Objectives settings overview (Admin)

Note: Your organization may have renamed this feature. If you don't see "Objectives" in your navigation, check with your admin for the name used in your account.

Objectives settings control how the Objectives feature behaves across your organization — including display names, scheduling, privacy, permissions, objective types, bulk import, and tags. All configuration is performed by Account Admins in Settings > Features > Objectives.

Access and availability:

Requires access to Objectives
Account Admins only
Available on Perform, Focus (Legacy), and Total Platform pricing packages

Feature Structure

Objectives settings are organized into five tabs. Each tab controls a distinct area of configuration.

Tab	What it controls
Settings	Display name, scheduling, Global Objective Viewers, default currency, aligned objectives, following objectives, tags, objective weights, and feature on/off
Permissions	Privacy options, who can see the feature, and role-based permissions for creating, editing, and assigning objectives
Import	Bulk import of objectives and key results via CSV
Objective Types	Which objective types exist and who can create each type
Tags	Create and manage objectives tags (tab appears only when tags are enabled in the Settings tab)

Settings Tab

Display Name

Rename the "Objective" and "Key result" labels used throughout 15Five. Enter the singular form of each replacement term. See Configure Objectives display name and scheduling settings.

Scheduling Details

Set the date your business calendar ends and how frequently your organization sets objectives (monthly, quarterly, annually, or custom). See Configure Objectives display name and scheduling settings.

Global Objective Viewers

Designate specific users who can view all objectives in the organization regardless of individual visibility settings.

Global Objective Viewers can see:

Private objectives
Objectives visible to specific people
Aligned child objectives

Global Objective Viewers cannot:

Edit objectives (visibility override only)
Grant edit rights to others

Global Objective Viewers are automatically granted visibility when a new objective is created, including objectives set to Specific People.

Default Currency

Set the currency that appears by default when employees create currency-based key results. All currencies remain selectable; this controls the pre-selected default only. One currency can be applied at a time.

Aligned Objectives

Enable or disable the ability for users to align their objectives to a parent objective, creating a parent-child relationship. When enabled, you can also configure objective weights to control how key results and child objectives contribute to parent progress.

See How do child objectives affect parent objective progress? and Align an objective with a parent objective.

Following Objectives

Enable or disable the ability for users to follow objectives they do not own. When enabled, a Follow button appears on all objective pages the user has permission to view. See Enable or disable the ability to follow Objectives.

Objectives Tags

Enable or disable the ability for users to add tags to objectives. When enabled, the Tags tab appears in Objectives settings. See Enable or disable Objectives tags.

Objective Weights

Control whether weight fields appear throughout the objectives experience.

Enabled: Weight fields appear when creating, editing, and viewing objectives.
Disabled: Weight fields are hidden across the objectives workflow.

Disable this setting to simplify objective-setting for organizations that do not use weighted OKRs.

Disable Objectives

Disable or re-enable the Objectives feature for your entire organization. Disabling removes the Objectives tab from navigation for all users. Historical data is retained and restored when the feature is re-enabled.

To limit access to specific users rather than disabling entirely, use the Permissions tab. See Configure Objectives permissions and privacy settings.

Permissions Tab

Objectives Privacy Settings

Control which privacy options are available when users create objectives:

Public — visible to everyone in the organization (default)
Follows 15Five permissions — visible only to people who can view the objective owner's Check-ins, including global Check-in viewers
Private to specific groups and individuals — the objective creator selects who can see it

Enable Objectives for Groups

When enabled, group-type objectives are visible to all group members and their management hierarchies.

See Enable group visibility for objectives.

Who Can See the Objectives Feature?

Control which users can access Objectives. By default, all users have access. Select Custom to restrict access to specific groups or individuals.

Account Admins and managers retain access to Objectives reporting (Reporting > Objectives) even when the Objectives feature is not enabled for them.

Creating, Editing, and Assigning Objectives

Control who can create, edit, and update objectives — and for whom.

Standard permissions (default):

Account Admins — can create, edit, and update objectives for everyone
Managers — can create, edit, and update objectives for their immediate direct reports only
Individual contributors — can create, edit, and update their own objectives only

Advanced permissions:

Everyone — any user can create, edit, and update objectives for any other user
Reviewers — managers can create, edit, and update objectives for their entire hierarchy, not just immediate direct reports

Under Standard or Advanced > Reviewers permissions, you can additionally enable objective owners and contributors to assign editors. Editors are automatically added as followers when this setting is active.

Permission for Creating Objective Types

At the bottom of the Creating, editing, and assigning objectives section, set who can create company-wide and group-type objectives. Options are Everyone or Custom (specific roles, groups, or individuals).

See Configure Objectives permissions and privacy settings.

Import Tab

Use the Import tab to bulk-add objectives and key results via CSV upload. Objectives with a past end date cannot be imported.

See Bulk import objectives and key results.

Objective Types Tab

Control which objective types are available in your organization and who can create each type.

See Configure Objective types.

Tags Tab

Create and manage objectives tags. This tab appears only when Objectives tags is enabled in the Settings tab.

See Create and manage Objectives tags and Apply and filter objectives by tag.

Key Rules

Changes on any tab take effect only after clicking Save.
Disabling Objectives removes the feature from navigation for all users but retains historical data.
The Tags tab is hidden until tags are enabled in the Settings tab.
Global Objective Viewers have visibility only — disabling does not remove edit rights they never had.
Bulk import does not accept objectives with a past end date.
Account Admins and managers retain Objectives reporting access regardless of feature access settings.