Pros
When I first joined Guild, I had my rose colored glasses on and drank the Guild Kool-aid. It was a breath of fresh air at first . . . the company seemed to be headed in the right direction, i.e, it is growing, employees genuinely value diversity, it is a double bottom line company, it believes in the potential of all students and wants to see all of them succeed, etc. You hear that message loud and clear when you walk in the door and I very much appreciate the energy that creates at Guild.
Kontras
Frankly, something is VERY WRONG with the company culture. I think there are some big problems that Guild has to solve, including a cultural transformation. I'd summarize the issues into a few categories: 1) The "In Crowd" - There are a handful of old timers that have been around that are driving ALL of the decisions at Guild. If they don't agree, they will talk to each other and find ways to shut your ideas out. I don't even think they recognize that they are doing it, but you hear a lot of new people talk about how they feel shut out by the OG club. 2) Decision Making - if you want to feel empowered to make decisions for your team... this isn't the company for you. Decisions are made by SVPs+ and that's it. If Guild wants to grow, it has to empower every level of the organization. I worry that we have single points of failure with certain leaders all around Guild because they won't empower their people and must be part of every decision. 3) Opinions - Guild has created a culture where everyone and anyone is encouraged to give feedback to each other. At first, this sounds great, but what has ended up happening at Guild is that everyone feels they can say anything they want to people without a filter. Even the performance cycle facilitates a process where everyone can tell you anonymously what they feel about you without facts which is then repeated to you by your manager, which becomes very awkward and unproductive. It KILLS team morale vs uplifting people. 4) Expert Ideas - They want to hire experts, but they don't want their opinions. Great talent will continue to leave Guild - you have to ask yourself why so many leaders have left (or been pushed out) 5) Recognition - I've never experienced a culture where my ideas have been used without my consent and presented on without any acknowledgement.