Skill Tree [archived]

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1		Did you know there’s a new version of the Skill Tree?
2		Junior	Mid Level	Experienced Mid Level	Senior	Lead

3	Knowledge & Impact	Displays a strong learning orientation and identifies own areas for professional development	Displays emotional intelligence	Has a deep knowledge in their area of expertise, and may begin to contribute to the development of others	Understands the studio's distinctiveness and speaks convincingly to various people about our values and work	Is a mentor and contributes to the development of others across the studio and beyond
4		Exhibits self-awareness, recognizes strengths and areas for development with a strong desire to further develop	Continues to develop confidence and strong skills in area of expertise	Has built own knowledge skill base and contributes to team productivity	Applies knowledge to improve team functioning	Has broad range of knowledge and/or is a subject matter expert
5		Represents the studio professionally and with integrity	Identifies limitations of own knowledge and consciously pushes those boundaries	Models values-aligned behavior for others	Uses professional concepts to resolve complex issues in creative, scalable and effective ways	Understands and has direct impact on priorities
6		Articulates values, culture, and distinctiveness	Committed to sharing responsibility for one’s own professional development	Makes substantive, open-minded contributions to efforts that shape the studio's culture	Has a wide range of knowledge in their area of expertise	Utilizes knowledge expertise to influence studio operations
7		Learns and applies fundamental skills to job	Applies company procedures and industry/technical practices to resolve a variety of issues	Has developed an area of expertise	Contributes to the development of the entire studio and creates opportunities to strengthen overall knowledge and skills	Contributes to the development of objectives and high level goals
8		Values multiple perspectives and is open to unexpected chances to learn	Has turned specific improvement areas into areas of strength			Strategically grows own professional network and manages it
9						Lives the values even when doing so is difficult or involves making explicit trade-offs
10	Problem Solving	Asks thoughtful questions, researches and proposes solutions prior to implementation	Uses own experience (pattern recognition) and the collective experience of the team to solve increasingly complex problems	Is sought out as a resource and creative problem-solver by others	Is proactive in finding and solving unbounded problems	Mentors individuals and builds others’ skills and confidence in problem solving
11		Uses available data to inform problem solving	Is mindful of other teams’ goals, priorities and work styles when proposing action plans	Respects and supports the ideas of others and understands when it’s necessary to let go of own ideas	Looks for opportunities to apply, enhance, and refine our methodologies and processes	Creatively engages in issue identification and is responsible for driving large-scale solution development beyond team and individual levels
12		Displays good intuition regarding barriers to success and proactively seeks help addressing them	Looks at all components and missing links to find a holistic and sustainable solution	Demonstrates comfort with ambiguity while adapting to last-minute pressures	Coaches others in understanding the complexity of problems and tactics for thoughtful and creative problem solving; demonstrates values-driven behaviors in doing so	Encourages the team to sharpen problem-solving capabilities by making intuitive leaps, taking innovative approaches, or navigating the uncharted path
13		Clearly articulates issues that need to be addressed	Helps document and communicate learnings from internal processes and projects	Anticipates potential roadblocks and addresses and shares learnings	Is a valued problem-solving partner by peers & leads	Has a vision and drives process change
14		Is solution-oriented and takes ownership of outcomes	Constructively shares experience on past roadblocks to help others be more successful	Constructively shares experience on past roadblocks to help others be more successful	Uses influence to resolve competing priorities or negotiate points of view	Substantively contributes to improving major processes or has had clear impact driving forward a significant effort to do so
15			Displays creativity in seeking out new perspectives and approaches	Is able to resolve a wide range of issues in creative ways	Contributes to problem resolution beyond own team	Resolves complex issues where analysis of situations may require an evaluation of intangible factors
16			Uses values to make decisions, weighing pros and cons before taking action	Promotes innovation and thoughtful risk taking
17				Works on problems of diverse scope where analysis of data requires complex evaluation
18	Communications	Considers how written and verbal tone impact the listener’s receptivity	Considers the audience and situation and adjusts written and verbal communication accordingly	Synthesizes complex information and diverse points of view into clear and compelling communications; writes persuasive prose	Develops communication skills in others through example and guidance	Develops effective communication strategies for initiatives and projects
19		Creates clear, concise and logical communications	Keeps others informed of progress on projects without overburdening them with too much information	Communicates confidently and effectively	Is attentive and responsive to diverse communication styles, including non-verbal cues	Communicates with clarity and influences others while balancing the ability to show humility and approachability
20		Edits and proofreads written work thoroughly to ensure factual accuracy, eliminate grammatical errors and have the appropriate tone	Actively listens and makes others feel heard	Is constructively open, honest, and real about what we’re not doing right	Gracefully reacts to rapidly changing situations without losing focus or composure	Uses own influence to inspire other ICs & Leads
21		Knows when to ask for guidance in crafting effective communication	Conveys a sense of presence and maturity	Cultivates a variety of communication styles that can be applied to an array of situations	Successfully communicates difficult messages	Navigates difficult communications with gravitas and fosters company-wide support
22		Contributes meaningfully in team and 1:1 discussions	Understands and applies the principles of active listening	Explains the “why” behind decisions, processes or changes	Sets a productive tone for interactions in meetings, and effectively facilitates them to keep things on track	Designs projects and project team communications to prioritize Push based communication, builds and maintains effective documents that streamline the project for clients and internal team alike (such as a Project Wiki).
23		Communicates progress on tasks in a timely way and to the appropriate individuals	Knows when to use different communication channels (e.g. in-person versus email)	Delivers effective and engaging presentations	Is thoughtfully candid about tough decisions
24		Understands and prefers Push over Pull based communication styles, and always clearly communicates immediate concerns (like changes in availability, needing help to understand how to complete a task, etc)	Is aware of own contribution to problem areas	Never fails to Push proactive updates to the team regarding upcoming deadlines or blockers, and takes initiative to build new documents on the project or team level for internal use and clients alike.	Pre-empts potential concerns, questions or future blockers for the team, and takes the time to clearly document solutions in a public place, before they are needed immediately.
25			Is proactive in Pushing communications to the team about upcoming blockers in their own project. When recieving information that may or may not be immediately needed by peers, strives to share it in a public place.	Gives proactive updates about long running, secondary tasks that may not be an immediate priority (to set expectations and help others plan).	Takes a proactive role in personally gathering important information about their project. Gives proactive updates on changes to project goals, client relationships, and other information relevant to whole Garden3D business.
26	Work Management	Works independently and in team settings toward defined goals/objectives	Juggles multiple tasks without sacrificing quality or deadlines	Prioritizes tasks and dependencies in real time as situations change	Contributes beyond immediate role and responsibilities for the greater good of the team and for the company	Sets context for team members, coaching them on how to balance immediate focus with long-term strategy
27		Completes assigned portion of shared responsibilities timely or proactively communicates barriers and roadblocks	Knows how to use time effectively	Builds reliable and realistic plans for executing work	Balances immediate focus on deliverables with longer-term view of business opportunity and overall impact	Effectively communicates the activities and strategy of the team with impact
28		Works to prioritize deliverables and workload	Proactively anticipates and acts upon requests	Owns complex projects with increasing scope, level, and expertise	Understands when “pushing back” is necessary and acts accordingly	Helps set and communicate the vision for the team and can rally the team behind it
29		Demonstrates understanding of scope, dependencies, and logistics of work	Demonstrates a thoughtful, reasonable sense of urgency	Openly discusses work style, preferences and challenges and provides actionable feedback and suggestions	Actively manages team deliverables in addition to own work	Structures work appropriately, balancing both individual development and team needs
30		Works to set expectations and deadlines	Successfully owns and manages projects through completion	Addresses roadblocks as they arise	Incorporates long-term strategy in their project plans	Evolves the way garden3d delivers client work through their own project's learnings
31		Asks clarifying questions and for help when necessary			Helps set objectives to meet goals
32	Teamwork	Understands that administrative work is often required at every level; does not cherry pick assignments and projects solely based on personal interests	Proactively thinks beyond individual role to provide support and uncover opportunities for increased efficiencies	Provides timely and constructive feedback in ways that builds teams’ skills and identifies blind spots	Leads by example and acts as a mentor and role model to other team members and others outside team	Communicates a vision and generates genuine enthusiasm
33		Actively seeks ways to contribute to team projects or lend a helping hand	Understands overall team goals and deliverables, and contributes within a defined area of ownership	Contributes to discussions in ways that advance team thinking, bringing constructive challenges to the table	Builds and shapes the team’s work, agenda, deliverables and strategy	Ensures team’s understanding of overall strategy and aligns team’s goals and deliverables accordingly
34		Stays positive and focused despite times of ambiguity or unfavorable changes	Contributes to the team in a productive and positive manner	Takes a recognized leadership role or participates in a range of different initiatives	Demonstrates success in a project leadership role with increasing scope and complexity	Proven success in leading projects and teams with multiple stakeholders, and across geographic and functional boundaries
35		Demonstrates genuine care for the well-being of others	Takes on project leadership roles	Proactively contributes to team’s goals and deliverables, and leverages own expertise	Finds ways to push the team’s thinking and build collective skills	Consistently solicits input from people outside the team and provides feedback to the team
36		Assumes good intent and treats others respectfully	Participates in company-wide initiatives and finds ways to make leadership contributions	Understands other teams’ goals, priorities and work-style	Models behavior around celebrating success and learning from failure	Is consistently mindful of all members of the team
37		Understands how individual work contributes to both the company's priorities and to overarching team goals		Demonstrates success in a project leadership role	Takes a leadership role and participates in initiatives; paves a path and supports team members to become involved	Takes a significant leadership role
38		Lends support to or gets directly involved in initiatives		Widens own and group’s knowledge by working with teams
39		Demonstrates a spirit of generosity		Supports team and colleagues in living our values
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