Athletes in the Workforce
I have been on a sports team my whole life, and I did not realize until this summer that athletics are what have made me successful in the workforce. As a student athlete in college you are forced to work with other people to accomplish the same task, whether it be winning a game, scoring a goal, or being there for your teammates. Everyone on the team is forced into a stressful environment, but teamwork makes it less stressful, more enjoyable, and fun.
This summer at the SEC I had to work with several people across many different departments on the same case. We had to analyze hundreds of thousands of bank transactions, and make sure every single piece of information was accounted for and imported into the master excel spreadsheet. At glance, this task may seem very easy, but it is not. The hardest part about the process was that there were 15 people working on the case and there was only one master file. I guess many people know this, but for those of you who do not, only one person can work on an excel file at a time, unless you are using Google sheets. All 15 of us were divided up and individual tasks were given out to each of us. We all had to work on separate Excel spreadsheets and then one person was in charge of importing all the spreadsheets into the master. This task required a ton of communication, accuracy and teamwork. If someone did not do the task on time, the whole team was behind, and if someone made a mistake, the whole file would then be inaccurate.
The other interns that were working on this case seemed stressed and worried that they would make one mistake and mess the work up for the team. However after strategizing with each other, we decided that we would come together and check each other’s work before the final submission. We all got together looked over the individual spreadsheets for errors, corrected anything that was wrong and then finally submitted the spreadsheets after several weeks of analysis.
While going through this process I took on the role of team leader and realized that athletics and being on a sports team have shaped me into the person I am today. Being on a team has taught me that everyone needs to be included otherwise the final goal will never be met. Everyday students are put under pressure to preform to the best of their ability, but if you work with your teammates the task will be less daunting and it will be completed more accurately!