that Jack overlooked. When we then asked him how to improve the process, he posited the idea that we should develop a system to check on what the next individual who carries on the next step in the process does. He informed us that he knew what they did, but did not have faith in their ability to complete the task. My colleagues and I made eye contact with each other at the same time. We were astonished that he would throw his coworkers under the bus so casually. He then informed us that their names were Shirley and James. His final advice for us was to set-up a meeting with them. When our meeting with Tarik concluded, my teammates and I added Tariks information to Jack’s map while wondering aloud whether or not there was some form of interoffice drama that we were not informed of. Clearly my internship was going to be more entertaining and eventful than I originally imagined.

Week 4: Day 2

The next morning, my teammates and I met with Meridel to discuss the Printing Process. The Printing Process is relatively simple predefined process that is a part of Project 72. Predefined processes are separated processes that are necessary in order to complete a larger process. Basically, the Printing Process is comprised of the steps taken to convert a Microsoft Excel file to Adobe Acrobat before printing it, which is just pressing the Print to PDF button. Our meeting with Meridel was relatively short, lasting around 45 minutes.
After our meeting with Meridel ended, we had to rush to another meeting with the other interns. When we walked into the room, we discovered that we were 10-15 minutes late. I noticed two new ladies as I looked towards the head of the table. They were management consultants from an outside firm. The ladies were tasked with teaching us about how to properly network in a professional atmosphere. They guided us to the remaining empty chairs in the room: 1 in the front and 2 in the back. I was the lucky member of my team to get relegated to the seat in the front.
For the next few hours, my fellow interns and I were required to exchange introductions and testimonials about our career goals to each other. I was initially skeptical, thinking that this would be a massive waste of my time. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised, learning a lot about my fellow teammates and interns through this activity. I took many of the consultants’ lessons to heart. The biggest lesson that I learned about networking was to connect to individuals by what you can do for them rather than what they can do for you.

Week 4: Day 1

My fourth week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis was my most productive so far. My Monday began with a meeting with my supervisor, Meridel. Meridel apologized profusely for not being able to see much of us the week before. When we told her about how much work we had completed, she thanked us for being such productive interns. During the course of our conversation, Meridel explained to us that she forgot to document the Printing Process in Project 72 in our last meeting. We concluded our morning meeting by scheduling a morning meeting for the next day to discuss the process. After our morning meeting, my teammates and I succeeded in completing the maps for Status of Funds and Separation Clearance. The Separation Clearance Process, which I neglected to mention in my previous journal entries, is the process used to document the termination and retirement of employees. We have been slowly working on it ever since our Visio training with Meridel. It did not require any extensive interviews. We sent the e-mails out to their respective owners, Meridel and Gary, with a sense of satisfaction.

Week 3: Day 2-5

During the week, my teammates and I received several text messages and e-mails from both my supervisor and the Director's executive assistant. The executive assistant’s messages to us were an equal combination of hilarious and helpful. They always started off with a variation of the line, “Guess where I am this morning.” Her sense of humor helped my teammates and I cope with the isolation a lot easier. She would then joke with us about the officials who did not want to attend the training. My supervisor’s messages coincidentally built off of hers. They often told us where we could find the few remaining officials who were not required to attend training. My teammates and I spent the majority of Monday and Tuesday scheduling meetings for both that week and the one after with the officials that we needed.
The first official that we were able to coordinate an interview with was Jack. Jack is the supervisor of the Human Capital group. When my teammates and I walked into his office on Wednesday, we were surprised to discover that he had one of the best offices in the building. His window directly overlooks the street below at a flattering angle. My teammates and I looked at each other, exchanging feelings of light envy. Our office window is half the size of his and overlooks a dirty alley.
Initially, he was very polite, yet stunningly quiet. When we tried to make small talk with him in order to clear the air, he responded to our questions with uncomfortably short answers. After gauging the frustration on my teammate’s faces, I decided to take control over the conversation. I decided to try a new tactic: I asked him where he attended school. When his answer was, “MPA Key Exec from the American University”, I knew that I had established a connection. We then began to talk about our shared experiences and teachers, joking about the difficulty of paper writing on a weekly basis.
After we cleared the air and got to know each other better, I informed him that we would be mapping the Training Procurement Process. The truth is that I had no idea what a Training Procurement Process was. I hoped that he would eventually reveal what the process does during our conversation. I received the answers that I wanted after around twenty minutes. The Training Procurement Process is the methodology used by the Human Capital group to pay for an employee’s continuing education. Jack explained to my teammates and I that the BEA is well known and respected for funding the education of their employees. He further clarified that it is part of their strategy to build and retain their workforce over time.
When I told Jack that we were ready to map the Training Procurement Process, he let out a hearty laugh. My teammates and I were initially set off guard, confused as to whether he found my statement amusing or if he was berating us. When the laughter stopped, we all sat there in awkward silence. He then lightly lifted himself out of his chair and pointed to the back of his office door. We were surprised to see a draft process map on his door that he completed by himself. He then pointed to each step that he wrote on the map, explaining to us how it worked, who he worked with, and how the process was implemented. He then looked each of us in the eye and explained how much he respects what we do. His other parting gift to us was a list of contacts that we should interview to compile further details on the process map. When I left the meeting, I felt reassured, knowing that I was valued as an employee. My teammates and I spent the remaining two days of the week tweaking Jack’s process map and perfecting the Status of Funds map.

Week 3: Day 1

My third week working at the Bureau of Economic Analysis was both my most isolated and productive period within the organization. I was isolated for the majority of the time because most of the staff members in the Administrative Services Divisions were required to attend mandatory training. This significantly altered the priority list that I was given the week before because there were few people available to be interviewed. Apparently, the entire senior staff, including my supervisor & SPAG, was required to attend economics and statistics training. Their training, which was reminiscent of my own, lasted from 10 am to 3 pm. The majority of the staff was displeased about being separated from their work for such a large period of time. I did not understand the root of their displeasure. Who would not want to be paid to not have to do work for a week? From my vantage point, I saw that the majority of the staff members had assistants that they could have completed delegated tasks. I was surprised that no one ultimately made this decision.