CRDF is broken at the neck. It retains holdovers from the previous regime that drove the company to the edge of a financial cliff before the current CEO grabbed the wheel.
CRDF cannot, and will not, get its act together until it makes the necessary strategic fires. A clique at the “leadership” level -- and I put that word in quotes because it's undefined -- has been there forever and continually demands respect that it has un-earned.
CRDF struggles to adapt and comply with business practices that it barely understands beyond being able to spell. Application is rote, unthinking and sometimes flatly wrong. Anyone who asks a question is labeled a rogue and wears a scarlet letter.
CRDF has no mission and chases money as you might expect from an organization with that problem. It took months of meetings and boondoggle retreats to come up with strategic direction, failed, and fell back on how they would focus on culture and, by extension, micromanage staff by judging their “behaviors.”
CRDF scores staff on a “vitality matrix.” Staff have no knowledge of their score or how it was justified. Some supervisors will take advantage of this process to denigrate the staff that props them up; some have a casual relationship with truth and the worst have no relationship at all.
CRDF is blind to the nepotistic nature of its talent management: it offers no means of direct report input and does not respond to staff concerns. The ringleaders of the circus have been there too long to realize that they made the show all about them and their personal affinities.
CRDF fails to understand that willful, deliberate misrepresentation of staff in performance reviews that goes beyond "manager discretion" is a form of harassment, as is retaliation when staff stand up for their rights and the truth. The negligence in handling staff concerns -- reported year after year -- is also a problem.
This place is rotten.
CRDF is fond of saying that it is a family. It is more like a kindergarten class. Staff are infantilized, smothered and treated like children. Mandatory meetings -- wastefully billed to taxpayers -- are infused with Play-Doh, show and tell segments, dress-up, and theatrical skits about what is good/bad behavior.
CRDF has a hardworking staff that adapts to change. Some of them took on work that aligned with the Trump administration's worldview and funding priorities but not theirs. And some of them delivered tens of millions of funding and dozens of new partners, projects and new funders while receiving nothing but criticism because certain people were too busy gossiping about trivialities (e.g. that one slide for that one meeting) to notice.
CRDF encourages behavior that flies in the face of what they say that they want -- a culture built on trust and respect, one that doesn’t require staff to schedule separate meetings with their supervisor so that they may speak openly because they are not allowed to do so in team settings.
CRDF professes to care about its people these days. That is acknowledgement that it never actually did. All the talk about “culture” and “behavior” is gaslighting masquerading as leadership.
CRDF smiles in the face of employees that they pay up to 40% less than others at the same position and are "granted" an 8% "equity increase" to bring them to the BOTTOM of the pay band following an independent salary review.
CRDF lowballs new hires by dragging up the salary of other underpaid staff, following race-to-the-bottom logic, in arguing that one person’s low pay deserves another. Those who advocate for transparency and equity are harangued for misbehavior.
CRDF blows thousands on annual events to promote women while refusing to spend a dollar on an event featuring top experts on current issues. Homemade meatballs and leftover wine from a week ago, anyone? Check. How about a side of priorities?
CRDF doesn't hold company picnics anymore. If it did, CRDF would gleefully embrace a Labrador Retriever that ran around uncontrollably, barking, stealing food and urinating on everything. All of that would be excused because the dog looks the part. Then you would bring your Doberman who follows every command and doesn't make a move unless instructed.
Guess who gets side eye for bringing a bad dog to the party?
CRDF would then watch a bear come out of the woods, do nothing, and let your Doberman chase it off to save the picnic. You will not get a word of thanks, you will get reprimanded because your dog startled Baby Karen as it ran by her chasing off the bear.
CRDF will not tell you about Baby Karen until it shows up in your performance review. Perhaps you will proactively address Baby Karen looking startled by discussing it with your supervisor and their mentor and it will do you no good.
CRDF, this is you. And the bear is some RFP you drop on someone’s desk with a 2-week turnaround while you ask asinine questions and complain.
