Goals permissions decide who can see goals, create them, edit or delete them and update their progress, and for which employees. They live in Settings > Permissions > Goals. The permission names still mention "key results", but in the new goals experience they apply to every goal.
Before you start
- You need access to Settings > Permissions.
- Employees must belong to a permission group for that group's goals permissions to apply to them.
- Permissions combine with each goal's audience (Assign to). Read Create a goal: measurement, period, targets and assignees first if you are new to audiences.
Step by step
Change goals permissions for a permission group
- In the sidebar, go to Settings > Permissions.
- Select the permission group, for example Managers.
- Open the Goals section.
- Turn on or off See key results, Create key results, Manage key results and Update key results' progress.
- For each permission that is on, choose its scope:
- For themselves: only goals that involve the person.
- For direct and indirect reportees: goals of the people who report to them, directly or through the hierarchy.
- For people on teams they lead: goals of members of the teams they lead.
- For people in their legal entity: goals of people in the same legal entity.
- For the whole company: goals of every employee.
- Click Save changes.
Rules and behavior
What each permission does
| Permission | What it allows in the new goals experience |
|---|---|
| See key results | See goals in Performance > Goals, on goal detail pages, in the employee side panel and in the goals tab of performance reviews. Required for every other goals permission. |
| Create key results | Create goals (New Goal), add sub-goals, duplicate goals and create goals from action plans. The scope decides who you can assign goals to. |
| Manage key results | Edit a goal, add or remove its parent goal, add sub-goals to it and delete it. |
| Update key results' progress | Update a goal's progress and edit an employee's goal weights. |
Seeing goals
- If at least one person in a goal's audience is inside your See key results scope, then you can see the goal.
- If you created the goal, then you can see it, even if nobody in its audience is inside your scope.
- If a goal is assigned to Whole company, then anyone whose See key results scope covers at least one employee can see it.
- If a goal has nobody left in its audience and its creator was deleted, then only people with See key results for the whole company can see it.
Creating goals
- If your Create key results scope reaches at least one active employee, then you see the New Goal button.
- If your Create key results scope is For the whole company, then Assign to offers Employees, Team, Legal entity, Role and Whole company.
- If your Create key results scope is anything else, then Assign to offers only Employees, and the employee picker lists only the people inside your scope.
- If you choose several employees, then every one of them must be inside your Create key results scope.
- To add a sub-goal to a goal (cascading goals, Enterprise plan), you need Create key results and Manage key results on that goal.
Editing, linking and deleting goals
- If you created the goal, then you can edit it, link or unlink its parent and delete it.
- If you didn't create the goal, then your Manage key results scope must cover every person in the goal's audience.
- If you are in the goal's audience yourself and didn't create it, then you can only edit it with Manage key results for the whole company. Employees can't edit goals their manager set for them.
- If a goal is used by an active incentive plan, then nobody can delete it until it is removed from the plan.
Updating progress and weights
- If you created the goal, then you can update its progress.
- If you didn't create it, then your Update key results' progress scope must cover every person in the goal's audience. For example, an employee with the scope For themselves can update their own individual goals.
- If a goal is measured Based on sub-goals, then nobody can update its progress manually; it comes from its sub-goals.
- If your Update key results' progress scope covers an employee, then you can edit that employee's goal weights. Otherwise the weights open in read-only mode.
Worked examples
| Who | Permissions | Can do |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | All four permissions For themselves | Create individual goals for themselves, see and update their own goals. Can't edit goals someone else created for them. |
| Manager | See, Create, Manage, Update For direct and indirect reportees | Create individual goals for each reportee, edit and delete goals whose audience is only their reportees, update progress and weights for their reportees. Can't create team or company goals. |
| HR admin | All four permissions For the whole company | Create goals for any audience, including Team, Legal entity, Role and Whole company, and edit, delete and update any goal. |
Permissions you won't see any more
- Create goals, Manage goals and Weight employee goals belonged to the previous goals experience. They are hidden and have no effect.
Limitations
- You can't give one person access to a single goal. Access always follows the goal's audience and the permission scopes.
- You can't make a goal public. To share a goal with everyone, assign it to Whole company.
- You can't let someone edit a goal they are assigned to unless they created it or have Manage key results for the whole company.
- You can't give separate permissions for weights. Weights follow Update key results' progress.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: "My manager can't edit a goal of their team." → Cause: The goal includes someone outside the manager's Manage key results scope (for example a team goal with members from another department), or the manager is in the audience and didn't create it. → Fix: Have the creator or an admin with whole-company scope edit it, or widen the manager's scope.
- Symptom: "Assign to only shows Employees." → Cause: Your Create key results scope is not For the whole company. → Fix: Ask an admin to change the scope, or assign the goal to specific employees.
- Symptom: "An employee isn't listed in the Assign to picker." → Cause: The employee is outside your Create key results scope. → Fix: Ask an admin to widen the scope or create the goal for you.
- Symptom: "Update progress is missing on a goal." → Cause: The goal is Based on sub-goals, or your Update key results' progress scope doesn't cover everyone in the goal's audience. → Fix: Update the sub-goals instead, or ask the creator or an admin.
- Symptom: "Edit weights opens read-only." → Cause: Your Update key results' progress scope doesn't cover that employee. → Fix: Ask an admin to widen the scope.
FAQ
1. How do I let employees set their own goals?
Give their permission group See key results and Create key results For themselves. Add Update key results' progress For themselves so they can update their progress.
2. Can managers create a goal for their whole team at once?
A manager without whole-company scope can choose Employees, select all their reportees and select Create an individual goal for each person. Only people with Create key results for the whole company can assign a goal to a Team.
3. Why can't an employee edit a goal their manager created for them?
Being in a goal's audience doesn't let you edit it. Only the creator, or someone whose Manage key results scope covers everyone in the audience (and, for your own goals, whole-company scope), can edit it.
4. Who can see a team goal?
Anyone whose See key results scope covers at least one member of the team, plus the goal's creator.
5. Where is the Weight employee goals permission?
It no longer applies. Weights are edited by people with Update key results' progress for that employee.