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== Traits of Leadership ==
With a complex organization like ours, we need capable leaders to ensure we are heading in the right direction and that any changes throughout the organization will be handled effectively, with minimum disruption to our performance. This is no simple task, and our solution is a diversified leadership structure, where every leader is focused on completing their tasks, which contributes to our overall performance. We will introduce how we structure our teams and how we differentiate our leaders, as well as how a manager can move up through our organization.
= Levels and Steps =
Any path in Secure Group is separated into Levels and Steps, to make the process of promoting high performers well-structured and easy to understand. Our Management Path has four Levels, and each Level has four Steps that you can grow into. A leader at each level and step would have different responsibilities, core duties and objectives and would focus on different aspects of our operations. How an employee can move from one level or step to can be found [[Management|here]].
= Teams Structure =
Before we dive into how we approach leadership, it’s worth clarifying how we structure our teams. They are divided into Divisions, Teams, and Departments.


We have seen that by setting the right context our employees can understand our mission and vision and create a great product.
* Division: composed of teams and departments and acts as a separate entity. It is managed by a Level 3 or Level 4 manager who ensures optimal performance and helps and coaches employees.


The leadership styles in the company support this. Regardless of your role, to ensure effective people management and growth, we strive to shift away from “controlling activities” towards a synergistic relationship between team members.
* Department: composed of a group of frameworks separated into teams. It is managed by a Level 2 manager who is responsible for growing the teams and for maintaining its documentation in the relevant Confluence space and Jira project.


What makes a good leader is a concept that can vary per team, organization, and people’s personal opinion. At Secure Group we recognize that and that’s why we decided to define what makes a good leader in our company considering our specific reality and unique teams.
* Team: compose a Department. For example, the HR team and Operations team form the HR & Operations Department. Teams are managed by a Level 1 manager (responsible for coordinating the processes) and a Level 2 manager (who handles the team’s growth).


In a “Context, not Control” environment, you still need people to coach and provide directions, but this is not the traditional role of a leader. That’s why we are looking for the ones that can embrace the core principle of caring for others and giving up control rather than seeking control.
= Leadership Roles =
At Secure Group, we have two types of leaders: Managers and Tech Leads.


In Secure Group everyone is treated equally. Employees gain a chance to learn, and to set and accomplish goals with the support of their leader.
A Tech Lead is the leader in terms of operations. They are a subject matter expert that has mastered the department’s processes and tools. Their main goal is to support each department in the effective execution of its tasks and to help the team members progress in their careers.
Their tasks also include managing the department’s standard operating procedures in Confluence (our internal wiki), and to ensure cross-department processes are well-documented and understood on an organizational level. As they are experts in their field, they are in charge of the knowledge transfer in their department, which involves onboarding new employees.
'''Who can become a tech lead?'''
It can be an Individual Contributor Level 3 and UP, or a manager Level 1 or Level 2, Step 1 or 2. A manager at Level 2 Step 3 and above should have already grown another member of their team to be a Tech Lead, and be able to move on from being a Tech Lead themselves.
A manager is more focused on career management within a department. They have a say in making strategic decisions and frameworks but also work on a more personal level with teams and individuals to promote excellence and teach new skills.


== The leadership traits and levels ==
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center;" |Leadership
! style="text-align: center;" |Responsibility
! style="text-align: center;" |Activities
! style="text-align: center;" |Focus
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | Manager
|Growth of Individuals
|
* Provides 1:1 coaching: based on data
* Responsible for Career Development and Performance Reviews (with inputs from Scrum Master and Tech Lead)
* Levels up a functional skillset
* Organizes communities of practices that encourage members from different cross-functional teams and divisions to share knowledge through regular meetings, raising the bar in their area of expertise
* Protects teams and divisions from distractions and unrelated or unnecessary work
* Understands, teaches, or sponsors the software and hardware engineering skills needed to support the development of high-quality code, components, systems, and solutions
|'''Performance'''</br>
* Provides context, coaching, and training
* Helps to build Agile Milestones and Roadmaps, and the plans to enable them
* Helps to develop, implement, and communicate the strategic framework
* Supports teams and divisions by helping them remove systemic impediments and by implementing continuous improvement
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | Tech Lead
|Technology (Subject Matter Expert)
|
* Provides expert opinion and direction regarding processes
* Transfers SG knowledge and department's knowledge to others: Tech-session
|'''Processes Improvement'''
* Resource Allocation
* Identifies and addresses process inefficiency
* Establishes SOPs, Best Practices, and Playbooks
* Provides the necessary tools
* Maintain the documentation in the department's Confluence space
* Ensure the department’s Knowledge Hub is correctly documented and up-to-date
* Delegates tasks in Process Improvement project in Jira
* Task management and tracking: Data
* Fire fighting
|}


We already explored the [[Team_Management#Managers_vs._Tech_Lead|differences between a Manager and a Tech Lead]]. Besides this definition, we currently have four leadership levels for managers with different expected traits but similar objectives: lending support to addressing the needs and wants of the people and the organization. This is our priority. This contrasts with the leader-first perspective, where a person aims to gain control quickly, often driven by material gain or influence but it’s our way to ensure autonomy, accountability, innovation and high-performance.
= Traits of Leadership =
Secure Group operates on a “Context, Not Control” mantra, and that applies to our leadership model too. Even in this environment, we need people to provide guidance and directions, but in a way that empowers employees, rather than controlling them. To ensure our leaders are well-equipped for the task, they need to share a few core qualities:
'''1. They are adaptive'''</br>
When there is a disruption in our work or a certain aspect of our work becomes uncertain, we expect our leaders to be able to realign our teams towards success.
'''2. They value diverse opinions'''</br>
They seek out the opinions of the team members and value everyone’s contributions.
'''3. They cultivate a culture of trust'''</br>
At Secure Group, we want our high performers to feel free to do their best work, and this is only possible when their leaders trust in them.
'''4. They develop other leaders'''</br>
Good leaders pass on their knowledge and experience and look to replicate their mindset throughout the organisation.
'''5. Encourage'''</br>
Proactiveness and positivity are contagious, and we want our leaders to spread them among the teams.
'''6. Sell instead of tell'''</br>
Good leaders need to inspire and encourage action, instead of demanding it out of others.
'''7. They think you, not me'''</br>
Our leaders need to be team players and think how they can benefit everyone, not themselves.
'''8. They think long-term'''</br>
Leaders need to have their sights set to the future and be able to make decisions with a long-term perspective.
'''9. Act with humility'''</br>
Leaders should lead by example and not exert their dominance over others or act superior.


=== Level 1 – Our pace setters ===
= Management Levels =
At Secure Group we don’t have a “leader-first” approach. For us, a successful manager’s main goal is to support the organization and its people and address its needs where necessary, instead of aiming for material gain or influence.
To ensure our managers can focus on the right tasks that move our mission forward and that they can carry on improving their skills, we’ve separated four different Levels in the Management Path.
       
* '''Level 1 – Our pace setters'''
These leaders are primarily focused on performance and delivering results. They set high standards for themselves and their colleagues and hold them accountable for hitting the team’s goals. Their work can often get complex and involve many different stakeholders and teams, which means they need to be exceptional at communicating and manage chaos and change.
* '''Level 2 – Our coaches'''
They are responsible for the performance of their teams and/or divisions and helping their subordinates grow. They need to have a strategic outlook and be able to foresee issues and solve problems that don’t have a clear solution. They need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their team members and promote growth and give performance feedback. Usually manage a small division.
* '''Level 3 – Our visionaries'''
The Level 3 managers are responsible for guiding our divisions’ strategic direction at a high level. They monitor the marketing and ensure Secure Group retains its competitive advantage. These managers direct our divisions and eliminate any knowledge gaps that may exist. They have the ability to inspire people on a large scale and boost employee morale. Overall, they help the company grow, unite teams and help improve what is not working.
* '''Level 4 – Our transformational leaders'''
Level 4 managers set the company’s strategic direction, develop context, and are responsible for fostering our corporate culture on an organizational level. They manage multiple Divisions and take care of the company’s growth by training the next generation of Secure Group leaders. They use outstanding adaptive leadership skills to manage big shifts in the company while keeping good relationships with the shareholders and maintaining the company’s ethics and culture.


The core duty of the Level 1 managers is to get the work done through process management, which means they have an input and an output and they have to ensure the effective execution of these processes. They are in contact with customers, suppliers and employees of all levels, therefore they need to navigate frequently between difference audiences to set-up the right context.
= Leaders Performance =
We encourage our leaders to always aim higher and move from one Level and Step to another. To make sure they are ready for the move, we evaluate them during our Level & Step reviews, based on four criteria: Technical leadership, Business leadership, Career management leadership, and Adaptive leadership. Each of those is further divided into Completeness and Achievement sections.
== Technical Leadership ==
This refers to the technical competencies of our leaders and is closely tied to our Process Management, Knowledge Management, and Team Management models.
=== Completeness ===
Refers to the leaders’ management of processes – how they set them up, improve and adapt them.


Level 1 managers are required to deliver fast results. These leaders are primarily focused on performance. They often set high standards and hold their colleagues accountable for hitting the department’s goals.
=== Achievement ===
Relates to performance and guaranteeing people are accountable and are constantly improving and adapting the required technical knowledge.


The fast-paced work environment fostered by them can also create miscommunications so to ensure effectiveness they have to be able to provide clear instructions and have an outstanding ability to manage adversities, chaos and change.
== Business Leadership ==
This refers to managing our strategy, overcoming strategic challenges, and setting up context for subordinates and stakeholders. Here we also defined two categories:


=== Level 2 – Our coaches ===
=== Completeness ===
Refers to the leader’s involvement in creating and completing strategic maps, defining, monitoring, and reporting initiatives and KPIs.


Level 2 managers are responsible for the performance of their teams. They are involved in strategic decisions and are required to anticipate technical issues and complex and ambiguous problems or opportunities that are often systemic with no readily understood answers. They are responsible for identifying these situations in their teams, requiring a change of mindset or attitude, and providing the right corporate context.
=== Achievement ===
Refers to team’s achieving KPIs, goals, and maps through successful initiatives execution.


They are quickly to recognize their team members’ strengths, weaknesses, and motivations to help each individual improve. They assist team members in setting smart goals, ensure quality and efficiency through processes management and provide regular feedback with challenging initiatives to promote growth. They’re skilled in setting clear expectations and creating a positive, motivating environment.
==== Capability Assesment ====
It’s defined by the likelihood of success and execution of strategy based on capability management and understanding. That refers to leaders’ ability to excel in their core duties based on effectively assessing their team's and division's capability to manage campaigns, business plans, projects, initiatives, and achieve business goals. It’s divided into two sub-categories:


Level 2 managers promote the development of new skills, innovation, free-thinking and empowerment while building high-performing teams.
===== General Factors =====
Owning the technical knowledge needed for the role, understanding the team's and/or division domain and the feasibility of their team's and/or division's technical knowledge, and the needed technical knowledge at a company level.


=== Level 3 – Our visionaries and servant leaders ===
===== Internal Factors=====
The leaders' Secure Group Knowledge in terms of who we are as a company and what we offer.


The core duties of our Level 3 managers are strategic and high-level. They are responsible for providing direction for different teams and at the same time ensure there are no knowledge gaps in them. They are constantly monitoring the market and Secure Group strategy to ensure our competitive advantage. They have a powerful ability to drive progress and usher in periods of change by inspiring employees and earning trust for new ideas. They are also advisors in establishing a strong organizational culture by fostering confidence among direct reports and colleagues alike.
==== Opportunity Finding ====
To be capable of finding business opportunities and tackling our challenges we defined two sub-categories that our leaders should succeed: Experience and Exposure.


Level 3 managers live by a people-first mindset and believe that when team members feel personally and professionally fulfilled, they’re more effective and more likely to produce great collaborative work regularly. These leaders are exceptionally skilled in building employee morale and helping people re-engage with their work.
The ability to find opportunity refers to:


Focused on the big picture, they have capacity to boost employee productivity, improve employee development and decision-making, cultivate trust, and create future leaders. Level 3 managers help the company to grow, unite teams and improve outdated technologies or practices.
[[File:TenTypesInnovation_Configuration.png|500px|center]]
 
</br>
=== Level 4 – Our transformational leaders ===
[[File:TenTypesInnovation_Experience.png|500px|center]]
 
</br>
Our Level 4 managers are responsible for setting strategic direction, developing context, and fostering our corporate culture on an organizational level. They focus on clear communication, goal-setting, and the company’s productivity.
[[File:TenTypesInnovation_Offering.png|300px|center]]
 
Instead of placing the majority of the energy into each employee’s individual aspects, they are driven by a commitment to organizational objectives. However, they are also committed to developing the next generation of Secure Group leaders and build a strong relationship with our shareholders. The level 4 managers also value the company's ethics and teams while focusing on high-performance in the long-term.
 
== Qualities of our Leaders ==


Even though each level has specific leadership traits that are expected according to their core duties, there are some qualities you can find in each one of all our leaders:
===== Experience =====
*'''Values diverse opinions'''
The majority of people's learning and knowledge comes from on-the-job experiences that equip them with the opportunity to discover and develop job-related skills, address challenges, and learn from their mistakes. Through working in cross-department projects, contact with stakeholders, and complex tasks, leaders build the knowledge of how their role reflects on and is affected by the roles of others.
Values everyone’s contributions and regularly seeks out opinions.


*'''Cultivates a culture of trust'''
''When evaluated in the hiring process it refers to which similar experiences the candidate had related to our business''
People are comfortable to go about their activities in an environment of mutual trust and support. There is no back-stabbing and sharing is encouraged.


*'''Develops other leaders'''
===== Exposure =====
Our leaders provide opportunities for learning and growth, demonstrating by example and teaching others to lead. They give up power and have deputies lead, replicating this mindset through the organization.
Refers to the ability of leaders to reinvent themselves when facing changes, market and industry knowledge, the leader's level of exposure to our challenges, and ability/approach to solve them.  


*'''Encourages'''
''When addressed in the hiring process if the candidate or even an employee didn’t have enough exposure to our kind of business challenges, we will also evaluate their effort to find such situations and expose themselves.
The hallmark of our leaders is encouragement. The true leader says, “Let’s go do it,” not, “You go do it.”.


*'''Sells instead of tells'''
== People Management Leadership ==
An effective leader, for us, is the opposite of a dictator. The aim is to persuade rather than command.
This criteria is all about a leader’s ability to understand the different types of employees we have in our structure and manage them effectively.


*'''Thinks you, not me'''
=== Completeness ===
There’s a selfless quality about what we expect from our leaders. Those who only think, “How does this benefit me?” are disqualified. 
Refers to the successful mapping of positions in the company to achieve our performance goals (including SGMM employees and remote employees).


*'''Thinks long-term'''
=== Achievement ===
Our leaders are constantly thinking about the next generation, the next leader, the next opportunity. They make continual tradeoffs between what’s important for today versus what needs to be done for the future.
It's connected to having the right people assigned to the right positions and that they are given the opportunity to constantly grow and develop.


*'''Acts with humility'''
== Adaptive Leadership ==
Secure Group leaders are not concerned with job titles. A title is not a way to show he/she is in charge or “better than everyone else”. Instead, they act in a caring way towards others. Nothing is beneath them and they may be seen picking up trash or cleaning a table. They set an example of service. For us, it is not about the leader, it is about others.
In a fast-moving company like Secure Group, things can change quickly and bring a certain amount of chaos. Those situations require our staff to adapt fast, which can be a challenge. These are the situations in which a true leader can shine. We consider 6 perspectives for success in this issue:
=== Get on the balcony ===
This is the leader’s ability to distance themselves from the situation and take a birds-eye view. This allows them to see the bigger picture and act in an objective way, which is most beneficial to the company.
=== Identify adaptive challenges ===
Finding opportunities that require people to learn in an adaptive way and open their minds to new possibilities and ways of doing things.


== Perspectives of Leadership ==  
=== Regulate distress ===  
We have four levels as per the [[Management|Management Path]] and to move up from one level to the other in the four roles, it’s evaluated the authority and involvement regarding:
Supporting the transition of employees during challenging times of change, by managing the pressure on them and their stress.
* Technical Leadership
* Business Leadership
=== Maintain disciplined attention ===
* Career Management Leadership
To ensure maximum focus, a leader should bring attention to what is important and shield the team from disruptive distractions.
* Adaptive Leadership
=== Get the work done ===
Motivating people and directing the workflow to make sure the work is done efficiently.
=== Protect voices from below ===
Be inclusive and allow the opportunity to experiment with everyone and be capable of weighing their voices.


=== Technical Leadership ===
Technical Leadership refers to the ability to anticipate and find solutions for technical challenges. It’s completely related to our Process Management, Team Management and Knowledge Management strategies. In this perspective we created two definitions: Completeness and Achievement.
</br>
</br>
Completeness are related to your core duties and it refers to setting-up, improving and adapting processes in order to cover all aspects of our business. In terms of knowledge it’s related to ensuring that all the set of knowledge in the company is mapped, defined, covered and with ceremonies defined for
Regardless of their Level or Step, leaders in Secure Group have a crucial role in the operation of Secure Group. Just as with other employees, they are held accountable for their work and their performance, and only through excelling at their tasks can they rise up the Management Path. Our requirements are challenging, but only because excellent leadership is so important to our organization.
structured communication.</br>
Achievement, on the other hand, is related to your performance and how you guarantee the teams are accountable for the company’s processes and constantly improving and applying the needed technical knowledge and communicating effectively for us to have competitive advantage.</br>
 
=== Business Leadership ===
Business Leadership is all about strategic management. It’s defined as the ability to overcome strategic challenges and the ability to set up context for the teams. In this perspective, we defined one matrix with two aisles: Capability and Opportunity.
 
==== Capability ====
Capability refers to their ability to execute their core duties and it's divided into two categories:
* General Factors: owning the technical knowledge needed for the role, understanding the team's domain and the feasibility of their team's technical knowledge, and the needed technical knowledge at a company level.
* Internal Factors: the leaders' [[Secure Group Knowledge]] in terms of who we are as a company, what we offer, what's our market and industry concepts.
 
===== Capability Scoring =====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:11px;"
|-
! Capability
! Definition
! Criteria
! Score
! Additional Comment
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" | Incomplete
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Manager has no strategic involvement due to incomplete approach
| General Factors
| 1
| rowspan="2" | N/A
|-
| Internal Factors
| 1
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" | Initial
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Manager's Strategic involvement is based on intuitive action - not organized, not explanable
| General Factors
| 1 or 2
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Scores 2 in at least one criteria
|-
| Internal Factors
| 1 or 2
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" | Managed
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Manager is succesfully working and communicating on department's strategy - proven record
| General Factors
| 2 or 3
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Scores 3 in at least one criteria
|-
| Internal Factors
| 2 or 3
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" | Defined
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Manager is constantly working on department's and cross-department's succesfully communicating and providing strategic guidance
| General Factors
| 3 or 4
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Scores 4 in at least one critera
|- style="text-align:left;"
| Internal Factors
| style="text-align:center;" | 3 or 4
|-
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" | Optimal
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Manager works on organizational strategic matters and provides context at all levels
| General Factors
| 4
| rowspan="2" | N/A
|-
| Internal Factors
| 4
|}
 
====== General Factors ======
{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center; font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important;;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Score
! Definition
|-
| 1
| Limited
| style="font-weight:normal; text-align:left;" | Has a basic understanding of their team's overall domain and SG strategic plan.<br />Lacks understanding of his/her team's technical domain or do not possess the needed technical knowledge to succeed.
|-
| 2
| Intermediate
| style="font-weight:normal; text-align:left;" | Has a complete understanding of their team's domain, and how it contributes to the overall organization's strategy.<br />Has a complete understanding of their team's technical domain but lacks judgement on how to apply technical skills on projects and when delegating tasks.
|-
| 3
| Experienced
| style="font-weight:normal; text-align:left;" | Has a thorough understanding of their team's overall domain, how it's built in the strategic map and how it contributes to overall business strategy. <br />Has a thorough understanding of their team's technical domain, and has a complete understanding of adjacent teams' technical domains. It’s capable of successfully delegate and evaluate tasks and cross-department projects,
|-
| 4
| Exceptional
| style="font-weight:normal; text-align:left;" | Has a thorough understanding of the entire business, including all department's technical domains, and how they co-relate to each other.
|}
 
==== Opportunity ====
Opportunity refers to three criteria that enable high-performance of our leaders:
* Experience: the majority of people's learning and knowledge comes from on-the-job experiences that equip them with the opportunity to discover and develop job-related skills, address challenges, and learn from their mistakes. Through working in cross-department projects, contact with stakeholders, and complex tasks, leaders build the knowledge of how their role reflects on and is affected by the roles of others.
* Exposure: Shared-based learning sees the managers working closely together with team members and other managers, under a more collaborative and cooperative approach, with constant support, monitoring and feedback providing. This supportive element assists in making learning self-driven and more autonomous.
* Education: a smaller portion of knowledge comes from a more formalized approach to learning, with courses, formal training, and e-learning which are contemplated in our [[Internal_Rules#Training_Benefit_Policy|Training Benefit Policy]]
 
=== Career Management ===
Career Management Leadership refers to the ability of the leader to place the people with the right set of skills and knowledge in the team and to help them grow. In this perspective, completeness relates to the core duties of having all the necessary positions in the company mapped so we can achieve our goals. It also includes if the performance evaluations and career pathing are done on-time and according to our Management Model.</br>
Achievement refers to ensuring we have high-performers filling the needed positions in the teams and that they are constantly developing and growing which is also connected to your performance.
 
=== Adaptive Leadership ===
A lot of times in our “Context, not Control” environment, as we mentioned, chaos tend to arise motivated by constant change. The Adaptive Leadership refers to the ability of our leaders to successfully conduct the teams during such moments in which the technical knowledge will not be the solution for the challenges.</br>
These moments require the teams to adapt and usually involve a change of mindset and/or attitude, but that is easier said than done, since each person tend to react differently to changes. In this scenario we considered 6 perspectives:
* Get on the balcony</br>
Ability to view distant yourself from the situation and analyze the responses of participants. It’s a mental “balcony”. When in the balcony, leaders can see patterns, minimize one's own emotional responses and react (or not!) in ways that will help the other team members to engage in the adaptive challenges.
* Identify adaptive challenges</br>
Ability to identify challenges that require people to learn new ways of doing things, re-think their attitudes, mindset, values, and norms, and adopt an experimental mind-set open for change.
* Regulate distress</br>
Ability to act as a facilitator for employees to see the need for change, while ensuring they do not become too overwhelmed by the change itself.
* Maintain disciplined attention
Ability to identify and counteract any type of distraction that could prevent team members from dealing with the adaptive challenges.
* Get the work done
Ability to place the work where it belongs being willing to be part of the challenge rather than directing its solution by providing answers from a position of a leader and ensuring the team is progressing in their work.
* Protect the voices from below
Ability to weigh and give voice to all people willing to experiment and learn. The leader incentives original voices that eventually got discouraged or silenced in the organization even if they are not as articulate as one would wish.
 
 
== Leaders in Conclusion ==
 
*Leaders support others to serve the needs of the organization.
*They do not seek prestige, status, material gain or control.
*They offer coaching and opportunities for growth, providing a demonstrable example of expected behaviors.

Latest revision as of 08:05, 28 March 2022

With a complex organization like ours, we need capable leaders to ensure we are heading in the right direction and that any changes throughout the organization will be handled effectively, with minimum disruption to our performance. This is no simple task, and our solution is a diversified leadership structure, where every leader is focused on completing their tasks, which contributes to our overall performance. We will introduce how we structure our teams and how we differentiate our leaders, as well as how a manager can move up through our organization.


Levels and Steps

Any path in Secure Group is separated into Levels and Steps, to make the process of promoting high performers well-structured and easy to understand. Our Management Path has four Levels, and each Level has four Steps that you can grow into. A leader at each level and step would have different responsibilities, core duties and objectives and would focus on different aspects of our operations. How an employee can move from one level or step to can be found here.

Teams Structure

Before we dive into how we approach leadership, it’s worth clarifying how we structure our teams. They are divided into Divisions, Teams, and Departments.

  • Division: composed of teams and departments and acts as a separate entity. It is managed by a Level 3 or Level 4 manager who ensures optimal performance and helps and coaches employees.
  • Department: composed of a group of frameworks separated into teams. It is managed by a Level 2 manager who is responsible for growing the teams and for maintaining its documentation in the relevant Confluence space and Jira project.
  • Team: compose a Department. For example, the HR team and Operations team form the HR & Operations Department. Teams are managed by a Level 1 manager (responsible for coordinating the processes) and a Level 2 manager (who handles the team’s growth).

Leadership Roles

At Secure Group, we have two types of leaders: Managers and Tech Leads.

A Tech Lead is the leader in terms of operations. They are a subject matter expert that has mastered the department’s processes and tools. Their main goal is to support each department in the effective execution of its tasks and to help the team members progress in their careers.

Their tasks also include managing the department’s standard operating procedures in Confluence (our internal wiki), and to ensure cross-department processes are well-documented and understood on an organizational level. As they are experts in their field, they are in charge of the knowledge transfer in their department, which involves onboarding new employees.

Who can become a tech lead? It can be an Individual Contributor Level 3 and UP, or a manager Level 1 or Level 2, Step 1 or 2. A manager at Level 2 Step 3 and above should have already grown another member of their team to be a Tech Lead, and be able to move on from being a Tech Lead themselves.

A manager is more focused on career management within a department. They have a say in making strategic decisions and frameworks but also work on a more personal level with teams and individuals to promote excellence and teach new skills.

Leadership Responsibility Activities Focus
Manager Growth of Individuals
  • Provides 1:1 coaching: based on data
  • Responsible for Career Development and Performance Reviews (with inputs from Scrum Master and Tech Lead)
  • Levels up a functional skillset
  • Organizes communities of practices that encourage members from different cross-functional teams and divisions to share knowledge through regular meetings, raising the bar in their area of expertise
  • Protects teams and divisions from distractions and unrelated or unnecessary work
  • Understands, teaches, or sponsors the software and hardware engineering skills needed to support the development of high-quality code, components, systems, and solutions
 Performance
  • Provides context, coaching, and training
  • Helps to build Agile Milestones and Roadmaps, and the plans to enable them
  • Helps to develop, implement, and communicate the strategic framework
  • Supports teams and divisions by helping them remove systemic impediments and by implementing continuous improvement
Tech Lead Technology (Subject Matter Expert)
  • Provides expert opinion and direction regarding processes
  • Transfers SG knowledge and department's knowledge to others: Tech-session
 Processes Improvement
  • Resource Allocation
  • Identifies and addresses process inefficiency
  • Establishes SOPs, Best Practices, and Playbooks
  • Provides the necessary tools
  • Maintain the documentation in the department's Confluence space
  • Ensure the department’s Knowledge Hub is correctly documented and up-to-date
  • Delegates tasks in Process Improvement project in Jira
  • Task management and tracking: Data
  • Fire fighting

Traits of Leadership

Secure Group operates on a “Context, Not Control” mantra, and that applies to our leadership model too. Even in this environment, we need people to provide guidance and directions, but in a way that empowers employees, rather than controlling them. To ensure our leaders are well-equipped for the task, they need to share a few core qualities:

1. They are adaptive
When there is a disruption in our work or a certain aspect of our work becomes uncertain, we expect our leaders to be able to realign our teams towards success.

2. They value diverse opinions
They seek out the opinions of the team members and value everyone’s contributions.

3. They cultivate a culture of trust
At Secure Group, we want our high performers to feel free to do their best work, and this is only possible when their leaders trust in them.

4. They develop other leaders
Good leaders pass on their knowledge and experience and look to replicate their mindset throughout the organisation.

5. Encourage
Proactiveness and positivity are contagious, and we want our leaders to spread them among the teams.

6. Sell instead of tell
Good leaders need to inspire and encourage action, instead of demanding it out of others.

7. They think you, not me
Our leaders need to be team players and think how they can benefit everyone, not themselves.

8. They think long-term
Leaders need to have their sights set to the future and be able to make decisions with a long-term perspective.

9. Act with humility
Leaders should lead by example and not exert their dominance over others or act superior.

Management Levels

At Secure Group we don’t have a “leader-first” approach. For us, a successful manager’s main goal is to support the organization and its people and address its needs where necessary, instead of aiming for material gain or influence.

To ensure our managers can focus on the right tasks that move our mission forward and that they can carry on improving their skills, we’ve separated four different Levels in the Management Path.

  • Level 1 – Our pace setters

These leaders are primarily focused on performance and delivering results. They set high standards for themselves and their colleagues and hold them accountable for hitting the team’s goals. Their work can often get complex and involve many different stakeholders and teams, which means they need to be exceptional at communicating and manage chaos and change.

  • Level 2 – Our coaches

They are responsible for the performance of their teams and/or divisions and helping their subordinates grow. They need to have a strategic outlook and be able to foresee issues and solve problems that don’t have a clear solution. They need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their team members and promote growth and give performance feedback. Usually manage a small division.

  • Level 3 – Our visionaries

The Level 3 managers are responsible for guiding our divisions’ strategic direction at a high level. They monitor the marketing and ensure Secure Group retains its competitive advantage. These managers direct our divisions and eliminate any knowledge gaps that may exist. They have the ability to inspire people on a large scale and boost employee morale. Overall, they help the company grow, unite teams and help improve what is not working.

  • Level 4 – Our transformational leaders

Level 4 managers set the company’s strategic direction, develop context, and are responsible for fostering our corporate culture on an organizational level. They manage multiple Divisions and take care of the company’s growth by training the next generation of Secure Group leaders. They use outstanding adaptive leadership skills to manage big shifts in the company while keeping good relationships with the shareholders and maintaining the company’s ethics and culture.

Leaders Performance

We encourage our leaders to always aim higher and move from one Level and Step to another. To make sure they are ready for the move, we evaluate them during our Level & Step reviews, based on four criteria: Technical leadership, Business leadership, Career management leadership, and Adaptive leadership. Each of those is further divided into Completeness and Achievement sections.

Technical Leadership

This refers to the technical competencies of our leaders and is closely tied to our Process Management, Knowledge Management, and Team Management models.

Completeness

Refers to the leaders’ management of processes – how they set them up, improve and adapt them.

Achievement

Relates to performance and guaranteeing people are accountable and are constantly improving and adapting the required technical knowledge.

Business Leadership

This refers to managing our strategy, overcoming strategic challenges, and setting up context for subordinates and stakeholders. Here we also defined two categories:

Completeness

Refers to the leader’s involvement in creating and completing strategic maps, defining, monitoring, and reporting initiatives and KPIs.

Achievement

Refers to team’s achieving KPIs, goals, and maps through successful initiatives execution.

Capability Assesment

It’s defined by the likelihood of success and execution of strategy based on capability management and understanding. That refers to leaders’ ability to excel in their core duties based on effectively assessing their team's and division's capability to manage campaigns, business plans, projects, initiatives, and achieve business goals. It’s divided into two sub-categories:

General Factors

Owning the technical knowledge needed for the role, understanding the team's and/or division domain and the feasibility of their team's and/or division's technical knowledge, and the needed technical knowledge at a company level.

Internal Factors

The leaders' Secure Group Knowledge in terms of who we are as a company and what we offer.

Opportunity Finding

To be capable of finding business opportunities and tackling our challenges we defined two sub-categories that our leaders should succeed: Experience and Exposure.

The ability to find opportunity refers to:



Experience

The majority of people's learning and knowledge comes from on-the-job experiences that equip them with the opportunity to discover and develop job-related skills, address challenges, and learn from their mistakes. Through working in cross-department projects, contact with stakeholders, and complex tasks, leaders build the knowledge of how their role reflects on and is affected by the roles of others.

When evaluated in the hiring process it refers to which similar experiences the candidate had related to our business

Exposure

Refers to the ability of leaders to reinvent themselves when facing changes, market and industry knowledge, the leader's level of exposure to our challenges, and ability/approach to solve them.

When addressed in the hiring process if the candidate or even an employee didn’t have enough exposure to our kind of business challenges, we will also evaluate their effort to find such situations and expose themselves.

People Management Leadership

This criteria is all about a leader’s ability to understand the different types of employees we have in our structure and manage them effectively.

Completeness

Refers to the successful mapping of positions in the company to achieve our performance goals (including SGMM employees and remote employees).

Achievement

It's connected to having the right people assigned to the right positions and that they are given the opportunity to constantly grow and develop.

Adaptive Leadership

In a fast-moving company like Secure Group, things can change quickly and bring a certain amount of chaos. Those situations require our staff to adapt fast, which can be a challenge. These are the situations in which a true leader can shine. We consider 6 perspectives for success in this issue:

Get on the balcony

This is the leader’s ability to distance themselves from the situation and take a birds-eye view. This allows them to see the bigger picture and act in an objective way, which is most beneficial to the company.

Identify adaptive challenges

Finding opportunities that require people to learn in an adaptive way and open their minds to new possibilities and ways of doing things.

Regulate distress

Supporting the transition of employees during challenging times of change, by managing the pressure on them and their stress.

Maintain disciplined attention

To ensure maximum focus, a leader should bring attention to what is important and shield the team from disruptive distractions.

Get the work done

Motivating people and directing the workflow to make sure the work is done efficiently.

Protect voices from below

Be inclusive and allow the opportunity to experiment with everyone and be capable of weighing their voices.


Regardless of their Level or Step, leaders in Secure Group have a crucial role in the operation of Secure Group. Just as with other employees, they are held accountable for their work and their performance, and only through excelling at their tasks can they rise up the Management Path. Our requirements are challenging, but only because excellent leadership is so important to our organization.

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