What are Objectives?

Objectives help communicate expectations, keeping employees focused and motivated. They provide a clear definition of success and a record of accomplishments.


Our customers use three types of Objectives in OpenBlend - 

  1. Company Objectives: A specific, measurable goal that provides direction, aligns efforts across an organisation, and helps track progress toward broader business success. These are set by an Admin. 
  2. Team Objectives: A clear, specific goal that aligns with the broader company objectives and helps guide the team's efforts toward a common purpose. These are set by an Admin or manager. 
  3. Personal Objectives: A specific goal for an that often relates to personal or professional growth. It helps guide actions, measure progress, and maintain motivation. Personal objectives often align to the broader team and company objectives, but can sometimes be independent, for example a personal development objective. These are set by Talent, typically in collaboration with their manager. 


Adding Company Objectives in OpenBlend

Please note this is only accessible if you have been assigned as an Admin in your organisation.


1. To add a Company Objective simply navigate to your left-hand Admin menu, and click on 'Company Objectives' 

2. Click + Add New Company Objective. 



Overall Progress displays the following information:

  • All Live Objectives - displays your teams open objectives 
  • Aligned Objectives - your teams objectives that are currently aligned with a company objective 
  • Closed Objectives - presents a total score of the completed objectives in the chosen time frame


Open and closed tabs show which company objectives are still waiting to be completed and which are now closed.


Creating Team Objectives 

Team Objectives are objectives that a manager sets for their whole team.


Navigate to 'Team Tools' under 'My Team' in your left-hand navigation. Select 'Objectives' and then ' +Add new Team Objective'.

 

You can then follow the steps above to input the Objective detail and create the Objective. Team Objectives can be aligned to Company Objectives. 





As a manager you can review the overall team progress of Objectives by navigating to 'Team Tools' and then clicking on 'Objectives'. Team Objectives show the overall progress of any objectives associated to your team. Team Member Objectives present the progress of  your teams personal objectives. 




Creating Objectives for a direct report

1. Managers can create Objectives for direct reports. Navigate to 'My Team' in your left-hand navigation, and select the name of the direct report you'd like to create an Objective for. 



2. In 'Show advanced features' you have the option to: 


  • Align the objective to a wider team objective
  • Add tags (if enabled, these will be added by your Admin in company settings)
  • Decide who can see the Objective


'Limited' Objectives are visible to the following users:

  • Talent (who created the objective)
  • Their manager
  • Admins


'Shared' Objectives are visible to the wider business.  



How to add a new Personal Objective in OpenBlend 

You can use Objectives within OpenBlend to keep track of your performance deliverables and development goals, which you can then regularly discuss with your manager in your 1:1s.  


With OpenBlend’s framework, each Objective can be discussed with the support of the GROW model, allowing for obstacles and options to be discussed and overcome to pave the way for goal achievement.


If enabled, you can also align your Objectives to your wider team's objectives, company objectives and/or tags, bringing clarity about how your individual skills and tasks are making a difference and impacting the wider organisation. 


Your Objectives are visible to you, your manager and also available to your HR team through the reporting data OpenBlend provides.


There are three types* of personal objectives in OpenBlend: 

  1. Performance 
  2. Personal Development 
  3. Career Development 


*These are the default settings for OpenBlend but it is possible for an organisation to change the titles of these types. Not all organisations have three types turned on with many only displaying two options.


To create a new objective, click on 'Objectives' under the 'Me' section in your left-hand navigation, or navigate to 'My Snapshot' on your homepage, and click on 'View / Update' on the Objectives tile. 


  1. Select the Objective type which you are creating and add in the title and description of your Objective
  2. Add a start and end date
  3. Select how you will measure success of the Objective, you can do this using: 
  • Using Milestones 
  • As a percentage
  • As a number 
  • As a currency
  • Completed Yes/No


Please note: You can align the Objective to a 'parent' Objective, and also add tags. These are optional features may not be enabled in your OpenBlend account. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you have any questions. 


When you are happy with the Objective, click 'Create Objective'. 



  

Remember! Use the SMART framework when creating an Objective for yourself to ensure that it is effective and meaningful. 

  

2. In 'Show advanced features' you have the option to: 


  • Align the objective to a wider team objective
  • Add tags (if enabled, these will be added by your Admin in company settings)
  • Decide who can see the Objective (Visibility):
    • 'Limited' Objectives are visible to the following users: Talent (who created the objective), Their manager and Admins
    • 'Shared' Objectives are visible to the wider business.