One of the biggest challenges was how difficult it was to understand the business without prior industry experience. The organisation operates in a highly specialised sector, yet there was very little support to help experienced hires get up to speed. New employees were often expected to simply “figure things out" with an unhelpful junior staff member, which made integration unnecessarily difficult.
I also experienced significant issues within the finance team. There were longstanding ways of working that felt outdated and inefficient, with resistance to modern approaches and better ways of operating. In my view, this was partly driven by a culture where many individuals had spent a large portion of their careers within the same organisation and had limited exposure to how high-performing finance teams operate elsewhere.
Team dynamics were also challenging. I inherited a direct report who was difficult to manage, inconsistent, and required an excessive amount of "babysitting". Despite raising concerns, I did not feel supported in addressing the issue, and it created unnecessary friction that impacted team effectiveness.
More broadly, I found the culture to be overly political, with certain individuals appearing to receive preferential treatment. This made it difficult to drive accountability or meaningful change.
There are undoubtedly talented people within the business, but my overall experience was that the culture, leadership approach, and lack of modern thinking made it a frustrating place to work. I believe the organisation would benefit from stronger onboarding for external hires, greater openness to change, and a more performance-driven culture.
