The One Behind It All Chapter 63

First, let’s talk about career development channel design. That is to say, Huawei employees can only become third-level managers after they have obtained the second-level qualification of a certain professional level. This also means that except for a few "airborne troops", managers are generally selected from outstanding professional backbones. In this multi-channel promotion model, each employee can choose at least two career development channels. After technical personnel obtain the second-level technical qualification, they can choose either the management channel or the technical channel for development. Once you grow into a senior technical expert, you can enjoy the salary and professional status of the company's vice president even if you do not hold a management position. This also solves the problem of "all working together to pursue an official career", and the company is able to fully retain a group of technical talents with rich experience.

In this channel model, the qualification criteria are based on behavioral evidence. Because employees continue to produce key behaviors required for high performance, which best reflects the competency of the incumbent. Positive evidence can support it, and negative evidence can deny it. The evaluation criteria thus formed are both objective and highly operational.

Secondly, let’s talk about the formulation of professional ability level standards. In fact, there are many contingencies in the performance-based evaluation system that is popular in many companies today. Huawei believes that behavior is the most direct factor in producing performance. The evidence provided in the evaluation of behavioral capabilities comprehensively considers employees' cumulative performance results and process behaviors in completing work. This not only avoids accidental factors in evaluation, conforms to the principle that professional behavior needs to be consistent, but also gets rid of the traditional ranking based on seniority.

Finally, let’s talk about professional level certification. Certification can be divided into two types: initial certification and periodic certification. The career development level qualification standards stipulate the requirements for different ability levels on the career development path. The initial certification is to find positions suitable for different employees according to their ability levels. At this stage, the employee's actual behavioral capabilities determine the level of his or her position.

After the initial certification, Huawei's Human Resources Department will conduct periodic certification of employees' career development status every one or two years in the future, and adjust them to positions suitable for employees based on the certification results. There are three situations for "fit" here. One is being promoted to a higher position, staying put, or being demoted.