As my 4-month internship at CAIA comes to an end, it is now time for a mini inside story about my experience as a business psychology intern. Working in a start-up gave me an insight on what it takes to get a company and idea up and running: there is always something you can do and gain real hands-on experience. The major focus of the internship was on the development of a new leadership development tool (COA) which can help start-up founders with their teams. Whilst this project was a big part of my time at CAIA, I was also assigned to another multitude of tasks, which put my skill set to test and at the same time offered me the opportunity of getting a 360 degree view on the management consulting business.
Location: Online vs Offline
At the beginning of March, I received a warm welcome by Lara (Co-founder and CEO), who showed me the elegant hub in London where CAIA started. On that occasion, I also had the chance to meet Shakira, another business psychology intern. Although having quite different personalities as shown by our personality profiles, I immediately felt included in this very small and diverse team of female leaders.
Following the global challenge of COVID-19, CAIA decided to move my internship online. Although being somewhat awkward at first, my team adapted very quickly to the use of video conferencing platforms. The team was very flexible and resilient in coping with this challenge so much so even CAIA's newest intern Meghan joined our group directly from home!
Energy, Drive, Passion — or Better: A.M.O.R.E.
My days at CAIA started usually with a video group call around 10 a.m., in which we updated each other about the upcoming activities and tasks. A lot of time was spent on formatting surveys, Excel files and reading literature research on psychometrics — yes, the tool is backed up by science.
Besides scientific rigour, the work on COA could also get highly creative. One day we were brainstorming a nice acronym for the personality traits assessed by our tool. Given that COA means joy in Maori language, we wanted to come up with a related theme. It happened to me as a native Italian speaker to know that LOVE in Italian is AMORE, which perfectly fitted with our five personality traits (Agreeableness, Mindfulness, Openness, Reactivity, Extraversion) and matched with joy!
Clients and Networking
One of the best parts of this experience was when Lara got us involved in coaching days for one of CAIA's clients. I had the chance to assist one of the 'Tribes', in which founders come together to network and build their leadership skills. I could observe how coaches make use of techniques to help people better know each other and establish a social contract within a group.
I was amazed by how psychometrics can so accurately depict the personality of individuals, and by the way meditation techniques of visualization are used as an icebreaker. Another highlight was attending client sales meetings and contributing to the creation of a client proposal — finding the right balance between the assertion of our own brand and the personalization of the content to the client.
Conclusion
As a soon to-be-graduating student, I can only say that the experience in a start-up such as CAIA was a fantastic way to develop new skills, gain experience and meet amazing people! Working here allowed me to gain very rapidly high levels of responsibility and I learnt so much from the consulting and business psychology industry. While a part of me remains at CAIA, I feel that the invaluable tools I was given here will guide me in the future steps of my career.
Written by Valeria Trabattoni, Cognitive and Decision Sciences Student at University College London
By Valeria Trabattoni
Business Psychology Intern, CAIA