Set up the rate at which the goals are set
Before getting started
You can set up the rate at which the goals are set in order to choose the frequency of your goals by:
- Year
- Half-year
- Quarter
- Month
We recommend that you maintain the periodicity you have used up to now, and adjust your practices as necessary. Here are the different options we recommend.
Choice 1: Single annual review
Typical example: Annual goals set in January of year N and reviewed in January of year N+1
This management choice is often dictated by the logistical cost of organizing several campaigns. Most of the companies that manage their reviews on paper/Excel are therefore in this configuration, with an annual occurrence.
With Poplee, campaign logistics are automated. So it is thus feasible to increase the frequency if you notice the following symptoms:
- Symptom 1: During the review, the goals are obsolete and not addressed
- Symptom 2: It is too late to detect that certain goals are at risk, and it is not possible to make the changes needed to attain them
- Symptom 3: Certain situations have escalated as a result of excessive delays in dealing with problems
- Symptom 4: Some employees “discover” during the review that their performance is not in line with expectations
Choice 2: Frequent review of annual goals
Typical example: Annual goals set in January of year N, with a progress review in June and a final review in January of year N+1
With Poplee, it is possible to launch goal review campaigns requiring an update on the progress of each goal for a given population.
3 types of campaign are possible:
- Classic campaigns with employee preparation and manager review
- Manager campaigns with only one progress update per employee
- Employee campaigns with only one progress update per manager
These update campaigns can be launched at any time:
- mid-year
- at the end of each quarter
- at the end of each month
- every week...
A physical review is not mandatory. These campaign reports will allow the manager to decide which members of their team they want to meet based on the issues raised.
Frequent reviews help to prevent symptoms 1 to 4. But if you use annual goals only, you may see the following symptoms emerge:
- Symptom 5: Priority goals appear in the middle of the period
- Symptom 6: Some goals are completed at the beginning of the year, and it is difficult to take stock of them in the report
- Symptom 7: Too many parallel goals
- Symptom 8: Some projects have been completed but are not included in the list of goals
Find out more about how to set up these campaigns in this help sheet.
Choice 3: New goals to be set frequently
Typical example: Quarterly goals set in January, April, July and October, with a mid-quarter progress report
Depending on your structure, you can opt for half-yearly, quarterly or monthly goals.
Increasing this frequency allows your teams to devote the time required to set goals properly. The importance of setting goals to ensure they are achieved justifies the time invested. Your employees also benefit from this effort to carefully consider the setting of goals.
“When it comes to recognition, the keys to working at full capacity are responsibility (I feel I'm trusted) at 82%, feedback (I understand how my performance is assessed) at 62%, and continual progression (how I can develop within the company) at 58%. On a day to day basis, this results in a clearly defined job, regular and constructive feedback, and future prospects. ” -HappyAtWork Survey
This article describes how we moved from annual to quarterly goals at Lucca.
Increasing the frequency of goal setting helps to get rid of symptoms 1 to 8.
- Symptom 9: Long-term goals are forgotten
Choice 4: annual goals combined with quarterly/monthly goals
Typical example: Separation of personal development goals and operational goals
By choosing to have 2 types of periods side by side. You make it possible to set long-term goals (major projects, personal development etc.) and fine-tuned, well-defined goals.
Example:
- 2024 Goal 1: Know how to negotiate in English
- 2024 Goal 2: Open a profitable subsidiary in London
- 2024 Goal 3: Generate sales revenues of €3,000,000 in England
- 2024 Q1 Goal 1: Take the TOEFL again
- 2024 Q1Goal 2: Hire a recruitment manager
- 2024 Q1 Goal 3: Find a showroom space in London
- 2024 Q2 Goal 1: Advanced negotiation course in English
- 2024 Q2Goal 2: Recruit 5 local sales representatives
- 2024 Q2 Goal 3: Sign 1 €500k contract
- ...
During the annual review, you can review all the goals for the year 2024 by selecting all the periods of the year.
Please note that if you duplicate old campaigns with goal questions, you mustn’t forget to update the period for the question. The same period will be copied by default.
Also, if you want to edit your goal-setting periods (e.g. from monthly to half-yearly), pay particular attention to current campaigns containing goal questions. The change in periodicity is immediate, and could cause problems for employees when entering data for their goals.
Setting goal weightings for all employees
Weighting is used to assign a weight to each goal, which affects the calculation of the progress percentage by taking into account the differences in weight for a given period.
Weighting is a module option. If not activated, it does not appear in the interfaces. All goals are created with a hidden weighting of 1, to ensure a consistent display if the weighting is activated during the year.
Activating goal weighting
As an administrator, with the goal management permission, you can click on the goals sub-menu in "Settings" (1), followed by the "Activate weighting" button (2).
How to define the weights of the weighting
You can define the values used by your teams, by adding or removing weights in the weighting:
A default value can be set and changed during the year:
The default value for weightings is 1. If this value is changed to 5, future goals will be created with a weight of 5, but old goal will remain at 1.
If a value is deleted in the settings, it will no longer be proposed when new goals are created, but old goals will remain unaffected.
Finally, it is possible to deactivate weighting for all teams.