The Tuesday team huddle was the highlight of my internship with GE Healthcare -By Nived S Kumar from DMS IIT Delhi
Marketing is something I always wanted to do, even while I was studying Mechanical engineering in my under graduation. Later, when I joined DMS IIT Delhi to pursue my MBA, I was keen on getting selected for a Marketing role in my summer internship. Healthcare was a field I was particularly interested in, as most of my family members work in that sector. So, when the participation of GE Healthcare was announced for recruiting interns from our campus, I was determined to get selected. Let’s dive into my journey of internship with GE Healthcare.
The giant of medical devices market and its eminent programs
GE Healthcare is a multinational medical technology provider, headquartered in Chicago, USA. It is a part of the conglomerate General Electric, which has other focus areas as well, such as GE Power, GE Aviation, and GE Renewable Energy. When it comes to its multinational presence, GE Healthcare operates on the principle of ‘local, globally’. The company envisions precision health for everyone by enabling doctors and health care institutions to provide the best diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment to their patients through sophisticated technologies.
In India, GE has offices in more than 30 cities, the main office being in John F. Welch Technology Centre, Bangalore. It has multiple leadership programs for recruiting and training full-time employees and interns, which include Finance Management Program (FMP), Digital Technology Leadership Program (DTLP), Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP), and Commercial Leadership Program (CLP).
CLP is a two-year program in the Sales and Marketing domain, where young managers are recruited from premium business schools across India and are trained in various Sales and Marketing functions. CLP Internship gives a glimpse of the CLP program in 2 months, and also acts as a feeder for the program.
Interview process of GE Healthcare
On the previous night of the interview, I remember burning the midnight oil, wolfing down all information I could find about the company. We had a pre-placement talk, which was followed by a group discussion. When the GD got over, 8 students were selected for a personal interview, and I was one of the two lucky students who cleared the interview and got selected for the prestigious Commercial Leadership Program Internship. It was an ecstatic feeling to hear the words, ‘Welcome to GE.’
Since then, it was an eager wait to receive the offer letter and posting details, which I received by March 2020. Our location for doing the summer internship with GE Healthcare was Bangalore. I was looking forward to visiting JFWTC and the enormous GE campus. The internship was 8 weeks long and consisted of working on live projects with different teams in GE Healthcare, which led Marketing and Sales functions.
Virtual induction – A glimpse into the work culture
Soon after, COVID pandemic took the world by surprise, and due to the ensuing lockdown, our internships were converted into a virtual format. I was initially apprehensive about the remote working arrangement, but it is true that you get to know an organization better during the time of crisis. GE Campus Engagement team managed the crisis well, facilitating remote desktops and kicking off the internship with a virtual onboarding session.
Even during the internship, the campus engagement team actively made us feel at home, answering all our queries, and assisting us whenever we needed support. We also had virtual engagement activities (like step tracking challenge, virtual Zumba sessions, etc.) and multiple knowledge sessions throughout the internship (sessions on data security, quality management, etc.)
We got a glimpse of GE’s impeccable work culture during our virtual onboarding sessions. We received a very warm welcome, followed by an interaction with GE leaders from various teams and domains. The 2 key takeaways were that there was no concept of over-communication, and we were allowed to make mistakes as long as we didn't repeat them. We were encouraged to always ask the right questions and interact freely with all leaders.
The best team one could have
Each of the CLP interns was allocated an Assignment Leader, who led a Marketing team or Sales team. I was assigned to the central marketing team, which was responsible for marketing communication and digital marketing. My AL assigned a mentor to me, who explained my project and guided me in every stage, from ideation and strategy building to putting together my final presentation deck. Both my mentor and AL made sure that my initiatives were well appreciated and taken forward and also ensured that I got exposure in all avenues of Marketing communication.
The best part of the internship was the weekly team huddle which we used to have every Tuesday. The team used to get together on a virtual meeting, in the presence of CMO and discussed our activities during the week, weekly goals and progress on projects. This ensured that all of us are on the same page and also encouraged brainstorming, even though we could not meet in person. Team huddles also kept us focused on our goals and helped us get more things done. Reporting to the CMO every week made me nervous and excited at the same time, and I looked forward to presenting my ideas and progress. Apart from these weekly meetings, we also had an informal team meets where we unwinded and discussed everything except work!
The whole caboodle of learnings and management lessons
My project mainly dealt with building marketing campaigns and generating engagements organically on LinkedIn. Even though I had worked on social media marketing before, LinkedIn was a new platform for me. I got exposure to building a content strategy tailored to LinkedIn and brand communication. Working in central marketing gave me an opportunity to interact and learn with multiple product teams, understanding their requirements and desired outcomes. This helped me get familiarized with the multiple offerings of GE Healthcare.
From a management perspective, I realized that it is imperative to be proactive in identifying and pursuing new ideas. Instead of just completing the tasks assigned to you, actively lookout for ideas you can bring to the table. My mentor and AL showed me how to manage and inspire a team with positive reinforcements. They encouraged me to come with new perspectives and always appreciated me when an idea is translated into a tangible asset. I learnt to collaborate effectively with multiple stakeholders, even though we were all working remotely. Another lesson I realized is that teamwork always generates a much better result than working in silos. Always discuss your ideas with your team; most of the time they’ll help you connect the dots you might have missed.
In a nutshell, CLP Internship with GE Healthcare was a very enriching experience that I would cherish throughout my career journey! When I will become a manager in the future, I am sure I will be applying the leadership lessons I learnt here.