How Performance Seasons Work

This article explains the whole picture for admins, managers and members. For step-by-step help, see SMART Goals (members), SMART Goals for Managers and Season Creation and Management (admins).

What changes during a Performance season

Your admin picks which of these features the season uses. Each one is a switch on the season.

Some things work the same way all year: creating goals, milestones and their rewards, approvals, comments, and the manager's My team view.

Set up a Performance season (admins)

1. Go to Admin > Engage > Seasons and create a season (or edit one).
2. On the Set Goal step, choose Boost Performance & Productivity.
3. Under the goal cards, the Performance season features box lists the five switches. They're all on for a new Performance season. Switch off any you don't want. You can change them later by editing the season.
4. On the Rewards step, pick Earned or Combined scoring if you want milestone drops to count in the standings. With Given or Received scoring they don't count, and the features box tells you so.
5. Optional: under Settings > Layout > Season layouts, choose the Performance layout for the season. It puts My goals this season first on Home and Team goal first on Team Hub, for the length of the season.

Good to know:

• A Performance season you created before these features existed keeps every switch off until you turn them on.
• The switches do nothing for seasons with another goal.
• Keep the season Active until the day after it ends. Season prizes and the season-ended cards only go out for a season that's still Active after its end date.

During the season

Members set a goal (or finish one they already have), check in on Home, and submit milestones as they finish them. A manager or admin approves each milestone, and its drops land right away. See SMART Goals.

Teammates (when Team goals is on) see each other's goals in the Team goal card on Team Hub when they're shared with My team or Whole company, listed by name and never ranked. Anyone can Cheer a goal, Offer help (opens a chat), or Recognize the person.

Managers follow their reports in My River > My Goals > My team, review submissions in Approvals, set the team goal, and can suggest goals. See SMART Goals for Managers.

Goal reminders

When Goal reminders is on, members get at most one Goal reminder card a day in Dailies:

• Deadline coming up — a milestone or a goal is due within the next 3 days and isn't done yet. A milestone that's waiting for review doesn't count.
• Slipped behind pace — a goal that was on track or at risk is now behind pace.

Reminders arrive on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the member's time zone. Tap the card to check in on the spot, or Not now to close it. Members also get a push notification unless they turned it off in My Goals (bell icon). Goal reminders never send email.

Managers don't get a notification when a report falls behind. Their My team view shows it with a Behind chip.

How goal drops count toward the season

• Approved milestone drops count toward the season that's running on the day the milestone is approved. They count under Earned and Combined scoring only.
• In a Teams season, they also count toward the member's team total.
• Team-goal bonuses count toward the season the team goal belongs to, once per person, even when they're released after that season ends.
• Season prizes are paid on the same numbers members see in the rankings.
• Drops from goals never count twice, and people left out of the rankings stay left out.

When the season ends

If the Carry over unfinished goals switch is on, each member with an unfinished goal gets a card in Dailies named after the season that ended (for example Q3 has ended). It stays while the next season runs, until they decide. Tapping it lists their open goals from that season. For each goal they choose:

• Carry over — the goal moves into the new season with its unfinished milestones. Finished milestones, the drops they paid, and the old season's results stay where they were. If the goal's target date has passed, it moves to the new season's last day. A carried-over goal stops counting toward the old season's team goal.
• Mark complete — the goal is done. Milestones that weren't approved don't pay drops. If a milestone is still waiting for review, wait for the review first. If the goal counts toward a team goal, the team goal's progress updates right away.
• Let it go — the goal closes. Drops already earned are kept.

Nothing happens until the member chooses. If they ignore the card, the goal stays with the old season and they can keep working on it.

Between seasons

When one season has ended and the next hasn't started, goals keep working:

• Members can still check in, submit milestones and complete goals, and managers can approve them.
• Drops for milestones approved between seasons are still paid to the member. They don't count toward any season's standings, because the last season's results are already settled.
• On the season-ended card, Mark complete and Let it go work any time. Carry over waits until the next season starts, and the card says so.
• The Home section, the Team goal card and the season-start prompt are hidden until the next Performance season. The one exception: a reached team goal whose bonus is still waiting. For 30 days after the season ends, its managers, captains and admins see it on the Team goal card as Bonus waiting to be released, and in My team, and can release it there. Goal reminders pause too, unless a member turned on Remind me all year (My Goals > bell icon).

What Performance seasons don't do

Performance seasons help people move their goals forward and help teammates help each other. They don't include formal performance reviews, one-on-ones or ratings. Managers can suggest a goal, but they can't assign one: the member always decides.

Related articles

• SMART Goals
• SMART Goals for Managers
• Season Creation and Management
• Managing the Goals Programme
• Team Hub