The new goals experience replaces objectives with key results by a single kind of goal that can be split into periods and cascaded into sub-goals. This article maps every old concept (objectives, key results, cycles, public goals, key result weights) to its new equivalent and explains how your existing goals were converted.
Before you start
- Parent goals and sub-goals (cascading goals) are available on the Enterprise plan.
- Every company uses the new goals experience in Performance > Goals.
- Your existing goals were converted automatically. You don't need to recreate them.
Step by step
Find a goal you had before the change
- Go to Performance > Goals.
- Select the Goals view.
- In the date navigator at the top of the list, select the year your old goal belonged to.
- Search for the goal by name.
- If the old goal had key results, click the arrow next to the goal to expand it. Each old key result is now a sub-goal.
Rules and behavior
Concept mapping
| Before | Now |
|---|---|
| Goal (objective) holding key results | A parent goal whose Type of metric is Based on sub-goals |
| Key result | A sub-goal of that parent goal |
| Key result with a number (quantitative) | A sub-goal measured as Numeric, with the same start, target and current values |
| Key result marked completed / not completed (qualitative) | A sub-goal measured as Achieved / not achieved |
| Goal with no key results | A goal measured as Achieved / not achieved, status Not started |
| Key result assignee | The sub-goal's audience (Assign to > Employees, that one person) |
| Cycle on a goal | The goal's own Goal period (start and end dates) |
| Public / Restricted | Removed. Visibility follows the goal's audience and the See key results permission |
| "Needs attention" status | Removed. Statuses are Not started, On track, Achieved, Missed |
| Key result weight inside a goal | Removed. Weights now apply across an employee's individual goals in the same period and frequency |
| Goals / People tabs | One list with the views Goals and Employees, with your own attainment cards above it |
| +Add goal button | New Goal button |
| +New key result button | Add sub-goal on a goal, or New Goal with Based on sub-goals |
| "Completed" button on a goal | Update the goal's progress; the status turns Achieved at 100% |
How the conversion set dates and frequency
- If all key results of an old goal shared the same dates, the new parent goal and its sub-goals use those dates.
- If key results had different dates, the parent goal spans from the earliest start date to the latest end date, and every sub-goal takes that same span. A sub-goal must share its parent's dates when the parent is Based on sub-goals.
- If the converted dates are exactly a calendar year, half-year (January or July start), quarter or month, the goal gets that Target frequency (Yearly, Half-yearly, Quarterly or Monthly). Otherwise the goal has no target frequency.
- If an old goal had no key results, the new goal uses its cycle's dates, or runs from its creation date to 31 December of that year when it had no cycle.
How the conversion set who a goal is for
- Each sub-goal is assigned to the person who owned the old key result.
- The parent goal is assigned to everyone who owned one of its key results. If none of the key results had an owner, the parent goal is assigned to the person who created the old goal.
- If an old key result had no owner and the old goal was restricted, the sub-goal is assigned to the person who created that key result.
- If an old key result had no owner and the old goal was public, the sub-goal is assigned to the same people as its parent goal.
- If nobody is left to own a converted goal (for example, all its people left the company and were deleted), only people who can see the goals of the whole company can see it.
How the conversion handled progress
- Current values, targets and the full history of updates were copied to the new goals.
- If an old qualitative key result was marked as over-achieved, the new sub-goal is Achieved at 100%, not 150%.
- A parent goal's progress is recalculated from its sub-goals. It can differ slightly from the old goal's rounded average.
How the conversion handled weights
- If an employee had weighted goals in a cycle, and at least two weighted goals ended up with exactly the same dates, those weights were carried over and adjusted to add up to 100%.
- Weights between goals that ended up with different dates were not carried over.
Limitations
- You can't switch back to the old goals experience.
- You can't add a key result inside a goal. Add a sub-goal instead.
- You can't make a goal public. To share a goal with everyone, assign it to Whole company.
- You can't filter goals by performance cycle. Use the date navigator to choose a year, quarter, month or custom range.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: "My old goal is missing." → Cause: The list shows the year selected in the date navigator, which defaults to the current year. → Fix: Change the date navigator to the old goal's year, then search by name.
- Symptom: "A goal shows up for me that I never owned." → Cause: You created the old goal or one of its key results, and the converted goal is assigned to you as its author. → Fix: Ask someone with Manage key results to change Assign to on the goal.
- Symptom: "My colleagues can no longer see a goal that used to be public." → Cause: The public setting was removed. → Fix: Edit the goal and set Assign to to the people, team or Whole company that should see it.
FAQ
1. Did I lose any goal data in the change?
No. Titles, descriptions, dates, values and the history of progress updates were copied. Only the public setting and the "Needs attention" status no longer exist.
2. Why does my old goal now have sub-goals?
Each key result became a sub-goal of the original goal. The original goal is now measured Based on sub-goals, so its progress comes from them.
3. Why did my over-achieved key result drop from 150% to 100%?
The new Achieved / not achieved type counts achieved as 100%. To track overachievement, edit the goal and switch it to a Numeric or Percentage type.
4. Where did the cycle go?
Each goal now has its own Goal period. Use the date navigator on the goals list to see the goals of a year, quarter or month.
5. Can I still use OKRs?
Yes. On the Enterprise plan, create a parent goal measured Based on sub-goals for the objective, and one sub-goal per key result.