Edge-crafters, Millennials

by Cliff Akins

October 26, 2021

Articles like “If You Want to Succeed, You Need to Have the Manager’s Mindset” from Inc.com emphasize the importance of adopting a leader mentality. While Inc.com focuses on the manager mindset in a post-college, professional setting, the Huffpost asserts that thinking like a manager can be beneficial as a student in “How to be an Effective Student Manager.” As a business student, I learned this lesson first hand.

Although challenging, this project was exciting because it was my entry into the space of consulting. With this experience, I not only learned about international business and what goes into the decisions behind globalization, I learned what it takes to be successful as a “newcomer.” Similar to the corporate structures of many of the most successful companies, this project was first and foremost a team project. With that, my team found success because of our collective adoption of a manager mindset. Through our emphasis on communication, structure, and efficiency, my team was able to maximize our manager mindset. 

How I Maximized my Manager Mindset

Communication

The first thing I learned in my adoption of the manger mindset was the importance of open lines of communication. My team immediately recognized that pivotal to our success in the project was an approachable space for team members to voice their questions, comments, and concerns. With an effective communication space created, whether in the form of a group chat, email chain, or meetings, everyone is on the same page and moving along the path to success. 

Structure

Following communication, my team acknowledged the need for greater organization. Managers are responsible for many moving pieces and this project showed how complicated these pieces can become.

My team quickly learned that structures as simple as a schedule can greatly affect your progress. In trying to manage this project, and the rest of our classes, responsibilities, and commitments, my team learned first hand that in order to accomplish our goals we needed to implement organizational structures. This emphasis on structure helped us to maximize our manager mindset and achieve success. 

Efficiency

Between co-ops, clubs, and classes, college/university students are busy. Simply put, students don’t have time to waste. Therefore, my team placed an emphasis on efficiency. We had very high standards for the quality of our work but we knew that without efficiency the quality would be sacrificed.

To achieve success we tried to proactively address problems and work without worry. Stress is a major distraction and impedes efficiency, so an emphasis on de-stressing the process of the project was established. We also found that in order to increase our efficiency team members must be held accountable. Thus, status updates and deadlines were implemented. Overall, through our focus on efficiency my team was able to maximize our manager mindset and achieve success. 

Conclusion

In the end, I learned the importance of a manager mindset first hand through the consulting project I was a part of. My team was able to successfully provide consulting advice to a real company looking to go global. The key to our success was the implementation of a manager mindset. I found that I was able to maximize my manager mindset by emphasizing communication, structure, and efficiency. I will take this knowledge with me as I continue with my studies and eventually join the workforce.

Now anytime I feel like a “newcomer” I have strategies I can implement to help me along my journey. I am looking forward to the future and continuing the maximization of my manager mindset!

Learn how to use case consulting as your tool to build yourself as a professional, start here at BE-EDGE. 

About the author: 

Clifford Akins is an  Undergraduate Student at Northeastern University majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation. 

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