Pros
Amazing team. It's energizing to work among very talented, dedicated, heartfelt, and humble colleagues! The organization's culture is very down-to-earth and supportive, and I've found organization leadership to be accessible, whether for a casual lunch, or to sit down and have more critical conversations about methodology or a particular interaction. Similarly, I very much value the way my direct supervisor engages — as a trusted partner in the work, and a friend as well. The work is deeply humanizing and purpose driven, which means a great deal to me, particularly in today's context. The methodology is empowering, healing, personally actionable, and liberating. It's a privilege to get to support clients in their development, and witness growth and change. I also appreciate how much my colleagues are willing to be 'doing the work' together. The organization is actively changing its practices - from hiring to org processes, to delivery of the methodology - to foster greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. It has been important to see this prioritized, and I appreciate the commitment to be in learning about it together, even/especially when that means navigating through messy, emergent conversations. Despite the methodology being 30+ years old, and the organization having a robust set of tools, I've found that leaders and colleagues are willing to genuinely grapple with questions, concerns, and different ideas, and implement changes as a result. Related to this, I very much appreciate the way the organization has embraced my identities and lived experiences, encouraged deeper engagement, and leveraged my experience to inform our work. Finally, I greatly value the ongoing learning opportunities that have been made available — such as opportunities to help with passion projects, to support company-wide endeavors, to contribute to other departments, or to lend expertise from other parts of my professional background.
Cons
We still have considerable work ahead on the DEI front, especially fostering greater diversity among staff, and continuing to evolve organizational practices and the work. I appreciate the way the company has embraced this. As others have mentioned, we are very consensus driven, and at times I’ve witnessed important projects or conversations stall or go quiet, particularly when there are differing views throughout the organization of what our next steps should be. The organization has grown in its communication, transparency, and systems to be more on top of this — staff survey, ongoing staff feedback, revisiting priorities as a team, etc — and I am grateful this is a continued area of focus. While there are many ways to develop greater mastery within the Feedback Specialist role, there isn't a clear path from that role onward, which likely impacts retention.