Elevate+

Leaders at GitLab enable our mission that everyone can contribute. We need to equip our people leaders with the skills to lead globally dispersed, all-remote teams to support our business growth at scale.

Through small group cohorts and interactive workshops, Elevate+ is designed to enable senior leaders at GitLab to better understand and practice behaviours anchored in GitLab’s values and leadership competencies, develop new skills to support high priority business needs, and help establish and strengthen cross-functional connections.

Elevate+ will create a shared leadership development experience across the organization so that every leader has a solid capability to lead in alignment with our GitLab values. This program will focus on the leadership behaviors required to build high performing teams that deliver results for customers.

In Elevate+, participants will:

1. Understand and practice behaviors and frameworks anchored in GitLab’s values and leadership competencies
2. Apply new skills to support their highest priority business needs
3. Build cross-division relationships and learning through small group cohorts
4. Collaborate with stakeholders to integrate their learnings into their day-to-day work in order to tackle real challenges
5. Take action on feedback from their team, leader, and cross-functional stakeholders to map out your and your teams’ future growth

Participant Hub

Are you an active participant in Elevate+? Click here to navigate to the Particpant Hub with relevant links and resources!

What concepts are taught in Elevate+?

Elevate+ is organized into 5 learning modules. Read more about the skills covered in each module below:

Time Committment

Elevate+ runs for a total of 6 months and is organized into 5 learning modules. In each module, participants spend approx. 4 hours in the following learning activities:

5 Total Modules

Certification

1. During each module, participants will complete and submit their intersession work, as described above This work will demonstrate learning of the models / competencies, as well as implementation of difficult conversations / coaching.
2. Throughout the program, participants will revisit and adapt their ReadMes, crystallizing their focus on leadership development and the ways in which they contribute to GitLab’s business.
3. During certification, participants will:
   • present their leadership development plans to members of their cohort
   • commit to an accountability plan
   • answer any questions that arise from their peers and coach

More details on the exact format of certification will be shared soon. As much as possible, certification will be designed such that participants have choice in what format / structure they utilize.

Making up missed sessions

Attendance to all Elevate+ live sessions is required to earn the certification. We understand that making time for all live sessions can be difficult. We have options for making up sessions you’ve missed:

Option 1: Attend Another Session

There are multiple Live Learning and Cohort Workshop options for each module. If you cannot attend your scheduled sessions, Option 1 is to attend another scheduled session.

Option 2: Async Makeup

If none of the Live Learning sessions will work, you may use Option 2: Async Makeup. Note that this can only be used a total of one time per participant.

Async makeups will be shared with participants directly via Level Up. The include watching recordings from the Live Learning and responding to text-based discussion threads in Level Up.

There is no async makeup option for Cohort Workshops.

Measuring Success

We’re using the Elevate+ 360, delivered via Culture Amp, to both measure success of the program and give participants persnalized feedback on their leadership styles.

Self-Assessment: Participants will complete a self-assessment, reflecting upon their current abilities and confidence as a leader of leaders. After the program, participants will re-take the assessment to demonstrate growth.

Stakeholder Assessment: Identified stakeholders will receive an (anonymous!) survey to gather feedback both for participants to identify areas they want to focus on during the next 6 months as well as overall program feedback. Stakeholders will be surveyed again 6 months after the program to measure collective leadership growth of the Elevate+ participants. This is a fantastic opportunity to collect and take action on feedback from those you work closely with.

Particiapnts will nominated 2-3 stakeholders for the assessment. Their manager and direct reports will also be sent the assessment.

Who sees the assessment results?

1. The Elevate program team will look at cumulative results, vs individual results.
2. Stakeholder results will be shared with you directly for use in the program.

Results from the self and stakeholder assessments will be used throughout the program, during workshop sessions and intersession work, to inform and personalize the material for each participant.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does success in Elevate+ look like?

To earn the final Elevate certification, participants must:

1. Attend or makeup all live sessions
2. Complete all async intersession work
3. Pass the Elevate+ Certification

Is my participation in Elevate+ required?

Yes, this and Elevate are both a required training for all people leaders at GitLab.

Where do I communicate my questions, concerns, and feedback as I go through the program?

When the program begins, you’ll be added to a Slack group that includes all members of your cohort. You can also reach out directly to your manager or the Learning and Development team.

I missed, or cannot attend, a live session. What do I do?

It’s a requirement to make up missed sessions within each month to ensure that you’re learning each new skill and moving through the program in the appropriate order. Please make every effort to attend live sessions as scheduled. Please review makeup options outline above.

We’re committed to working with you to find a solution that let’s you successfully complete Elevate. If you must miss one live session for personal reasons, you need approval from your manager. Additional missed sessions will result in an incomplete Elevate status.

What if I have already completed the manager challenge?

The Manager Challenge is a past iteration of leadership development at GitLab. We appreciate the time that past manager challenge participations have dedicated to their growth and development. Elevate is the next iteration in our GitLab manager journey, and is still required of manager challenge participants.

When I complete this program will I earn a certificate?

Yes! Upon successful completion of the program, including attendance to all required live sessions, asynchronous learning, and assessments, participants will be awarded the GitLab Elevate+ certification.

How often will this program run?

Our goal is to enroll all eligible managers into Elevate+ during FY25.

Is there opportunity to participate in the program if I am an aspiring manager?

Due to our priority to certify people leaders, participation by aspiring managers is not currently an option. We’ve put together a Level Up course available to all GitLab Team Members, to share the self-paced training content for each Elevate (please note, there is not yet an async option for Elevate+). You can check it out here: Elevate Learning Materials

I was asked to fill out the Stakeholder Assessment - what does this mean?

The Elevate+ stakeholder assessment is delivered via Culture Amp and helps Elevate+ participants integrate real time feedback into their leadership growth.

Being nominated to take this assessment means that an Elevate+ participant greatly values your feedback and is interested to learn your perspective about their leadership style. Participants will view their self assessment results alongside feedback from stakehodlers, then use this data to guide goals they set during Elevate+.

The stakeholder assessment is sent to participants direct reports, manager, and co-workers they have nominated. If you recieve a stakeholder assessment, we ask that you please take ~15 minutes to complete.

Important things to note:

1. Participants will not see names associated with feedback shared in Culture Amp. Feedback will be categorized based on who shares it: Manager, Direct Reports, and Co-Workers.
2. You might be nominated by mulitiple Elevate+ participants to take the assessment. Please consider taking it for each person that’s nominated you. You’ll recieve a separate Culture Amp message and assessment link for each assessment.
3. Participants of current Elevate+ rounds might have also been nominated to take the assessment for their colleagues. This is expected - thanks for taking time to assess your fellow Elevate+ members!
4. The People Analytics team will have access the the entire survey data set, including names, and will use this to pull aggregate themes from across all Elevate+ participants.
5. If you’re nominated to give feedback to someone that you feel you can’t give adequate feedback to, based on your level of collaboration with them, please simply ignore the message from Culture Amp and any reminders.

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