What can I learn from this page? | How to create and launch a self reflection cycle |
Who is this guide for? | Performance Admin |
Self-reflection is a core step in an employee's performance experience. Employees reflect on their achievements, learnings, and areas for growth during the review period. This component ensures the employee’s voice is heard and can increase how satisfied the employee is with the process. You may find self-reflections valuable for your organization in the following ways:
As a component of the performance review cycle
As a stand-alone development cycle, such as a quarterly cadence
As a frequent check-in, like a monthly 1:1 or a 30/60/90 day check-in
In this article, learn how to create and manage a self-reflection cycle for your organization.
Step 1: Create your self-reflection
To begin creating your self-reflection, follow the steps below:
Click Performance > Admin: Self-Reflection Cycles
Click Create Self-Reflection
Name the cycle
Set a start date & time for when the cycle should go live
Set an end date
Set the communicated closure date
Select your timezone
💡Tip: If you include self-reflection in the performance review cycle, run the self-reflection cycle prior to the performance review so that the self-reflection shows up in the employee profile when the manager goes to complete the review.
Step 2: Configure Questions
To review and customise the question set, follow the guidance below:
You have the ability to reorder, change or delete questions, or instead add your own.
You can also choose to enable and configure manager prompts. These prompts help guide managers on what's expected of them when digesting their employee's self-reflection.
💡Tip:
Keep in mind that the self-reflection process is distinct from the manager review. The manager prompts should only prompt the manager to acknowledge their direct report’s self-reflection, rather than adding their own feedback.
Note:
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Questions can not be edited or removed after the cycle has launched.
Rating questions have a suggested rating label next to each option e.g. very poor rating, below average rating etc. These labels are included as guidance. Type out the suggested label or use a custom option of your choice to progress to the next stage of the cycle set up.
Step 3: Preview
Click Next to see a preview from both the employee and manager view.
Step 4: Assign employees
Click Next to select employees who will be participating in the cycle. There are a few different options for adding employees that we explore below:
Manager/Job-Title/Department filters: You can either select all employees or filter to select specific Departments/Managers/Job-titles . If for example, departments require different questions, this will give you the option of launching a self-reflection for one department and then creating another self-reflection to be launched to other departments in the same time period.
Started Before filter: User the Started Before filter to automatically add employees that started before a selected date
Employee Status filter: Select participants for the cycle based on their Employee Status. If the cycle is draft, we default the Employee Status to Active users. Learn more about this option here.
Upload CSV: Upload a file containing one single column of employee emails with no column title, save the file as a CSV and upload. Any email in this file must already be attached to an active user profile.
Step 5: Schedule/Launch Cycle
Finally, click Finish. At this point, you’ll still have the opportunity to edit the self-reflection if the start date is in the future. It will automatically launch on your configured start date.
Notifications
Communication Topic | Recipient | When | Task List | |
Cycle launch | Any user | real-time | ✓ | ✓ |
Reminder to complete (7 day remaining) | Any user | 7 days prior |
| ✓ |
Reminder to complete (1 day remaining) | Any user | 1 day prior |
| ✓ |
Direct report submits self-reflection | Manager | real-time |
| ✓ |
Comment provided by manager or direct report | Manager / direct report | within 1 day |
| ✓ |
Launch
Employees receive a notification to complete their self reflection.
Reminder
Reviewers receive a reminder to complete feedback, 7 and 1 day prior to the cycle's scheduled closing date.
Duplicate your self-reflection cycle
We know that you have different question sets designed for different audiences or times of the year and recreating those can be a hassle. You can duplicate any prior self-reflection or evaluation cycle's question set, regardless of whether that cycle is in draft, live, or closed. Simply select Duplicate Cycle from the cycle's dropdown menu.
💡 Tip: If you'd prefer to access Culture Amp's best practice question set for either self-reflections or employee evaluations, simply create a new cycle and you'll see those questions by default!
FAQs
Can I add users after I launch the self-reflection cycle.
Yes, new users can be added after the cycle has launched. To add participants click into the cycle from the Admin view (Performance > Admin: Self Reflection > Edit Cycle > Edit Participants). Any new user added will receive an email and in platform notification.
Can an employee submit their self-reflection after the end day?
Yes, the end day is considered a soft close. Employees can submit up until you manually close the cycle.
Can an employee edit after they submit?
No, employees are not able to edit their self-reflections after they submit them. However, as an administrator, you can contact our support team to re-open the self-reflection for the employee.
How do I use the Participant selection filter?
The participant selection page for self-reflections and performance review cycles now incorporates an Employee Status drop-down feature. Here's how it works:
Draft Cycles:
When a cycle is in the draft stage, the Employee Status filter defaults to Active.
An Admin has the flexibility to modify this filter at any time.
Live Cycles:
For live cycles, the filter defaults to All, which displays all active and deactivated users.
View Order:
When All is selected, deactivated users appear at the bottom of the list.
Active users are listed alphabetically first, followed by deactivated users in alphabetical order.
Deactivated users may need to be loaded by clicking View More depending on the number of users and other applied filters.
Select All Checkbox:
The Select All checkbox will choose or de-select users automatically that match the criteria set by the filter/s.
For instance, if All is selected in the filter, even deactivated users will be selected or deselected when using the Select All option.
This applies even if deactivated users are not visible until View More is clicked to load them.
How does the cycle work with now-deactivated participants?
When a participant is deactivated, they are not automatically excluded from the cycle. Instead, they remain within the cycle, but their name is accompanied by a deactivated icon, and their manager assignment is removed. This ensures that their manager can no longer view them in the cycle.
To remove deactivated participants from a Self reflection cycle, you have two options:
Option 1 (Remove All):
Navigate to the Participants page.
In this view, uncheck the deactivated participants.
Make any change to activate the Save button, such as toggling the selection of another participant.
Click Save. This will remove all deactivated participants from the cycle.
Option 2 (Remove Some):
Go to the Participants page.
Use the Employee Status drop-down menu and select deactivated.
Select the deactivated participants you want to keep in the cycle by ticking the corresponding boxes.
Click Save. This will remove any deactivated participants without a tick from the cycle.
How does the cycle work with a change in Manager?
There are two ways the cycle works with changes in Manager, dependent on submission status:
Submitted Self Reflection response: If a user has submitted their response when the previous Manager was in the user file, the previous Manager will persist in the Self Reflection cycle. This is intended behaviour as the cycle should work as a 'snapshot' of their user profile when the self reflection was made. If the new Manager is now in place in the user file, they will still have visibility of their new direct reports self reflection that was submitted under their Performance > Self Reflections > Direct Reports view.
Un-submitted Self Reflection response: If a user has not submitted their self reflection at the time of the manager change, the new manager would show as the assigned manager in the live cycle.
Which self reflections is an HRBP able to see?
Currently it is expected for HRBPs to to see all self-reflection cycles when accessing the Admin view in performance. However, they will only see information in those cycles if the cycles contain participants from the HRBPs’ assigned department(s).
How does the 'Read by Manager' Stat work?
When a manager views a Self Reflection from the Self Reflection page it counts towards the Read by Managers statistic. If a manager has only viewed the Self Reflection from within the Employee Profile view or from the Direct Reports page, it will not count towards this statistic.