Our CTO

Impact level
Company

Your focus is on the tech team and technological vision for the whole company. You make the final (business) decisions for the digital infrastructure that closely aligns with Elements’ goals. You are aware of new and existing technologies and together with the Team Leads and Technical Guides assess their relevance for Elements. Considering both business and market realities, you create a vision for the company and delegate implementation. You create a fail-safe learning culture where everyone can grow, experiment with new developments and allow people to make mistakes. You encourage knowledge sharing initiatives within and outside the company. You promote a quality-oriented mindset among the teams and inspire commercial awareness.  Together with the Team Leads and Human Resources you play a key role in employee promotion/compensation discussions. You support your Team Leads and coach them to become better leaders. 

Required competence
levels for this position

Listening
4
Oral & Written expression
4
Timing
4
Sensitivity
4
Communication
Helping
4
Approachability
3
Adaptability
4
Feedback
4
Reliability
4
Empathy
4
Working with others
Growth Mindset
4
Knowledge
4
Quality Orientation
4
Craftsmanship
Planning & Organisation
4
Creative problem solving
4
Pragmatism
4
Resilience
4
Commercial Awareness
3
Effectiveness
People Management
4
Process Management
4
Strategic Thinking
4
Self Leadership
4
Leadership

Core competence
expectations

Communication
Listening
4

1) Refrains from immediate judgment and criticism creating an open atmosphere for people to freely speak their minds.
You are silent when needed and open to hear your colleague’s story and ask clarifying questions to better understand their viewpoint.
You notice when people don’t take part in a discussion and you pro-actively ask them for their opinion to make sure everyone is heard.

Oral & Written Expression
4

1) Can argue a complex decision that involves many sides.
Someone in your team was underperforming and negatively impacting others, you can speak with them directly, if needed escalate the issue and own the responsibility for your actions.
2) Proactively experiments with different communication platforms and makes a proposal to introduce them within the company.

Timing
4

1) Communicates on important, sensitive and/or pressing company-wide news in a timely manner, understanding how important the timing of communication is.

Sensitivity
4

1) Adapts communication style and message to a wider audience while keeping in mind and staying true to company values.
2) Is very sensitive to non-verbal and verbal cues and consistently responds adequately. Inspires their team and the organisation in this matter.  
3) Is a go to person on sensitive matters.

Working with others
Helping
4

1) Effectively resolves conflicts.
You effectively mediate between the conflicting parties in order to find a good solution. People come to you for help in difficult situations.

Approachability
3

1) Is approachable and makes others feel comfortable to discuss anything.
You create space for people to approach you and discuss (personal) situations that may impact their work.

Adaptability
4

1) Can adjust organisational and strategic priorities as situations change.

Feedback
4

1) Encourages a culture of giving feedback and shares knowledge on how to best give/handle feedback if necessary.

Reliability
4

1) Creates a culture of accountability and leads by example.

Empathy
4

1) Encourages and facilitates inclusive behaviour company-wide, inspires inclusion and diversity.
You speak up when you hear a discriminative comment being made – even if you know it was not meant in such a way.
You console and comfort your colleagues in challenging times at work even when it’s not explicitly expected from you, you truly try to understand them.

Craftsmanship
Growth mindset
4

1) Creates a culture where mistakes are allowed.
When your colleague makes a mistake, you focus on what can be learnt from it rather than holding it against them.
You allow people in your team to experiment, even if the outcome is uncertain. 2) Experiments with new developments and shares interesting findings to the whole organisation.
You give a talk or presentation at a Meetup or conference.
You share your mistakes and learnings.

Knowledge
4

1) Takes time to always get better and improve “the craft” at Elements.
You are the go-to expert within the company.
You mentor/coach others.

Quality orientation
4

1) Creates outstanding quality output independently.
You see how the current tools fit the company and adjusts them based on efficiency and vision.  
You find and introduce new tools to get the required results.
You are constantly trying to improve the overall quality of Elements’ work. 2) Has a naturally quality oriented mindset and ensures that Elements continues to deliver quality.
You actively help others improve their output quality by, for instance, doing and promoting code reviews and proposing future-proof improvements.

Effectiveness
Planning & Organising
4

1) Has a vision for the goal of the company and plans and organises in line with it.
2) Keeps an eye on whether Elements is still on track (based on the information available to them).

Creative problem-solving
4

1) Can break down complex and strategic information into manageable components and reflect on the organisation wide impact.
2) Can raise concerns about company priorities and proposes a valid actionable plan so that overall goals are met.
You present proposals and concrete plans that benefit the company.
3) Can delegate high level solutions that need to be translated into actions. Keeps an eye on the progress.

Pragmatism
4

1) Actively reminds people of pragmatism and how this can translate into concrete behaviour(s).
You see when people have too many meetings and are not approaching things in a pragmatic way. You give them feedback about this.
Instead of dwelling on things forever, you take “difficult” decisions to resolve pending issues or long-lasting discussions.

Resilience
4

1) Keeps a healthy work-life balance and reminds others to do the same.
2) Sets an example and contributes to a culture of positive atmosphere and resilience in the team. 
3) Helps others to feel better and supports them. 
You see a colleague is having a hard time, you help them gain perspective and plan actions accordingly. 

Commercial awareness
3

1) Is a partner of the client, always thinking with them but at the same time unafraid of a confrontation.  
You regularly check-in with the client for feedback about the work we do.
You arrange videocalls or face to face appointments to manage client expectations and satisfaction with what we do. 2) Has a commercial eye, always knowing how to achieve commercial goals in a way that benefits both Elements and the client, therefore ensuring a long-term relationship.
3) Can successfully represent the company externally (with clients, networking events, etc).

Secondary competence
expectations

Leadership

Leadership at Elements is about setting an example and being an inspiration. It’s about living the company values. Leaders at Elements are self-aware and understand how their behaviour impacts others. They take a step back and consider the bigger picture, act according to the company vision and play to their strengths to be effective in guiding teams. Leaders are thinking strategically but also very pragmatically to help move the company, teams and individual team members forward while considering both human and business factors.  

Key Sub-competences
Self-leadership, People Management, Process Management, Strategic thinking

Self-leadership
4

1) Helps others in exploring and developing their emotional intelligence.  
2) Is exemplary in taking constructive criticism and remains open even in difficult times.

People Management
4

1) Never loses sight of key organisational values and needs when managing people

Process Management
4

1) Establishes processes that improve company’s way of working.  
2) Understands what kind of processes the company needs at a given moment and acts accordingly.  
You don’t design or apply processes that are unnecessary or redundant.

Strategic Thinking
4

1) Formulates and adapts company’s vision, mission and values.  
2) Measures results of critical success factors, knows how to analyse relevant data and interpret it in line with the business goals.  
You discuss the quantitative results of the organisation every month, you can interpret the numbers and can anticipate potential consequences. For instance, when you see the revenue lagging behind due to lack of new projects, you suggest hiring a salesperson.

Take control of your career path.

These definitions and behavioural examples must not be seen as a checklist, they are intended to serve you as a solid reference point to (1) take control of your professional path, (2) to assess your colleagues’ professional contribution and (3) recruit new teammates.