Going Live with Goals and Goals Check-In

With Reflektive's Goals Platform, you'll be able to provide the framework for your employees to create goals for themselves, align some of these goals to overall company goals, and track progress and growth!

Now, it's time to think about how to announce your Goals setting process and launch the platform to your employees.

The below will cover some key points that will serve as the foundation of your story about your goal management process and why Reflektive, and sample email templates on how to announce the Reflektive Goals Platform.

When preparing to announce your new goal management process with Reflektive, it's important to share why the change and why now. 

Hopefully, you've written down the key outcomes that your organization wants to achieve. 

If not, here are some questions that will be helpful think through:

• How does goal setting fit into your overall business strategy?
• How visible are your current company goals? How often do they change?
• How connected do you want your department/manager/direct reports to be?
• What is the purpose or end goal of Goal Setting? (progress on development, alignment with manager/team/department/company, etc.)
• If your company does goal setting/achieving well, what would success look like? (hit our numbers, people feel inspired at work every day, people know what they should be working on, etc)
• How will setting goals benefit your employees?

Key themes that we typically see include:

• We want employees and managers to be aligned on goals and expectations
• We want employees to know where they stand on goal achievement
• We want employees to articulate their professional development goals
• Our company is agile, and we need to quickly communicate new priorities
• We want managers to have a holistic understanding of how each employee is doing

The more communication given before the launch of the Goals Platform, the more time employees have to learn about the tool, clarify any confusion, and start thinking about effective and tangible goals that benefit both themselves and the company.

We recommend the following.

Announcement Timing:

• Employees like to have at least 2-4 weeks or more notice when there's a process update. That way, people have time to prepare, especially people who are going on PTO/leave. Additionally, you will have time to gather sentiment about how this can affect processes downstream (eg if you plan to have this affect compensation and promotion).
• Remember to keep your leadership appraised of your plans ahead of the announcement!
• If goal management is a new concept to employees, you may want to allocate a longer runway so that you can do additional training and answer questions.

Key Messages:

• Why / Why Now
  • Share background and some of the key themes around why your company is investing in this new process and this new tool now.
• What
  • What are key objectives of this process? 
  • What are the benefits for the employee/teams/company?
  • What is the process to achieve those objectives in the short and long-term?
  • What tool are we using to accomplish these objectives?
• How We Execute
  • Due Dates - be clear about what is due, by whom? 
    • Goals written and saved in system
    • Manager approval/guidance on the written goals
    • Conversations around completion/realignment of goals
  • Expectations
    • What is the company's goal methodology (set stretch goals? set achievable goals? leadership sets goals that trickle down? employees set goals?)
    • How long should people spend on setting their goals? How specific should they be? Should goals be shorter term (monthly, quarterly) or longer (semi-annual, annual)?
    • What bearing do goals have on promotion/compensation?
    • What are some goal responsibilities for employees? For managers?
  • Training Plan
    • What are some resources that employees can use to learn the product?
    • When are employee or manager training sessions? How many are there?
  • Share a FAQ with so that your employees know you're listening

Communication Channels:

• Leadership Meeting
  
  • We highly encourage you to socialize the Goals Platform, your communication plan, and the benefits of the program with your leadership team to get their buy-in
  • You'll want to do this at least 1-2 weeks prior to announcing so that you have time to incorporate their feedback
• All Hands Meeting
  • Share key messages to increase transparency and awareness, emphasize the importance and benefits of your goals process
  • It's important to have leadership buy-in for your new process, and we highly recommend inviting your executive sponsor to speak about the importance of this initiative
• Coaching Office Hours/Brown Bag Session
  • Answer questions and provide guidance in a casual setting
• Email
  • Share the key messages around process and what to expect via email
  • Showcase your executive sponsor advocating for the new process/for Reflektive
    Tip: Draft an email for your executive sponsor to send out to the company so that he or she can also help you announce your new process (sample below)
  • Send a follow-up when it's closer to launch time with any due dates, expectations, and resources
• Calendar Invite for Key Dates
  • All hands meeting date
  • Any training dates
  • Any brown bag dates
• Other Creative Channels
• Videos (some of our clients get really creative!)
• Posters (digital or otherwise)
• Intranet
• Slack
• TV Monitor announcement

Oftentimes, change management starts with executive sponsorship, so be sure to involve them early and have their support throughout the announcement of your process and any follow-ups!

See some email templates for announcing the Reflektive Goals Platform. We encourage you to personalize the content so that it resonates with your employees! 

Companies that are rolling out Reflektive with Goals

• Instructions: The moment has come to invite your employees into the system. Enable them with the proper instructions and set expectations for how they should begin adopting your new goal management tool!
• Subject: You’re invited - COMPANY’S official roll out of Goals with Reflektive!
• From: HR team
• To: all employees
• Cc: Executive Sponsor
• Bcc: Your CSM

Hey team -

We're excited to officially launch our new Goal management system, Reflektive! As I mentioned in All-Hands last Thursday, the Goals platform:

• Includes our company-wide goals
• Is simple to use: start by entering in your goals by [date]
• Will help ensure alignment between you and your manager, be sure to discuss your goals with your manager in your next 1x1