AlphaSights is a growing company so naturally there are challenges. It needs to comes to terms with the fact that they are now a mature mid-sized firm, and the layers of accountability and reporting need to be greatly improved. There is little measurement of people quality management (i.e. there is no true measurement for qualifying for a manager other than holding good in-firm relationships, and this has led to the wrong people holding those positions to the detriment of those around them). There is furthermore not such a clear path to promotion and I have seen many of my peers fail to advance not because they lacked the energy or skill, but because they were placed on the wrong team and lacked the opportunities I had by chance. The new structure that has been in place since summer 2015 has obfuscated this process even further and has led to much frustration.
There is furthermore a need for a robust HR/internal communications structure that allows for clear communication between entry-level and senior management, and can steer the firm in the right areas, providing feedback and essentially pushing people to hold themselves to higher account. This is especially the case for more senior management, most of whom have profited from being one of the first employees and are now in positions of serious power due to tenure and not necessarily accomplishment. These people need as much (or more) coaching, appraisal, feedback and performance management as a young manager, which they are currently not getting. Currently there is no mechanism to adjust for mediocre performers in senior positions, and there is certainly no valve to properly express such feedback to management. To their credit, senior management also straddles too many roles - from senior account manager to office general manager, which is a huge remit including budget, recruiting, strategy, etc., and so it is not reasonable to expect people with no other commercial/business experience to fill such a demanding role. The CEOs need to bifurcate these positions and likely bring in more experienced people to lead each of the offices, and allow themselves to direct the high-level functions of strategy, finance, accounting, marketing and management.
