Key Events

Boss Afraid of Conflict

This next event took place towards the end of my summer internship before senior year at Virginia Tech. At this point, I had discovered I loved the sport business industry, and specifically had the goal of working for a professional sports team. The summer before my senior year, I had the opportunity to intern with a Summer Collegiate League Baseball team in Bismarck, North Dakota. I was one of 5 interns on the sponsorship and entertainment team for the summer. One of the interns was from Bismarck and started before the rest of us, helping out in the office on weekends to prepare for the season. When the rest of us came in from out of state to start, she seemed to assume a mentality of superiority because she was from the area. It was evident as the summer continued that she was very opinionated, did not take feedback well, and was no interested in other’s ideas. Often times, she would pick and chose parts of the internship that she deemed worth her time.

While our team of interns learned very quickly that we would have to compensate for her in certain areas, our co-supervisors did not recognize this as quickly. However, once they did, it was a mess. For context, we were working 70+ hour work weeks, and spent practically every waking moment at the office or the ballpark. Eventually, during one game, both bosses were just fed up of her excuses and lack desire to follow directions. Within a few hours during the game, both of my bosses had come to me venting about this intern. Both were frustrated, and both decided to voice their emotions to me rather than the individual causing these issues. Thankfully, I have a tough skin and could understand those feelings of frustration because I had experienced them. The difference is that I had voiced my concerns to the other intern and to my bosses in a professional manner.

By the end of my internship, they each apologized to me individually about taking their frustrations out on me, rather than addressing the issue with the source. This experience helped me learn not only how to better address conflict in the workplace, but also how I personally would not want to manage people. I learned that leaders and managers need to be comfortable with confronting conflict in a levelheaded and mindful manner.