About Goals in Reviews
Goals in Reviews shows an employee's goals for the period you choose inside the manager review and self-reflection forms. Managers and employees see each goal, with its progress and the date it was last updated, in the same place they write about it.
Having the goals directly visible in the form adds:
Evidence: Managers can ground their assessment in the goals the person agreed to, rather than memory or a general impression. Employees can see what they were assessed against.
Context: Progress and last-updated dates show where each goal stands and how current it is.
A view of the whole period: Managers see goals from across the review period, not only the work they remember best. This helps reduce recency bias.
Who Goals in Reviews is best for
Goals in Reviews is best for organizations that use Goals regularly and include progress on individual goals in how they assess performance. It works well when employees keep their goals up to date and talk through progress with their manager in 1-on-1s.
It isn't suitable if:
Most of your work is managed through group or collaboration goals. These aren't included in this release, so the review would show only part of what someone is accountable for.
Goals aren't widely used in your organization yet. Many reviews would have few or no goals to show. Keep using the goals questions already in your review forms until goal setting is more established.
How it works
Which goals appear
The review shows two types of goal from the date range you set:
Individual goals, which are the goals someone is expected to deliver.
Individual development goals, which are about how they learn and grow.
ℹ️ Important: An individual goal with more than one owner appears in each goal owner's review. Group, team, company and collaboration goals aren't included in this release.
Each form shows goals as they are on the day the cycle launches. If a goal is updated after that, the change only appears in a form when the manager or employee refreshes it.
What Goals in Reviews adds to each form
Including goals adds a Goals in Reviews goals question to each form, and an optional Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating to the manager review. You can customize the wording and options below, as you would any other review question.
Manager review:
Goals question: Describe how this person progressed against their goals this cycle. Description: Please assess each goal and add relevant context.
Goal-delivery rating (optional): How well did this person deliver their goals? Options:
Partial delivery
Consistent delivery
Exceeded delivery
Far exceeded delivery
The goal-delivery rating can cover all goals at once (our recommendation), or you can set up one for each goal.
Self-reflection:
Goals question: How well did you meet the goals you set for this cycle?
Description: Refer to the feedback you have received and the progress you made toward your goals.
The self-reflection asks employees to describe their progress in their own words, which gives them a voice in the review without asking them to score themselves. The goal-delivery rating is off by default in the self-reflection, and we recommend keeping it that way. Self-ratings can be skewed, and not in the same way for everyone - this may reinforce existing biases and potentially affect the fairness of outcomes like pay and promotion. When a manager sees a self-rating before forming their own view, it may pull their rating toward it, or lead them to avoid the conversation where the two differ.
Design your approach
Before you set up the cycle, work through the decisions below, then test the cycle yourself before launching.
ℹ️ Note: The Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating isn't currently shown in Calibration or included in the average of all ratings in this release. If you need a rating about goals to be available in Calibration this cycle, keep the existing template's goals rating (How well did this person deliver on their objectives or goals?) and remove the Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating.
Decide which goals to include
We recommend including both individual goals and individual development goals, so the manager sees everything the person set out to do this cycle.
Set the date range to match the review period, and apply the same goal types and date range to everyone in the cycle. Consistent criteria keep ratings comparable across teams and let you check the cycle for equity afterwards.
Our people scientists recommend that you are clear with your managers on how each type of goal should be assessed. For example:
Individual performance goals. The manager assesses whether the person delivered on each one, and if not, why not. Where a goal falls short, completion alone doesn't tell the whole story, so the manager should consider the circumstances and recognize any partial progress, where appropriate.
Development goals. The measure is what the person learned and how they progressed. A genuine attempt should count as growth, even if the target wasn't reached.
ℹ️ Important: If goal ratings feed into pay or incentive decisions, we recommend filtering out development goals in your set up so the Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating only covers individual performance goals. Development goals are measured by learning and progress, so growth still counts even if a goal isn't finished by review time. Someone who learned two of the three new skills they set out to learn has still grown. Development goals also aren't always directly linked to someone's performance delivery. For both reasons, a development goal-delivery rating isn't a fair basis for pay.
Filtering out development goals doesn't mean development stops counting. Managers and employees can still discuss development goal progress, for example using in the growth questions from the existing template: How has this person progressed over [time frame]? in the manager review, and What formal and informal ways have you developed over [time frame]? in the self-reflection. Development progress can also support someone's delivery, and so their performance outcomes, and it can be part of the case for a promotion.
Decide how to rate goal delivery
We recommend one Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating that covers all the goals. Goal delivery then stays a single input to the manager's overall judgment, with the Goals in Reviews goals question detail explaining their rationale for the rating.
If your organization uses a scorecard approach, you can set up a rating for each goal instead. Be aware this creates more work for managers because every goal gets its own rating question. If you don't currently rate each goal, we recommend keeping one rating for all goals.
Example: An organization groups goals under four pillars and has always rated each goal separately. It sets up a rating per goal, and filters out development goals because goal ratings inform pay. A manager with five direct reports, who each have five goals, now answers 25 goal ratings on top of the rest of each review.
Where the cycle is about reflection rather than assessment, you can remove the Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating. Managers still answer the Goals in Reviews goals question.
Example: An organization is still building the habit of updating goals. This cycle, it wants employees to reflect on their goals rather than have managers rate them. It includes goals in both forms and removes the goal-delivery rating.
Confirm your question wording, and check for duplication
The next step is to confirm your preferred wording and questions for your template, as part of your normal customization process. There are several goals-related questions in Culture Amp's existing performance review template. When you include Goals in Reviews, confirm your preferred questions, and delete or edit any similar questions to avoid duplication.
The existing template questions:
Manager review, goals rating: How well did this person deliver on their objectives or goals?
Self-reflection, goals question: What progress have you made on your goals over [time frame]? Describe the impact on the success of your team, department and organization.
The existing template also includes these questions, which can be used alongside the goals questions:
Blockers (manager review): What blockers or challenges did this person experience over [time frame] that impacted their ability to achieve goals or meet expectations?
Growth (manager review): How has this person progressed over [time frame]?
Growth (self-reflection): What formal and informal ways have you developed over [time frame]?
We recommend your review forms include a way to capture both blockers and growth. Blockers give managers a place to explain why an individual goal wasn't met. Growth is where progress on development goals is assessed, including learning from a goal the person didn't finish. You can keep these template questions, or edit the Goals in Reviews goals questions so they cover blockers and growth.
Choose when to launch
Each form shows goals as they are on cycle launch day. Launching close to when people start writing keeps that picture current, with less to refresh later.
Test the cycle before you launch
Set up a test cycle with yourself as the participant. Complete the self-reflection and manager review to see each form as employees and managers will, and check that:
the right goals appear, based on the goal types and date range you chose
the existing template's goals questions have been removed, so each form asks about goals once
the Goals in Reviews goals question and goal-delivery rating read the way you intended
refreshing a form after a goal changes shows the update
Prepare managers and employees
Brief employees
Ask employees to update their goals by a set date before launch, because the review shows their goals as they stand on launch day. If they update a goal once the cycle is open, they'll need to refresh their self-reflection to see the change. They should also let their manager know, since the manager review refreshes separately.
If a goal has stopped being relevant, the employee and manager can agree before launch to archive it or keep it in the review. Keeping it is useful when the reason it lapsed is worth recording, such as a change to the company goal it was linked to.
Where a goal is shared with other people, ask employees to explain which part was theirs in their self-reflection.
Here's some sample wording you can adapt:
Our review cycle opens on [date]. Please update your goals before then, as they'll appear in your self-reflection and your manager's review as they stand on that date. If you update anything after the cycle opens, refresh your self-reflection and let your manager know. If you share a goal with other people, explain which part was yours.
Brief managers
The Goals in Reviews goal-delivery rating is one input to the manager's overall judgment. It isn't a second score to add to the overall rating. Give managers a description of what each rating option looks like in practice, so they rate against that description rather than comparing people with each other. The overall performance rating sits last in the manager review, so managers can weigh everything else in the form, goals included, before they answer it.
When managers write about goals, encourage them to:
Refresh the manager review before they start, to see the latest progress.
Check the date on each goal, and ask the employee to update anything that looks out of date.
Give specific examples. A rating tells the employee where they landed but not why, and specific outcomes and obstacles leave less room for bias than a general impression.
Explain what the rating can't show, such as a development goal where the person learned what they set out to without finishing it, or an individual goal affected by a change in company priorities.
Explain a lapsed goal they've kept in the review, including why it stopped being relevant.
FAQ
Which goals appear in the review?
Which goals appear in the review?
The review shows individual goals and individual development goals from the date range you set. This release doesn't include group, team, company or collaboration goals.
Should we use one goal-delivery rating, or one per goal?
Should we use one goal-delivery rating, or one per goal?
We recommend one for all goals, which keeps goal delivery as a single input to the overall judgment. A rating per goal suits organizations used to a scorecard, as long as they're comfortable with the extra questions for managers.
Can we remove the goal-delivery rating?
Can we remove the goal-delivery rating?
Yes. You might remove it when a cycle is about reflection, or when you're keeping the existing template's goals rating so a rating about goals is available in Calibration this cycle.
Why doesn't the self-reflection include a goal rating?
Why doesn't the self-reflection include a goal rating?
The self-reflection gives employees a voice in the review through their own description of their progress. Self-ratings can be skewed differently for different people, which may reinforce existing biases and potentially affect outcomes like pay and promotion. We recommend keeping it off, which is the default.
Should development goals be included?
Should development goals be included?
In most cycles, yes. They give the manager the full picture, and they feed naturally into the existing template's growth questions. The exception is a cycle where goal ratings feed into pay, where we recommend filtering them out.
How do managers see the latest goal progress?
How do managers see the latest goal progress?
Managers refresh the manager review before they start writing. The form shows goals as they were at launch, or at the last refresh.
What should we do with a goal that's no longer relevant?
What should we do with a goal that's no longer relevant?
Archive it, or keep it and explain why it lapsed. What matters is that the employee and manager agree on the approach before launch.
How should employees handle a goal they share with others?
How should employees handle a goal they share with others?
They explain which part of the goal was theirs, and their manager does the same. The goal appears in every owner's review, so this keeps each person's contribution clear.
Can goals be weighted in the review?
Can goals be weighted in the review?
No. Goals supports weighted progress on cascading goals, but individual goals can't be weighted, and the review doesn't weight goals when they're rated. A manager's overall judgment should draw on a range of performance information instead.
💬 Need help? Open a support conversation to speak with our Product Support team.