Goals help empower employees to control their performance and development with clear, measurable objectives. Goals allow you to communicate what you are focusing on and define your developmental milestones or share initiatives you are working on that align with the company's priorities.
Before you start
Note that, unlike objectives, key results will not inherit the progress of other key results unless the parent key result is measured as binary.
Differences between objectives and key results
Creating a goal with goal differentiation means creating objectives and key results.
- Objectives are qualitative goals that will inherit the progress of supporting key results or child objectives. Objectives help set the direction for the entire company, department, team, or individual and are usually aspirational.
- Key results are quantitative (#, $, %, binary) goals that measure progress to attainment. Key results help measure what you need to accomplish the objective and are usually metrics-driven and tangible.
Learn how to create an objective in How to Create an Objective with O&KR Differentiation.
Create a key result
There are two places in Lattice where you can create a key result:
- Goal creator
- Goal Explore page
Option 1: Goal creator
Step 1: Navigate to Home > Create goal > Select Key result.
OR If you have already created an objective, click + Add key result at the bottom of the objective goal creation page.
Option 2: Goal Explore page
Step 1: Navigate to Goals > Click Insert key result.
OR if you have a specific goal you would like to add key results to, click on the parent objective or key result to expand and then select Insert key result.
Key result fields: Details
Step 2: Enter a key result Title.
Step 3 (optional): Write a Description.
You may optionally write a description to remind yourself and your teammates about some details of the key result.
Step 4: Decide how you will measure the overall progress of the key result.
Metrics can be:
- Binary: A key result that is definitively complete or incomplete. i.e.: Grow international accounts
- Number #: A key result that is measured by a numeric measurement. i.e., Hire three new sales representatives
- Percent %: A key result measured by percentage. i.e., Increase revenue by 20%
- Dollar $: A key result that is clearly defined by currency. i.e., Sell $200,000 more supplies this quarter
- Jira integration: An integration that allows you to measure by story points or issues.
- Salesforce integration: An integration that allows you to measure progress from your reports.
Step 5 (optional): Select a Goal Cycle.
If an admin has created a goal cycle, you may be asked to select a cycle that this key result falls under. This is a time period in which your goals are being worked on. If you have any questions about this, we recommend reaching out to your admin!
Step 6: Establish a Start date.
Select the date the key result is expected to start. To choose the day of creation, select Choose today.
Step 7: Establish a Due Date.
When establishing a due date for the key result, we default to the end of the current quarter or the end of the goal cycle. You may use the date-picker calendar to select another due date in the future. This due date can differ from the parent objective or key result.
Step 8: Select Owners.
Most goals created in Lattice are personal goals owned by one person. However, goals can also be owned by more than one person.
Step 9: Select the goal Type.
Key results can be for an Individual, a Group, a Department, or the Company. Keep in mind, the types of key results you see will depend upon the permissions your admin has granted you.
Key result fields: Additional information
Step 10: Choose Visibility.
Key results can be public (visible to the entire company), private (only visible to you, your manager, their managers), or private to selected departments (only visible to goal owners and members of the departments selected).
Step 11 (if cascading goals is enabled): Add a Parent objective or key result.
A parent goal (or a cascading goal) is a way to align your goal with other goals within the organization. Under the "Align to objective or key result" option, search the parent goal that you want to align your goal to.
Please note that parent goals will only be visible if your admin has turned on cascading coals.
Step 12: Set a goal Priority.
You may optionally set a priority for the objective (P1 - P10), which will be displayed next to the goal on certain pages throughout the site. Goals will also be listed in order of priority (P1 first).
Step 13: Select applicable Tags.
Tags are optional but help classify and organize goals. Admins create these!
Step 14: Publish or Save Draft.
Goal drafts are visible to the owners and their managers but are not visible to the rest of the company.