11y
First I want to thank the Alumni that left this review! In my humble opinion, this is probably the best review we have ever received! For three reasons… The first being that it has been at least 4 years since the Alumni left the company as we haven’t had an Auditor role since we moved away from Command and Control Leadership to a culture of Servant Leaders, so… thanks for going out of your way to leave a review after all of this time! The second is because the review is way kinder than we deserved for the time, and last, the review gave me some solid feedback on things we can improve. I love it when my team or alumni share specific things that we can address to make the company better for our current Team Members.
To address the cons and advice given for those considering a career at 120VC. The first con will never change… And, this is actually a point of pride for most of us and the Alumni. Starting pay as a Senior Project Manager (SPM) is about average for what SPM’s are earning in the Los Angeles area. As Team Members promote past SPM by earning their credentials, the pay gets very competitive with potential for ownership as you move into a Program Management position.
Most consultancies have an average tenure of 12 – 18 months. As 120VC has leaned out their Enterprise Project Management Tool kit and aligned with Agile, developed a very tight culture with an emphasis on “People Over Profit”, our average tenure at the Senior Project Manager level is about 3 years. From Program Manager upwards we really don’t see any turnover!
From the advice section… Our bonus plan has been the bane of my existence! As much as I have tried, we have never had a great bonus plan. Every plan that we have come up with historically was either unachievable based on the client you were working for or incented the wrong behavior. I recently came to the conclusion that paying commission to individuals incents the wrong behavior and is not a good tool for any company striving to put “People Over Profit”. As of this writing I am working with my leadership to put together a bonus plan that gets most if not all team members a bonus! Once completed, I will bring it to all Team Members for their input, refinement, and ratification. This bonus thing is a TOP priority to me.
Training… We have done exactly what was suggested. We were on version 1 of our Project Management Standard when this Alumni was with us. As we have moved toward version 5, we have made a science of our training program both internally and externally by leveraging our lessons learn along the way. We provide the same training to our Fortune 1000 clients that our team members receive and we are always top rated in the surveys. We also started offering our training and Project Management Foundation Certificate through our charitable programs to Project Managers in Transition, and Transitioning Services Members at no cost. Not only are we getting rave reviews, but these folks are getting JOBS!
Since all work is completed by people, it is critical that any approach to running a business is built around the way people function. It has been proven (by science) that if people have too little work they become demotivated and don’t perform optimally. It has also been proven (by science) that if people have too much work they end up in a chronic fight or flight state. This is often referred to as “past the point of diminishing returns”. Studies show that a 40 hour work week will allow people to work at peak performance.
I believe that happy productive Team Members produce highly effective results, and that it is our responsibility to advocate and ensure that 120VC and our client organizations don’t burn them out! This is the biggest reason I have eliminated commission at all levels at 120VC.