They Are Truly Number One - Anonymous employee Great Minds Employee Review

Every now and then you come across a company that has had several negative reviews written about it, and you may wonder, "Is this company that awful to work for?" Let me answer that truthfully, and honestly. To start, the pay is not competitive for the tasks that you would be performing, especially on the Product Services team. You may think this is a reason to avoid working here altogether. However, let me be the first to tell you, this is actually to your benefit, as you will most likely be eligible for overtime, making far less than $47,576. Overtime, much like promotions, is not given based on merit or talent, unless you consider the ability to brown-nose a talent. If you share the same vision that I do, then start practicing becoming a yesman, as that will be your ticket to success here. Oh, or you could also ride the coattails of nepotism, and have worked with one another at the past two or three companies, each for about a year or two before you jump ship to the new one. Also a good way to advance your career. The past few reviews, save for what is probably the least subtle attempt of score manipulation by posting a positive review, have all been negative, and have all pointed out common points of contention. Mainly, the Product Services Management and their ineptitude. To start off, Product Services, in the incarnation that I saw it last, was a proud adopter of the Dilbert Principle, except the rule was modified to include any and all of the manager's friends, regardless of competence. The term "lackey" does come to mind, but also would be of great disrespect, so I'll avoid it here. You see, the Dilbert Principle normally is followed in order to limit the damage that one can do in their role, but what can I say, Manager and Friends are a group of overachievers. In order to understand why these other reviewers thought management was so horrendous, inefficient, and useless, it is necessary to understand what it is that makes for a good manager. You can read about the qualities of good managers anywhere. Sources vary on how many qualities there are. With the case of Product Services management, there are too many positive ones to talk about. But, for times sake, let's say there are 7, according to Forbes and Business Collective. Company Culture "Good managers are great leaders and high achievers, but the best managers? They like unique qualities about the company that might turn others off." At Great Minds, you will find that the people at the top all have great reasons for joining. Is it to create a superior product or to help advance the education of children around the nation? That's too simple of a reason. When the new wave of management came in, I was genuinely surprised and full of glee that one of the higher, higher ups had joined because "[they] liked the name." The motto, which I don't believe has been reworked yet has been "Every child is capable of greatness," and the new management has been keen on making sure products, both old and new reflect that. I may not have worked in marketing, but given the great advances and strides taken by management in the past year, I will offer a new motto for free that I believe represents their quality take on company culture, "Every parent and school is capable of shelling out more money." They're Positively Contagious "A positive attitude can go a long way. Managers who have a good attitude during the workday don’t complain about projects that need to get done. They look for solutions to finish them before the deadline. " A lot of what reviews are, for the most part, are subjective. For instance, what I consider positive, you may not. A gleaming example of positivity, in my opinion, would be the consistent meetings we had in which one person in management would contribute to the positive atmosphere by saying things such as "I'm not here to make friends," or "That's your headache, not mine." I wish I were capable of that self control, deflecting issues in order to preserve my sanity and happiness. Solutions to problems were reactive, not proactive, and any attempt to further error-proof were met with a steadfast resolve. As one can imagine, this only meant smooth sailing moving forward. I probably don't need to tell you, but solving problems as they come up, as opposed to planning on what problems to eliminate, causes an increase in brain elasticity and responsiveness. It also means job stability for you in the long run - these problems could have been solved, but since they haven't, now you have a steady stream of work trying to fix the easily avoidable. They Can Sustain Focus "The key to overall success? Prioritization and the ability to focus for an extended period of time. Specifically, they can manage multiple projects at once to make sure everything gets done on time and completed to client (or company) specifications." The beauty of the new management team that had come in was that they were tasked on fixing some of the problems that had existed historically. There were planned initiatives put in place, both by management of old and new. The new management did something that I never would have thought of, due to their genius. You see, you cannot miss a deadline if there was no deadline. And so, there were plenty of different initiatives, that all had a wide range of focus on that was still being worked on by the time I left the company. I have no doubt in my mind that all of them are near completion. They were also effective at conducting meetings - they were so focused on simply getting work done, that they would struggle forming coherent sentences and thoughts. They would also forget previous knowledge of previous employment - if one of them were to have a strong background in chemical engineering, they were not able to identify that they were contributing to a toxic workplace, as they were so focused on their current positions. They Lead With Their Head and Heart "Empathy for employees is important -- everyone goes through professional and personal struggles that can affect their work. The best managers are emotionally intelligent; they have the ability to lead their employees and guide them with understanding." The management at GM is fantastic at being empathetic. They are so empathetic, that I can say with 100% confidence, that they are the type of people that will ignore e-mails in order to focus on business for months and months on end. Then when you do have a personal life event, say, a relative of yours passes, they will try to call you the day of, after business hours (because they work so much, of course), and have the wherewithal to threaten you with an administrative action, because you, as the employee were not emotionally intelligent enough to pick up the phone during a period of deep stress. They will further empathize with you by going back to focus on business. When HR gets into the mix, they will also be empathetic to your cause, reminding you that you owe the manager an apology for not picking up a phone call, after business hours, on the day a close relative of yours passes. So, if you do join the company, be more empathetic like they are. I know I wasn't. They're Honest "A managerial position is no place for a dishonest employee. Your best managers will tell their team the information they need to hear, not what they want to hear." See, what I loved in GM was the backgrounds of all the people that worked there. They were varied, and learning about the past experiences of each of them was fantastic. You had teachers, you had writers, you had designers. All skilled people working in their respective fields. And then you had the management team, with even more diverse backgrounds, and they were honest about who they were. If they had zero publishing experience, zero educational experience, or curriculum development experience, only chemical engineering experience, they would let you know. If they were to tell you "that's your headache, that's not mine," it was the truth. They weren't shirking responsibility, they never understood their responsibility in the first place. Some of them were self-proclaimed "vector [people] in a raster world," whatever that means, and some were just clueless in general. If they conducted interviews, it was without scripts, without an expectation of an answer, because they played things by ear. They didn't know who they were hiring because they only knew nothing. They never hid their lack of knowledge about any fundamental aspect of their role. It's perhaps what I admired most about them. They Take Accountability "A well-rounded manager will take charge of their own goals and, on the same note, take responsibility when things don’t go according to plan. They foster a culture of accountability so their employees understand the importance of responsibility for their actions as well." When moral started to decline at GM, the management scrambled to find solutions. So they did what any respectable team would do, they created surveys in an attempt to gather feedback. And when some of the surveys came back with negative responses, they were certainly accountable for their actions, adopting a "put up or shut up" policy, and labeling people that take surveys "cowards." I wish I could be that accountable. I sometimes wish that I could be in a room with all of them, sharing kombucha and laughter, as we talk about who hurt us in the past and why we end up taking it out on our employees. But I am not as self-aware or accountable as they are. They're Effective at Making Decisions "If supervisors can’t make decisions for their team, how can they expect to guide them towards the finish line for projects or goals? The truth is, they can’t. That’s why the best managers have the ability to make decisions with a wealth of information -- in a short amount of time -- to get the best results from their team." What's also great about GM is that your role in the company may not necessarily dictate the work that you do. For instance, if you were hired in the QC department, you may go above and beyond doing quality checks. Which is great, now you have something to put on your resume when you decide to leave the company for the next role. Or you may have been hired as an operations manager, where you may not operate or manage any of the department. It ends up being quite the gamble. Due to the ability of individuals going beyond their roles, specialists and experts develop in the company, providing a wealth of information to pass along to the guys capable of making decisions. Maybe it is an industry-standard software to replace the archaic software that we were stuck in? Well, in my opinion, the best decision to make is to admonish your experts and to not make any decision. After all, if the new software is found to be problematic, you were the one making that decision, and that would make you accountable. No one wants to take a risk and fail! By doing nothing, if the older software does pose problems, you can pretend that you're working on a solution, before you inevitably jump ship after a year or two, like you did with the past three companies you worked at. Simple. Conclusion The truth is, I loved Great Minds when I started working there. Departments had a sense of camaraderie to them. We would work with each other to adopt new solutions and processes. I simply could not handle the glory of the new management team. When they wanted to adopt swim lanes for everyone, I could not comprehend that the work was going to be so isolated; I did not have the type of focus to only worry about the output of my work and team. When I wanted to speak out, I felt foolish for wanting to. I could not accept that an authoritarian leader with zero experience could possibly know more than me about what it was like to work in publishing or with its software. I could not live with the embarrassment or humiliation. I felt shameful for asking for more responsibility, for wanting to better the company both internally and externally. There was nothing to change, the company was perfect as is. I wish I had known that then. I know it now, and I only feel shame and regret for my lack of knowledge and understanding.