The management approach is very top down, but the bulk of the company’s varied and seasoned expertise flows bottom up. The vast amount of post-graduate and PhD educated employees is something reminiscent of an academic institution. This makes day-to-day working enjoyable, as it is often at the bottom where the innovative thinking happens. However, this is more often than not, overshadowed by the sheer amount of incompetence and indecisiveness coming from the top, as well as a disconnect in understanding what the organisation’s staff are capable of and what their own ambitions are within the company. Consequently, many employees are given tasks that are well below their skill and qualification levels, a situation neither the employee nor the employer can benefit from. Internal hiring / promoting of existing staff is often done on an interim basis with more work and responsibilities being loaded onto the employee with no or little increase in pay. This leads to employees either sucking it up for the title, but feeling undervalued and eventually leaving, or deciding to opt out straight away.
The extremely low morale in the company is not a new problem. It is an accumulative issue that has led to the organisation haemorrhaging knowledge and talent left, right, and centre. Recruitment takes far too long, putting pressures on existing employees – and once new talent is hired, they soon realise they were sold a dud. Add to that the stories of past failures and incompetences, and the circle continues, building up a mental burden, creating the impression that things have been bad, are currently bad, and will never get better. Eventually, this leads to highly valuable staff losing faith in the company and leaving. Those that bear to stay, either for their own reasons or out of hope that the company might still manage to turn over a new leaf, are left to watch the organisation constantly try to restructure itself to no avail. Decision making and responsibilities that need to come from the top fall by the wayside in the process of these restructures: There is always a “new” strategy to wait for until a decision can be made.
Make no mistake – the Future Cities Catapult in its current form is not an innovation agency. This may be what it said on the tin initially, but it is rather a business convener, connecting businesses from the private and public sectors. Don’t get me wrong – there is a need for this, but the communication around what the company is here for has been far too vague and visionless, not just externally, but also to its incoming staff, which potentially leads to disappointment further down the line. Existing staff are left having to make up their own purpose for existence, which may tide them over whilst they work on a few interesting projects, but a company without a cohesive vision fails to excite in the long run.
