Culture: If I had to summarize this company, I would say it is filled with people who want to look good but not be good. The company's mentality, and what it promotes and supports, is an environment of CYA.
People: You will find people working their tails off for the kids, but they quickly learn that they are working in circles. As soon as one person moves the needle forward, someone else comes and undoes it. Directors, VPs and Mangers are all out for themselves. Silos exist everywhere. People shake your hand while stabbing you in the back, and generally behave like irresponsible mean middle schoolers.
Employees that believe they can make a difference either become comfortably numb and learn to do things the Children's way (give minimal effort and go home) or leave. The only employees that are happy are nurses who work directly with the kids. Everything is smoke and mirrors. People share what they want others to hear and bury the rest, skewing metrics, budgets, and FTEs, but that is considered acceptable because no one holds anyone else accountable for anything anyway.
Senior Leadership: The CEO says he wants his senior leaders to work together, but he does not take action to support collaboration and goodwill. He does not believe in setting goals for everyone to share and work towards, and therefore senior leaders disagree with one another and constantly contradict one another. This lack of unity and trust between senior leaders makes it impossible for employees to truly be successful. The CEO obsesses over minute details and misses the big picture.
Finance: The financial waste in this organization is astounding. Vendors and projects are constantly started and stopped. No one has a handle on contracts, budgets, FTE numbers or purchases. The Highest Paid Person's Opinion (HPPO) leads the decisions of the company. The squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease here and, those that are most squeaky are normally the meanest and most vicious. When working at Children's, you feel like the whole organization is about to crumble at any moment, yet they won't because donors love to donate to help sick children. Additionally, they charge more than other hospitals for their services.
Day to Day: In addition to wasted money, there is considerably wasted time. The organization lives on back to back meetings. However, meetings are inefficient, often starting 30 minutes late with partial attendance. No one delegates because no one trusts each other so everyone must attend every meeting. Everyone talks in circles, and few actually do the work to affect change (and those that do affect positive change get are quickly booted out).
