Managing an Active Cycle, Part 1 - Communications + Participants

Now that you understand the general layout of the Review Tracker, we'll dive more deeply into each of the features. In this article, we'll cover how to send email communications to your employees in regards to your review cycle as well as how to add or remove participants from your review cycle.

Remember to give your Customer Success Manager advance notice on when you plan to launch your cycle so that he or she is aware of your review, can remind the Reflektive support team to be on alert, and be available to answer last minute questions! 

To kick off your review or check-in, we recommend that you send a kickoff email.

Please note that:

• When you launch a new cycle, Reflektive does not automatically email your employees. You'll need to send a kick-off email to let your employees know that a cycle is active.
• The kick-off email sent via Reflektive is plain text, it will link employees to Reflektive.
  • If you would prefer to have images or advanced formatting, please use your IT approved email client to send your kick-off email. 
• The email will come from "admin@reflektive.com"
• The subject line will be: "New Review Cycle Launched!"

What does the kick-off email look like?

The kick-off email will incorporate your cycle title at the top of the message in black, and insert it into the sub-message "The (Cycle Title) is underway!

How to send a kick-off email:

1. Near the top of the Review Tracker, look for an email icon - hovering over it says "Send Kick-off Email". Click it.
2. A modal window pops up, allowing you to select who should receive the message. It can either be everyone in the review, or a subset of the population. Underneath that, you can type in a custom plain-text message.
   
3. You can also click the bottom-left Preview button to make sure the message looks and feels the way you want it to.
4. When satisfied, click Send.

Who will get the kick-off email? 

• All participants in the review or check-in (people who are receiving feedback about themselves)
• All mandated feedback providers for those participants
  • In a typical Performance Review, employees and their managers will get the kick-off email. If you've set direct reports to provide feedback about their managers, then direct reports will also get the kick-off email. 
  • In a Check-In, employees and their managers will get the kick-off email.
  • In a 360, employees, their managers, and their direct reports will get a kick-off email.

Who will not get the email?

• People who are not feedback receivers and are not mandatory feedback providers
  • Example 1: you are a new hire who is not receiving feedback, and you don't have to provide feedback for anyone.
  • Example 2: you are only a peer feedback provider for someone, you are not receiving feedback and you are not a mandatory feedback provider. 
• Reflektive admin(s), if the admin is not participating in the review

To increase review or check-in completion and remind people about a due date, we encourage you to use the "Nudge" feature, which allows you to write a custom email to your organization, specifically to those who have not completed a step in the review process.

Please note that:

• The email will come from "admin@reflektive.com"
• The subject line will include the due date

What does the nudge email look like?

The kick-off email will incorporate your cycle title at the top of the message in black, and insert it into the sub-message "The (Cycle Title) is underway!

How to send a nudge email:

1. You are able to send a nudge email to any incomplete section under Review Progress by Step. Hover your mouse cursor over any of the bars and the Compose Nudge button appears.
2. Clicking on it, a modal window pops up, allowing you to type in a custom plain-text message.
   
3. You can also click the bottom-left Preview button to make sure the message looks and feels the way you want it to.
4. When satisfied, click Nudge.

Who will get the nudge email? 

• The administrator who sent the nudge will get a copy
• The people who have not completed that step
  • Example 1: If you're sending a reminder to select peer reviewers, people who have not selected peer reviewers will get a nudge

Who will not get the email?

• People who have completed the step

There are circumstances where the admin has to add or remove specific employees from participating in the review (as people who are expected to receive feedback). Remember, you may need to send a kick-off email or nudge to anyone you added after launching the review.

1. Click on Edit Review; you'll be directed to Review Builder
2. Advance to Step 4: Participants
3. Add employees via the Include search bar; click Add
4. Remove employees via the Exclude search bar, click Remove
5. Go to the bottom of Step 4: Participants and click "Publish"
   
   1. Remember to navigate back to the Review Tracker to see cycle progress!

IMPORTANT: After you edit participants, please make sure to click publish! 

• Can I Get a List of Employees That Have Not Completed a Step?
  Yes, you can do that by going to the Reports sub tab, and pulling an "Employee Review Progress by Step" report
  
  
• Can I Get a List of Employees That Have Submitted Their Feedback About Someone?
  Yes, you can do that by going to the Reports sub tab, and pulling a "Review Completion Status" report
  
  
• Can We Bypass Step 1 (Select Peers) in a 360 Review?
  No, participants in a 360 review need to first select their peer feedback providers before they can start writing any assessments. This is so that the peer feedback providers have enough time to write their own assessment and provide feedback for the employee. This helps speed up your review cycle and finish it on time.