Management and C-Suite team need a lot of work.. - Marketing Cotopaxi Employee Review

· Before the Cotopaxi team reads this and starts crafting up their response consider that this will now be (at least) the 3rd or 4th review calling out the office politics · Suffers from a lot of delusions other start-ups do and has a lot of growing up to do. Lack of real benefits, constant changes in direction, unfit cowardly managers, and maxed out team members to name a few. This team seems to think the guiding principles of start ups is something to aspire to rather than a cautionary tale. Crazy considering the very publicly acknowledged poisonous culture of Silicon Valley. I don't care about your fun conference room names and free snacks as much as I care about being treated with a little dignity when I am at work. · Lack of direction on strategy and agreement up top creates a lot of whiplash at the expense of junior team members. This team loves to chase new shiny things and it often feels like changes in strategy come completely out of left field · No 401K yet · In desperate need of an HR person. It’s mind boggling that the executive team doesn’t seem to understand that. But then again, most of the exec team is barely ever in the office so how would they even begin to comprehend what's happening. The lack of an HR manager means there are lot of terrible office politics and behind the back discussions happening that could benefit massively from having an objective third party. Also no thanks on your stat about what's a typical time to hire an HR manager. You know when a good time is to hire one? When team members are constantly providing feedback about the need for one. That should speak volumes. · Poor communication particularly from managers and execs who make decisions without a trace of discussion with team members. Not professional, not respectful. Maybe try real performance reviews and constructive feedback. · The executive team prides itself on putting people first. This very much does not feel like the case. The team is often dismissive of feedback particularly from junior team members. Even when they’re trying to accept feedback they tend to handle a lot of conversations inappropriately. All the Motivosity points and Officevibes couldn’t fix this. · They promote a lot of people who manage up well but do not take the time and resources to actually develop individuals who might be truly great managers. Frankly most of the team doesn’t have the time to develop anyone, often opting to leave them to their own devices. This sets those team members up for failure. Very lazy managing that often results in having the blame put on junior team members. · The “say yes” and “no jerk” culture create a lot of unnecessary pressure and ambiguity. People say yes even when there isn’t bandwidth. This tension combined with inflated expectations and maxed out managers who don’t have time to navigate these tensions with team members creates a lot of failed efforts and an unhealthy dynamic. These mentalities aren’t progressive, it’s toxic. · For an organization that believes they support women, they seem to believe that having women in senior roles somehow computes to being a progressive supporter of women when in reality a lot of junior women in the team don’t feel safe to excel and provide feedback in the environment they’re working in · There is general mistrust of nearly every single executive team member with the exception of newer additions to the team · Giving people surface feedback that doesn’t include constructive improvement discussions puts people in a place where they’re sure where they stand on performance. Dancing around these tough convos isn't considerate, it's cowardly · The Do Good mentality they tout ends up feeling like a hypocritical and deceptive slap in the face when it’s all said and done.