Slow to promote - If you are someone who is ambitious and hungry, you are going to get frustrated by having consistent amazing performance reviews but with slow response to do anything about it. Many stellar performers leave because it's easier to get formally recognized and promoted at other companies. I think the slow to promote is actually a function of below... Decision making! And quite frankly being slow to promote is a threat to Mars overall because talent is the most important thing and great people are leaving! Wake up!
Decision making - It's snail speed. It took over a year after they announced that they were merging the candy offices to decide and share with employees the final location and in the mean time did an awful job easing concerns, managing change, and being transparent. It has to go down as one of the worst change management processes of the entire company history! And guess what - it's not over because the company is letting this drag on until 2020. Also, who is the decision maker is a question that is never clear at Mars. It's never just 1 person. There are always tons of people that have to give their input. I have seen decisions made and then unmade because one person didn't agree or wasn't brought along in the journey or changed his or her mind. Speed comes with alignment. Managers cannot align because they are stuck figuring out the mutuality principle: Who is going to be the person left with the short stick? It's nice that you care about every stakeholder, but you have to make a decision and move on! There are trade offs to everything. Bite the bullet! Be decisive. Yes you can! Stop being so internally focused! Meanwhile... people make up stories in their head, try to guess what you are going to do, and worry. Productivity could be significantly increased if you worked on stronger decision making and communication of those decisions.
With Mars, it's we win or lose together. You can hit/ exceed every one of your goals, but if the company doesn't - your bonus is adjusted down like everyone else's. That can be shocking to people who are used to meritocracy and also who had a strong performance year and crushed their goals.
