Making an Impact at NCH

By Chelsea Charron

I think the first year of graduate school is for discovery. You try out different internships, projects, and areas of interest until you discover what it is you want out of your career. Now that I am in my second year and have discovered that I am passionate about organizational and leadership development, I am trying to get my hands dirty in as many relevant projects as possible, so that I am prepared to take my first "real" job when I graduate this May! One of the projects I have had the pleasure of working on this year has been developing and managing a Mentor Program for a global organization. Little did I know that program development was such a huge undertaking! From the small details, like creating a logo and tagline, to huge details, like the selection of participants, I was responsible for almost every aspect of this program. (Above is the first page of the 12 page handbook that was created for the program). Although I knew it would be a great learning opportunity from the start, it wasn’t until recently that I really understood the impact my work was having on others. We recently held meetings with the mentees to get their feedback about the program, who felt honored to have been selected and thankful that their company was investing in their development. They truly were grateful for all the hard work we had put in to help them in their careers! This is one of the reasons I love working in leadership development, as well as internally…you get to see the fruits of your labor! I know we can all get so stressed and bogged down in our tedious daily work, but don’t forget, we do I/O for a reason…to help others!