Who can use this feature?
Account Administrators, Goals Full Permissions, Goals Scoped Permissions, Goal Owners
Available on:
All Culture Amp subscriptions that include Performance with Goals.
Cascading goals automatically calculate progress by connecting supporting goals to primary objectives. Instead of manually updating progress, the parent goal's progress is derived from its supporting goals, creating clear alignment between organizational strategy and daily execution.
Cascading goals can calculate progress in two ways:
Equal distribution (default): All supporting goals contribute equally, and weights automatically rebalance when supporting goals are added or removed.
Manual weighting: Assign custom percentage weights to show that some supporting goals matter more than others.
Cascading goals help to:
Bridge the strategy-to-execution gap: Connect high-level organizational objectives to the individual and team goals that drive them.
Drive organizational alignment: Ensure that day-to-day work contributes meaningfully to company objectives.
Provide real-time progress visibility: See how progress on supporting goals automatically flows up to primary objectives.
Express priority: Signal that some supporting goals matter more than others, rather than treating them all equally.
Create accurate roll-ups: Parent goal progress reflects the weighted contribution of each supporting goal based on relative importance.
Stay flexible: Equal distribution is automatic; switch to manual weighting only when you need it, and reset back in one click.
Before You Begin: Access Requirements
Cascading progress is enabled by default for all accounts. Account Administrators can turn it off in Settings > Goals if needed. Weighted goals need to be enabled manually on the same page.
Who can create and manage cascading goals:
Users with Goals Full Permissions.
Who can enable weighted supporting goals:
Users with Goals Full Permissions.
Who can adjust weights:
Once weighted supporting goals is enabled, goal owners can adjust weights on goals they own.
Account Admins and Goals Full Permissions users can adjust weights on any goal.
Important constraints:
You cannot use both Key Results and Supporting Goals to auto-update the same goal simultaneously.
Only published goals trigger progress recalculations (draft goals are excluded).
Weighted supporting goals require cascading goals to be enabled first.
Setting Up Cascading Goals
Setting up a cascading goal allows progress from supporting goals to automatically update the progress of a primary goal.
From your home page, navigate to Goals > Goals
Select the Create Goal button.
Enter your goal details, such as the title and description.
Under the Goal Progress section, select Use supporting goals to cascade progress.
Click +Connect supporting goals to connect the goals that you want to contribute to this goal's progress.
Under the Alignment section, select the primary goal you want to link this goal to.
Publish your goal
Note: When a goal uses cascading progress (either equal distribution or manual weighting), you cannot manually update its progress. The progress is automatically calculated from supporting goals. To manually set progress, you must first remove all supporting goals or switch the goal to use key results or manual progress updates.
Tip: While there is no hard limit on how many levels you can cascade, we recommend keeping it to 5 or 6 levels to ensure goals remain easy to track and follow best practices.
Enable Weighted Supporting Goals
As long as cascading goals are enabled, Account Admins and users with Goals Full Permissions can enable weighted supporting goals:
Navigate to Settings > Goals > Goal Configuration.
Ensure Cascading goals is enabled (required first).
Toggle Weighted supporting goals to on.
Click Save changes.
Once enabled, goal owners can adjust weights on their goals using the steps in the Adjust weights on a cascading goal section below, rather than having all supporting goals assigned the same weight automatically.
Adjust Weights on a Cascading Goal
Once weighted supporting goals are enabled for your account, you can assign custom percentage weights to supporting goals.
Open a published goal that has supporting goals and uses cascading progress. Alternatively, set up a new goal with supporting goals and a cascading process, as per the previous step.
In the Supporting goals table, click Adjust weights in the table header.
In the Adjust weights modal, enter a percentage in the New weight column for each supporting goal.
Use the helper buttons as needed:
Distribute remaining: Assigns the remaining percentage equally to the supporting goals that don't have a % entered.
Reset weights equally: Resets your custom % assignments back to equal weight for each supporting goal.
Check the progress bar at the bottom of the modal — weights must total exactly 100%:
Below 100%: Shows the remaining amount yet to be assigned.
Above 100%: The bar turns red with a "Check weights" message.
Click Update (if the % does not total 100, you will receive a warning)
You will be taken back to the goal edit page. Click Save to ensure the changes are applied.
Private goals and weighting
Private goals can be weighted as long as they are published.
In the Adjust weights modal, private goals you cannot access show "Contact the owner if you need access", but you can still set their weight if you own the parent goal.
Understanding Weight Distribution Modes
When you enable cascading for a goal, it starts in equal distribution mode. All supporting goals contribute equally to the parent goal's progress, and weights automatically rebalance when supporting goals are added or removed.
If preferred, you can switch goals to manual weighting mode by setting custom weights as described in the previous section. In manual weighting mode:
You assign a percentage weight to each supporting goal (weights must total 100%).
The system does not automatically rebalance weights when supporting goals change.
You are responsible for adjusting weights when supporting goals are added or removed.
You can switch back to equal distribution at any time using the Reset to equal distribution button in the Adjust weights modal.
Note: The modal will not accept or show decimals. In equal distribution mode, weights are rounded to the nearest whole number if needed, but will still equal 100% (e.g 3 supporting goals will show 33% each, but the overall will still be 100%).
When weights don't balance automatically
If you add a supporting goal after setting custom weights:
The new goal defaults to 0%, and a warning prompts you to fix the weights.
In equal distribution mode, the system rebalances automatically, and no action is needed.
If you delete, archive or remove a supporting goal:
In manual weighting mode: remaining weights stay as-is, the total drops below 100%, and a warning asks you to rebalance.
In equal distribution mode: the system rebalances the remaining goals automatically.
How Progress is Calculated
Equal distribution mode
When a goal uses equal distribution:
All active supporting goals contribute equally.
If a goal has three published supporting goals, each contributes 33.33% (1/3) to the parent goal's progress.
This will appear as 33 in the UI, as it cannot display decimals.
The parent goal's progress = average of all supporting goals' progress
When you add or remove a supporting goal, weights automatically rebalance
Example: A team goal has three supporting goals with progress of 60%, 80%, and 40%. The team goal's progress = (60 + 80 + 40) / 3 = 60%
Manual weighting mode
When a goal uses manual weighting:
Each supporting goal contributes according to its assigned weight.
The parent goal's progress = weighted sum of supporting goals' progress.
When you add or remove a supporting goal, weights stay as-is and you must manually rebalance.
Example: A team goal has three supporting goals:
Goal A (weight: 60%, progress: 80%)
Goal B (weight: 20%, progress: 50%)
Goal C (weight: 20%, progress: 40%)
Team goal progress = (0.6 × 80) + (0.2 × 50) + (0.2 × 40) = 48 + 10 + 8 = 66%
What triggers a progress recalculation?
Progress automatically recalculates when:
A supporting goal's progress is updated.
A supporting goal is published, archived, or deleted.
A supporting goal is added to or removed from the parent goal.
In equal distribution mode only: weights automatically rebalance when supporting goals change.
Goal states that affect cascading
Published goals — Contribute to the parent goal's progress calculation.
Draft goals — Do not contribute to progress (excluded from calculations).
Archived goals — Do not contribute to progress (excluded from calculations).
Deleted goals — Automatically removed from the parent goal's supporting goals list.
Limitations
General cascading limitations
Cascading cannot be retroactively added:
You cannot convert an existing goal that already has manually-entered progress to use cascading. You must create a new goal with cascading enabled from the start.
Bulk import not supported:
You cannot bulk import cascading goals or their supporting goal relationships. Import the goals first, then set up cascading relationships manually in the platform.
Weighted supporting goals limitations
Whole numbers only in UI: Weights cannot be entered as decimals in the UI (for example, you cannot enter 33.33%). Use Reset to equal distribution or Distribute remaining if you need an even, fractional split. The backend stores decimals for accurate calculations.
Weighted key results not supported: You cannot assign different weights to individual key results within a goal.
Weighted top-level goals not supported: You cannot weight individual (top-level) goals.
No bulk import of weights: Import the cascade relationships first, then set weights in the platform
Troubleshooting/FAQ's
Can I bulk import cascading goals?
Can I bulk import cascading goals?
Not currently. Importing goals with cascading progress enabled is not supported through the goal import process. If you need to set up cascading goals in bulk, you'll need to create them manually in the platform and enable the "Use supporting goals to cascade progress" setting at the time of creation. Note that goal weights also cannot be bulk imported — import your cascade relationships first, then set weights in the platform.
Why can't I manually update my goal progress?
Why can't I manually update my goal progress?
When you select Use supporting goals to cascade progress, manual updates are disabled because the progress is calculated automatically from supporting goals. If you prefer manual updates, use the key results default option instead.
Are goals weighted differently in the calculation?
Are goals weighted differently in the calculation?
Weighted supporting goals is now available. By default, all supporting goals contribute equally to the parent goal's progress (equal distribution mode). If you need to signal that some supporting goals matter more than others, an Account Admin or Goals Full Permissions user can enable Weighted supporting goals in Settings > Goals, allowing goal owners to assign custom percentage weights to each supporting goal. See the Understanding weight distribution modes section for more detail.
Can I update the goal progress of the supporting goals via the primary goal, or do I need to access them separately?
Can I update the goal progress of the supporting goals via the primary goal, or do I need to access them separately?
The primary goal view will show which goals you've set up as cascaded supporting goals, and what their current progress is, but you will need to access the supporting goals separately to make progress updates, which will then feed back into the primary goal progress.
What happens to cascading goals when cascading is turned off in Settings?
What happens to cascading goals when cascading is turned off in Settings?
If cascading is turned off: Any existing cascading goals revert to standard goals and will have key results instead. Their progress remains at whatever value it was at the time cascading was disabled, but will need to be updated manually going forward. Goal alignment is not affected and will continue as normal.
If weighted supporting goals is turned off: The Adjust weights button and weight column are hidden, and saved weights are preserved but no longer used in calculations — all cascading goals revert to equal distribution mode. Note: if a goal's alignments are later edited and saved while weighting is off, any custom weights will be permanently lost.
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