Good Environement - Customer Success Manager Global eTraining Employee Review

Good leadership that has a vision and a strategy for growth. I have heard the vision multiple times and its been consistent over a couple of years now. That vision is also closely held because its a road map of new products, features and direction. Commitment to education. Courses are free to all staff, which is amazing. When I became a manager, I was asked what my goals were and then I was loaded up with reading and things to do that are helping me reach my goals. Personal/professional goals, that are not GeT specific. The people. My team is like a big family, we have had a number of people and spouses hospitalized over the past year. GeT went above and beyond to ensure people had time off, work was covered, and people were well cared for. Genuine communication. When there are miscommunications and conflict, people actually speak with each other to sort it out. As long as you go into the conversation open to communication you always walk out being heard.

Work from home, seriously this is a con, not everyone does it well and some days work would be a lot easier if we were all in the same office. Turnover. Its a small growing company and because its a virtual company its really hard to get a great sense of people from calls alone. More work needs to be done to vet people better in the interview process. We have all trusted people too soon before they had proven themselves and gotten burnt by this Chaos, the company is growing quickly. The rules change often, sometimes without warning. Some of the founders call out of the blue to ask for things without telling other executes or managers about the additional work and in some cases their direction is the opposite of what was said by your manager just hours prior. Two groups of people that are at odds. People who collect a pay check and those that are passionate about what they do. The first group is unhappy most of the time, gossip, have a tendency to be in that high turnover group, and watch the clock usually while saying they work "flexible hours". We don't have a flexible work schedule, there is some flex, but most people work 8-5 MT. The other group is really passionate about what they do, they are thinking about it, reading about it, ringing up with new ideas (some of them harebrained) and since we have people all over the world usually up working at all hours. These two groups do not mix well. The groups cross all sections and levels of the company. There is no bridge between the two and the rift between them widens. Lately there have been more of that second group getting hired. Corney and cheesy at times. "High Five Fridays," Core Values, and "GeT er done" can all feel really hollow, and hearing how we all wear a sales hat grows old. It comes from a good place, its just cheesy.

People. Genuinely kind, nice, smart, helpful people! You know those places of cliquishness or back-stabby gossip? Not this place. People are warm, and really want you to success at your job, at GeT and in life. Everyone is smart and talented in their own unique way. Work from home. Awesome if you can work like that! Best product in the industry with a long list of awards. Makes meeting people slightly awesome when your company is well known. Interesting. The work is forever changing and the company is growing. No one day is like any in the past and if you wish to grow, this place will give you the ability to move up and around. Driven. Wow the people are driven and when it comes to a trade show or an event, when I say they bring it, I mean, everyone brings 190% -- not a fluffy 110%, not a hard core 150%, I mean when it is over your whole body is drained, you cannot feel your feet, you are bloodied and beaten, you are slap happy from exhaustion and you have never been though an experience like his unless perhaps you ran an iron man, drank a Gatorade and then did a 5k for fun. Everyone from the CEO down to the administrative staff give beyond what they think they have and they come together over these experiences. If you cannot give 190% however, this is not a good place for you. Balance. When 190% isn’t required, and a lot of time it’s not, management wants you healthy and balanced. Work is expected to be 40-44 hours a week, some weeks, yes, exceed that tremendously, but others are calm and sweet at the other end of the spectrum. The public high five. Public displays of kudos are encouraged. From the management, from other team members, across teams. Not false meh blah cliché appreciation, the appreciation is real and is made in a very public way. Now you do a bad job, that they keep private and thank goodness for that, because we have all had a bad day every once in a while. So chances are your boss, and everyone else knows that you did something great because it’s talked about, often. Self-policing. Gossip is strongly deeply discouraged, however, everyone does bring it their all when they are at work. The slackers or the people thinking they can slide through are known quickly and do not last long. It can be intimidating at first but paired with how helpful and nice people are, you settle in very very quickly.

Chaos. Someone’s title and what they actually do at GeT have nearly zero correlation. It’s getting better if you are anti-chaos. That said, if you find an issue, chances are you will also be tasked with finding a solution as well. Your job is your job with some twists and turns in their for character building. Chaos part 2. Training is sometimes non-existent, you need to have some alpha personality tucked inside of you to be happy; you need to crave knowledge and self-start on your own, hunt and find your own answers. People will help but if you don’t have the self-starter ignition switch you will not be happy. Management tries to fix this all the time, but everyone always finds something more pressing and it gets passed along. Constant change. What worked really well last week, doesn’t work at all this week. And I don’t mean the product, the product is stable and wonderful. The team is growing so quickly that a process that worked fine for 3 years, suddenly fails and it’s not clear why. Welcome to a hyper-growth company. You need to be happy with uncertainty. Too much email. Just people send way too much e-mail and call it communication. Some things, important tasks get dropped because there is too much reliance on email and not enough emphasis on communication. It is getting better. Management. Some managers are awesome, some really try but are better do-ers, and others really try and are becoming amazing. Someone is ALWAYS available to help, mentor and assist as you move along, not always your direct boss. The people really are superb and everyone brings an enormous amount of skill to the table, mentorship is not always that skill. You will not be lost or forgotten, but sometimes you need to find the mentor you need and be more active in finding your clear path. It’s there.