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Perform - Weighted objectives: ensure focus on the most important goals

Matt Troy
Updated

In this article, we’ll introduce weighted objectives, how they work, and where they apply. Weighted objectives are important because they reflect the reality that not all goals carry the same level of priority. By assigning weights, people can focus on which goals matter most - both in terms of achievement and in how they influence review scores.

A few things to know about weighted objectives:

*Perform Administrators may choose to cascade weights from global objectives down to personal objectives. Once cascaded, the inherited weight becomes locked, maintaining alignment throughout the organisation.

We'll cover:

How to turn on weighted objectives

By default, weighted objectives are turned off. To enable them, a Perform Administrator can go to their Settings, where there is an option at the bottom called "weighted objectives." Follow the steps below to see how:

Steps to turn on weighted objectives

  1. Navigate to Perform Settings:PERFORM_Admin_Settings.png
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page
  3. Toggle on the Weighted Objectives setting:PERFORM_WeightedObjectivesToggleOn.png

How to set a weight for personal objectives

By default, all objectives will have the status of 'standard', however, managers and team members can give additional weight to an objective. The % value will change automatically as the weight for each objective is changed. Watch the video, or follow the step-by-step to see how.

ℹ️ Info: Perform administrators can also configure to cascade the weight from global objectives (when connected). In this scenario, it is not possible for team members and managers to change the objective weight.

Steps to set a weight for personal objectives

  1. Select the Adjust Weights button to start modifying objective weights:

    Image

  2. Review the window that opens to see all the objectives and their current percentage weights

  3. Select a weight setting for each objective by choosing from the following options: standard, important, very important, critical, or pivotal. Note that the percentages are automatically recalculated as you change the importance levels for other objectives:

  4. Select Save when you’re done adjusting the weights:

    Image

How to set a weight for global objectives

Administrators can manually assign a weight to global objectives. In this video, we'll show you how.

The process for assigning weights to global objectives is very similar to personal objectives, with one important difference - the weight cannot be changed after the objective is published.

 

Steps to set a weight for a global objective

  1. Start creating a new global objective, or open an unpublished global objective:
  2. Enter a Title, reference, and description for the global objective:
  3. Select the appropriate weight to reflect the objective's importance:
  4. Save the objective as a draft:
  5. Select the Actions menu. Choose to Edit, archive, or publish the objective
⚠️ Warning: Once the global objective is published, you can no longer update its weight.

Cascade global objective weighting

When creating a global objective, you can choose whether its weight cascades to any linked personal objectives. For example, if a global objective is set to 'Pivotal', all linked personal objectives will inherit that weight and cannot be changed by Users or Managers. If a personal objective is unlinked, it's weight can be adjusted.

This feature ensures the importance of global goals is consistently applied. Review calculations continue to use the same objective weight calculation. 

⚠️ Warning: Once you select and save Cascade Weights, this action is permanent and cannot be undone.

To cascade Global objective weighting, select the highlighted option below and Save:

PERFORM_GlobalObjective_CascadeWeight.png

The below message will appear on any individual objective that is connected to the global objective: PERFORM_IndividualObjectiveCascadedWeight.png

How to create a weighted review

To include the weight of an objective in a final review score, the review must first be published as a weighted review. 

This means all historical reviews that have already been published will use the nominated review score calculation, and those cannot be changed. Only new reviews can be set up as weighted objective reviews. 

Steps to create a weighted review

  1. Start a new review template in the template builder (or open an unpublished review template)
  2. Add the Step section Overview section for ongoing objectives:
  3. Select the Weighted ratings option. This ensures each objective’s weight influences the final score:
  4. Review your template settings before publishing. Note: Once published as weighted, this review setting can’t be changed. To switch methods, delete and recreate the template.
  5. Publish the review template
⚠️ Warning: Once the review template is published you can no longer change the review rating options.

How weights are calculated

There are two key calculations we need to understand for weighted objectives.

The first is the percentage that each objective counts towards the final score. The second is how the weight and the rating received for each objective impact the final review score. Watch the video below for a detailed overview of hoe the calculations are made:

How a weighted review looks to managers and team members

When completing a weighted review, they will see that the overall score will be influenced by both the rating given and the nominated weight of that objective. Watch the video below to see some examples:

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