Performance
Providing a concrete and clear development path that leads to a secure and trustworthy environment where innovation can thrive.
We want our employees to:
- Be productive (to deliver value quickly)
- Be autonomous (to drive outcomes)
- Be inspired and motivated (to create and thrive)
- Be psychologically safe (to experiment and fail without feeling vulnerable)
- Be constantly growing (to achieve mastery)
That's why, we decided to create a development path that would align with our culture, would work for employees from diverse backgrounds, at all levels of experience, and in many different (some unique) roles.
Because we are an IT knowledge-driven company, the brain of our employees is our biggest asset. To maintain our High-Performance Culture we take decisive steps not to recruit or retain employees with average performance.
We believe: The incredible performance of the right people deserves unlimited opportunities to grow.
Paths
We designed TWO growth paths you can follow:
| Individual Contributors Path | Managers Path |
|---|---|
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Whatever path you choose, you have a clear direction for development, career growth, and monetary success. Each path is composed of 18 frameworks divided into categories that cover every aspect of our business.
Frameworks
Technical Engineering
Business Development
Operations
Individual Contributors Path
It literally means someone who contributes individually. Their main purpose is not management. The idea behind this is to recognize that there is a career path and opportunity for growth for people who have strong technical skills that don't go through the path of becoming a manager, and instead, work on developing these skills and contribute equally to a manager to deliver the goals and mission of Secure Group.
Individual Contributors Levels
Each Level and Step for Individual Contributors is evaluated based on well-defined criteria as shown below:
| Levels Chart | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IC Path | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 |
| Strategy Involvement (Balanced ScoreCard) | Applies Secure Group policies and internal procedures to resolve issues on a daily basis. | Has some understanding of Secure Group's strategic plan, industry, and market space. | Understands Secure Group's strategy and contributes effectively to the business' goals and/оr initiatives in it. | Can easily explain Secure Group's strategies as part of his day-to-day job and acts like an owner of the business' goals and/or initiatives. | Has a deep understanding of Secure Group's strategy and it's directly responsible for achieving one or more business' goals. | Acts like a spokesperson for Secure Group Strategic Plan, market space, and products and has a thorough, holistic understanding of the business. |
| In Practice: the employee is informed and follows our Internal Rules and policies. The employee knows there's a Strategic Map for the company and by department. | In Practice: the employee knows how to explain the overall strategy shown in the Strategic Maps and which products we sell and to whom. | In Practice: the employee knows exactly which KPIs and Initiatives are being tracked in order to reach the business goals shown in the Strategic Map of their department and can direct the tasks/projects to accomplish them. | In Practice: the employee is the owner of KPIs and some Initiatives from their department's Strategic Map, contributes to the business goals and can easily understand how it all relates to Secure Group overall strategy | In Practice: the employee is the owner of a significant number of Initiatives in their department, it's completely responsible for achieving goals in their department and contributes directly to one or more business goals from Secure Group Strategic Map. | In Practice: the employee is responsible for achieving a significant amount of business goals from Secure Group General Strategic Map. It's usually the owner of a whole Strategic Theme. | |
| Job Complexity (defined in the RACI) | Works on limited scope issues. | Works on problems of moderate scope where analysis of situations or data requires reviews from a manager, a tech lead or a senior employee. | Works on problems of diverse scope specified in the RACI where analysis of data requires evaluation of already identified factors. | Works on complex issues determined in the RACI where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of a variety of factors. | Works on important and unique tasks where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangible factors. | Works on issues that impact business success or addresses future concepts, products, and technologies. |
| The employee is informed about our documentation process and knows how to find information when needed. | The employee is responsible for gathering relevant information and data for superiors to create documentation. | The employee is responsible for writing the documentation that is under its responsibility/accountability with the review from superiors. | The employee is responsible for selecting processes creating documentation for the department. | The employee is responsible for prioritizing and ensuring that the documentation is relevant and applicable to a variety of departments. | The employee is responsible for designing processes from scratch in order for the teams to document them. | |
| Follows the standard practices, procedures, and processes defined in the RACI. | Exercises judgment within defined procedures and practices described in the RACI to determine appropriate action. | Demonstrates good judgment in selecting methods and techniques that act as effective solutions driving tangible results. | It is capable of exercising judgment to select and define methods, techniques and evaluation criteria that act as effective solutions driving tangible results. | Exercises independent judgment in defining methods, techniques and evaluation criteria that act as effective solutions driving tangible results. | Acts as a spokesperson for Secure Group. | |
| Knowledge (application of the KAI) | Understands how to use professional concepts. | Continually develops professional expertise and skills. Applies relevant knowledge to find resolutions for a variety of issues on a daily basis. | Possess a full understanding of tasks/projects; resolves a wide range of issues in creative ways. | Has a wide-ranging experience, is capable of using professional concepts and objectives correctly in order to accomplish tasks. | Has broad expertise or unique knowledge, uses a variety of skills to contribute to the development of Secure Group's business model, objectives, and principles and to achieve goals in creative and effective ways. Capable of transmitting knowledge to the other departments/employees (tech-sessions). | Expert in the field uses professional concepts in developing a resolution to critical issues and broad business matters. It's recognized in the industry. |
| Your focus is on learning with guidance from others. | Your focus is on continuous self-learning. | Your focus is on developing through on-the-job experience. | Your focus is on applying and enhancing knowledge or skill. | Your focus is on broad organizational/professional issues. | Your focus is strategic. | |
| In Practice: the KAI will be most likely filled with grades of proficiency of 2 and 3 and may have some items graded with 4. | In Practice: the KAI will be most likely filled with grades of proficiency of 3 and 4 and may have some items graded with 5. | In Practice: the KAI needs to be filled with a minimum grade of 4 in all items. | In Practice: the KAI will be most likely filled with grades of proficiency of 4 to 6. | In Practice: the KAI will be most likely filled with grades of proficiency 5 and 6. | In Practice: the KAI is filled with almost every item with a grade of proficiency of 6. | |
| Knowledge Sharing | You attend tech-sessions that were assigned to you | You support the creation of content and/or you give Tech-Sessions that are related to the application of tools within a defined process, with the supervision from superiors. | You create content and/or provide Tech-Sessions related to processes without any supervision. | You create content and/or give Tech-Sessions related to our business: concepts, models, frameworks etc. | You identify knowledge GAP from internal references and create relevant content to be applied in Tech-Sessions. | You identify knowledge gaps from external references and create relevant content to be applied in Tech-Sessions. |
| Supervision | Normally receives detailed instructions on different tasks. | Usually receives general instructions on routine work and detailed instructions on new projects or assignments. | Normally receives little instruction on day-to-day work, general instructions on new assignments/projects. | Determines the methods and procedures to be followed on new assignments and acts as an advisor to other employee's activities. | Acts independently to determine methods and procedures on new or special assignments. Supervises and advises the activities of others. | Exercises wide latitude in determining objectives and approaches to critical assignments. |
Individual Contributors Steps
| Steps Chart | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IC Path | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
| Level 1 | Ownership: No ownership, receives instructions on almost all tasks. | Ownership: Little ownership, receives instructions on most tasks. | Ownership: Some ownership, receives instructions on some tasks. | Ownership: Increasing ownership, can work independently on many routine tasks. |
| Initiative: None expected, does work as instructed. | Initiative: Little expected, does work as instructed. | Initiative: Starts taking the initiative by asking questions and learning more about the tasks/projects. | Initiative: An Increasing by asking targeted/relevant questions. | |
| Level 2 | Ownership: Works mostly independently on individual tasks. | Ownership: Works on individual tasks entirely independently. | Ownership: Mastering ability to break down projects into tasks; co-owns projects with strong guidance. | Ownership: Co-owns projects' and owns pieces of larger projectss with decreasing guidance. |
| Initiative: Begins deeper questioning of processes to understand them better. | Initiative: Deep questioning of processes; begins to suggest improvements. | Initiative: Shows some initiative through optimization of existing processes. | Initiative: Takes more initiative through iterating on existing processes. | |
| Level 3 | Ownership: Co-owns projects and individually owns pieces of larger projects in their area completely. | Ownership: Fully owns projects in their area with the guidance of superiors. | Ownership: Fully owns projects in their area with decreasing guidance. | Ownership: Owns projects in their area wholly. |
| Initiative: Makes relevant decisions within their scope without constantly seeking consensus. | Initiative: Makes effective decisions within their scope without seeking consensus. | Initiative: Takes some initiative through identifying gaps and opportunities. | Initiative: Takes more initiative through identifying gaps and opportunities. | |
| Level 4 | Ownership: Works independently and owns projects entirely, both in their area and cross-functionally. | Ownership: It is seen as a mentor and known as the expert in their subject area. | Ownership: Identifies and proactively attacks significant challenges and problems in their area. | Ownership: Leads adoption of new systems/tools/methodologies and/or technologies in their area. |
| Initiative: Gives guidance and unblocks stuck processes; finds opportunities to mentor and grow teammates. | Initiative: Gives guidance and unblocks others; finds opportunities to mentor and grow teammates. | Initiative: Shows some discretion in delegating tasks and focusing on a higher level. | Initiative: Shows more discretion in delegating tasks and focusing on higher levels. | |
| Level 5 | Ownership: Conceives and owns projects entirely, both in their area and cross-functionally. Identifies scopes and work stages to transform them into well-defined milestones for projects or initiatives. | Ownership: Demonstrates knowledge of industry trends; researches and leads adoptionof new approaches or technologies in their area. | Ownership: Starts being involved in setting direction at an area level. | Ownership: It's wholly involved in setting direction at areas level. |
| Initiative: Minimizes the complexity of projects/processes to get to work more effectively. | Initiative: Reduces the complexity of projects/processes to get more done with less work. | Initiative: Takes some initiative in identifying and solving important problems, often coordinating cross-functionally within departments. | Initiative: Takes more initiative to identify and solve important problems, often coordinating cross-functionally within departments. | |
| Level 6 | Ownership: Drives projects on which multiple teams depend on. | Ownership: As subject matter expert (recognized authority), plays a crucial role in developing the overall company strategy. | Ownership: Decisions have a direct impact on the long-term success of Secure Group. | Ownership: Leads the company in developing direction in significant areas. |
| Initiative: Routinely and consistently pushes forward multiple teams/areas within the company. | Initiative: Drives the conversation about the area’s direction, drives team-wide consensus to develop and adopt orientation. | Initiative:Identifies significant strategic opportunities to allow Secure Group to 'grow as a business. | Initiative: Identifies and acts on significant strategic opportunities to allow Secure Group to achieve global strategic goals. | |
Management Path
People who choose to take the Management Path in Secure Group support, guide, and optimize the workflow of Individual Contributors. A Manager is a person who manages his/her team but has a significant contribution on his/her own to achieve the Company's business goals.
Management Path Levels
Each Level and Step is evaluated based on well-defined criteria as shown below:
| Levels Chart | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management Path | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 |
| Trainee | Coordinator | Manager | Sr. Manager | Head of | Director | |
| Scope (based on the RACI, Internal Rules, Management Model & Balanced Scorecard) | Receives assignments in the form of objectives with goals and instructions to contribute in some part of the department process. | Receives assignments in the form of objectives with goals and instructions on the process for meeting goals. Manages a wide range of processes. | Receives assignments in the form of objectives with goals and instructions on the process for meeting goals. Management reviews work to measure the meeting of objectives. Establishes and maintains the department's strategy. | Receives assignments in the form of objectives and determines how to use resources to meet schedules and goals. Senior management reviews objectives proposed by Heads to determine the success of the operation. Focuses on strategic goals. | Establishes objectives and work plans and delegates assignments to subordinates. | Participates with other senior managers to establish strategic plans and objectives. |
| Understands established policies from Secure Group. | May provide directions to employees according to established policies. Administers company policies that could affect employees from the same department. Plan, direct and coordinate the departments' policies. | Provides direction to employees according to established policies and management guidance. Administers company policies that directly affect subordinate employees or individual contributors. | Guides subordinates within the latitude of established company policies. | It is involved in developing, modifying and executing company policies that affect immediate operations and may also have company-wide effect. | Makes final decisions on administrative or operational matters and ensures goals are met through operational efficiency. | |
| Understands his/her Framework and the specifications to Level Up & Step Up | May provide directions to employees according to the criterias of their framework in order to achieve a higher level. | Provides direction and guidance to employees according to their framework. Administers the KAI assessment that directly affects their department or individual contributors. | Guides subordinates within the criterias of their framework. Acts as a ambassador of the Career Framework and it's capable of understanding the other's departments Frameworks. | It is involved in developing and modifying frameworks that affect our business in a company-wide effect. Acts as a spokesperson for Secure Group Management Model. | Makes final decisions on strategic matters and ensures business goals are met through the effective application of the Management Model. | |
| Is informed about Secure Group Strategic Map & overall Strategy.
* In Practice: The employee knows there's a Strategic Map for the company and by department. |
Knows how to explain the overall strategy shown in the Strategic Maps from both Secure Group and relevant department.
* In Practice: The employee knows the business goals and the main KPIs and Initiatives to reach them. |
Understands Secure Group's strategy and contributes effectively to the business' goals in it.
* In Practice: the employee knows exactly which KPIs and Initiatives are being tracked in order to reach complete the business goals shown in the Strategic Map of their department and can direct the tasks/projects to accomplish them. |
Can easily explain Secure Group's strategies as part of his day-to-day job and acts like an owner of the business' goals.
* In Practice: the employee is the owner of KPIs and some Initiatives from their department's Strategic Map, contributes to the business goals and can easily understand how it all relates to Secure Group overall strategy |
Has a deep understanding of Secure Group's strategy and it's directly responsible for achieving one or more business' goals.
* In Practice: the employee is the owner of a significant number of Initiatives in their department, it's completely responsible for achieving goals in their department and contributes directly to one or more business goals from Secure Group Strategic Map. |
Acts like a spokesperson for Secure Group Strategic Plan, market space, and products and has a thorough, holistic understanding of the business.
* In Practice: the employee is responsible for achieving a significant amount of business goals from Secure Group General Strategic Map. It's usually the owner of a whole Strategic Theme. | |
| Complexity | Works on issues to acquire enough data for peers to analyze relevant factors. | Works on issues where analysis of situation or data requires a review of relevant factors. | Works on issues where analysis of situation or data requires a review of relevant factors. | Works on issues of diverse scope where analysis of situation or data requires evaluation of a variety of factors, including an understanding of current business trends. | Works on issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth knowledge of organizational objectives. | Works on complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth knowledge of the company. |
| Participates in the decision-making process by suggesting improvements. | It is involved in defining procedures and policies to determine appropriate action. | Exercises judgment within defined procedures and policies to determine appropriate action. | Follows processes and operational policies in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining solutions. Acts as an advisor to subordinate(s) to meet schedules and/or resolve technical problems. Develops and administers schedules and performance requirements. | Implements strategic policies when selecting methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. Establishes and assures adherence to budgets, schedules, work plans, and performance requirements. | Participates in corporate development of methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for projects, programs, and people. Ensures that budget needs and corporate requirements are met. | |
| Discretion | Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results might cause delays in schedules and may impact the projects of the department. | Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results might cause delays in schedules and may impact the projects of the department. | Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results will cause delays in schedules and may impact the projects of Secure Group. | Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results will add to costs and may impact the short-term goals of the organization. | Erroneous decisions will result in critical delay(s) in schedules and/or operations and may jeopardize overall business activities. | Erroneous decisions will have a serious impact on the overall success of the company in reaching its strategic goals and will affect operations. |
| Knowledge Sharing | You attend tech-sessions that were assigned to you | You support the creation of content and/or you give Tech-Sessions that are related to the application of tools within a defined process and processess in general. | You ensure there's no knowledge gap in your team and you assess the Tech-Sessions given by others through your subordinates KAI. You give Tech-Sessions that are related to concepts. | You create content and/or give Tech-Sessions related to our business: models, frameworks etc. | You identify knowledge GAP from internal references and create relevant content to be applied in Tech-Sessions. | You identify knowledge gaps from external references and create relevant content to be applied in Tech-Sessions. |
| Interaction | Frequently interacts with coordinators and functional peer groups. | Frequently interacts with managers and functional peer groups. | Frequently interacts with subordinate coordinators and individual contributors. | Frequently interacts with subordinates, customers, and/or functional peer group managers, usually involving matters regarding functional areas or relationships between customers and the company. | Regularly interacts with senior management or executive levels on matters concerning several functional areas, divisions, and/or customers. | Regularly interacts with executives and/or major customers. |
| Interaction usually requires the ability to understand the department's needs and cooperate with others, researching insights and materials for presentations of technical information concerning specific projects or schedules. Builds stable working relationships internally. | Interaction normally requires the ability to gain the cooperation of others, conducting presentations of technical information concerning specific projects or schedules. Builds stable working relationships internally. | Interaction normally requires the ability to gain the cooperation of others, conducting presentations of technical information concerning specific projects or schedules. | Interaction must often lead to a cooperative effort among members of a project team. | Interaction requires the ability to change the thinking of, or gain acceptance from, others in sensitive situations, without damage to the relationship. | Interaction frequently involve special skills, such as negotiating with customers or management or attempting to influence senior level leaders regarding matters of significance to the organization. | |
| Supervision | Doesn't provide direct supervision to professionals. Acts as a consultant to unit or sub-units and may become actively involved, as required, to meet schedules and help other managers in resolving problems. Usually receives detailed instructions on different tasks. | Doesn't provide direct supervision to professionals. Acts as an advisor to trainees and lower levels and may become actively involved, as required, to meet schedules and help managers in resolving problems.Frequently receives general instructions on different tasks. | Provides direct supervision and support to individual contributors (e.g., engineers, designers, developers).
Acts as advisor to unit or sub-units and may become actively involved, as required, to meet schedules and resolve problems. |
Manages, the coordination of the activities of a section or department with responsibility for results, including costs, methods, and staffing. | Manages activities of two or more sections or departments. Exercises supervision in terms of costs, methods, and staffing. | Directs and controls the activities of a broad functional area through several department managers within the company. Has overall control of planning, staffing, budgeting, managing expense priorities, and recommending and implementing changes to methods. May manage other managers. |
| Learnability | Studies new concepts and is open to the mindset of learning new methodologies. | Constantly acquires knowledge applicable on a daily basis in certain projects. | Continuously learns new concepts and methodologies that will be essential to improve processes and projects within the department. | Capable of mapping and understanding which knowledge is missing to achieve Secure Group business goals in different departments and self-learn a variety of them. | Constantly strives to learn new subjects related to Secure Group strategic plan and the industry and has the credibility to pass the knowledge to the rest of the company. | Totally masters the self-learnability mindset, studies a variety of topics related to strategy, business, industry, market, and technologies. |
Management Path Steps
| Steps Chart | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managers Path | Core Duties | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 |
| Level 1: Trainee | Executes assigned tasks that are subject to a high level of control and review from coordinators/managers. | Meets regularly with deadlines; complete tasks as determined. | Deepens experience in meeting regularly the expectations and provides support for the accountability of superiors. | Seeks opportunities to go beyond the expectations and effectively executes what has been assigned. | Excels at executing some parts of high-impact projects on their own. Excellent track record of self-development. |
| Level 2: Coordinator | Executes work assignments and some projects that are subject to a moderate level of control and review from coordinators/managers. | Meets regularly with direct reports; complete tasks as determined. | Builds a successful record of project execution. | Drives excellent results with little supervision on different projects. | Exercises judgment on how to improve and to align the department's projects to Secure Group's strategy. |
| Level 3: Manager | Executes well-defined work assignments that are subject to a moderate level of control and review. Builds a relationship with assigned subordinates. | Meets regularly with direct reports; ensures tasks are completed as determined. | Deepens experience in giving clear expectations, goals, and support accountability of team members. | Frequently solicits, synthesizes, and delivers feedback; helps individuals set goals and works to ensure teammates' growth. | Operates at a high level within scope; responsible for their team's overall productivity and collective impact in Secure Group's strategy. |
| Level 4: Senior Manager | Executes assignments in the form of objectives with goals and instructions related to the processes for reaching goals. Builds a strong culture of open communication, where teammates can ask questions without fear. | Mentors, coaches, and profoundly contributes to the career development of their team and others. Communicates timelines, scopes, and milestones to stakeholders. | Partners effectively outside their area to manage projects. Leads delivery of major initiatives on clear timelines building a successful record of project execution. | Works to develop a holistic perspective of the organization, its vision, and its activities. | Excels at getting the team to focus on the highest-impact projects. Excellent track record of developing and growing teammates. Strong ability to effectively delegate. |
| Level 5: Head of X | Receives work in the form of objectives and determines how to use resources to meet schedules and goals. Decreasing the amount of supervision across the steps. | Able to lead recruiting efforts and determine headcount for their team. Establishes procedures that affect the immediate organization. | Acts proactively to identify and clear the obstacles/challenges of the team. | Seeks opportunities to grow beyond their strengths and develop a broad skill set of complementary capabilities. | Drives excellent results with little supervision. Increasing time spent creating and refining strategy, connecting the dots, and observing essential trends and patterns at a strategic level. |
| Level 6: Director | Establishes operational objectives and work plans and delegates assignments to teammates. Involved in developing, modifying and executing company policies that affect immediate operations and may have company-wide effect. Focused on developing initiatives. | Responsible for examining and evaluating the organization’s processes and procedures and for revising initiatives for the global strategy. | Establishes vision and strategy and communicates them to stakeholders. | Is able to motivate stakeholders to implement strategies and fulfill their vision. | Exercises excellent critical thinking and has a track record of proven good judgment and successfully executed high-level projects. |
Performance Evaluation
Evaluations are done on-demand. If you feel you are ready to Level Up or Step Up, you can request a Level & Step Review from your manager at any time you want. After the evaluation is completed, both the employee and manager will create a K-POC in our system. K-POC stands for Knowledge and Personal Objective Cycle and it explains the improvements you need to make before the next evaluation. The K-POC does not have an explicit timeline so once you complete your K-POC, you can request another review.
Management Model Golden Rules
On Progression or Stagnation in the Framework:
- Level and Step Reviews can be requested at any time, but we require that employees undergo at least one evaluation per year. Any less than that is unacceptable.
- If you start at Secure Group as a Level 1 or 2, you will have one year to Level UP.
- If you start at Secure Group as a Level 3, 4, 5 or 6, you will have one year to at least Step UP.
- If you are an average performer (defined as having 2 failed K-POCS in a row) we will pay you a 4-month salary to let you go.
On the assigned Level upon hiring:
- You can apply for positions that are a maximum of one Level UP from your assigned Level.
- If you do not meet the expectations of the Level you were assigned upon hiring, there are two possible outcomes:
- We make you an offer at the salary of your Level and you will get a K-POC with clear instructions on how to Level UP in the months ahead.
- You can refuse and we will let you go.
On Salary increase based on the market
- If your Framework had an increase based on the market, in your next evaluation we will re-adjust your salary according to the new Salary Grid. We expect you to step up one in this scenario.
On choosing the Path
When choosing a path or when you wish to change frameworks there are 3 criteria to be followed:
- Job has to be big enough: meaning, is there the need of a person with your seniority for the role at that moment?
- You have to be a superstar in your current role
- You have to be an ambassador of our Management Model
We believe the incredible performance of the right people deserves unlimited opportunities to grow and that high performance deserves high compensation.