Create an objective

Ben Pemstein Ben Pemstein
· Updated

Use this article to create a single objective in 15Five. When complete, the objective appears on the All Objectives page and is visible to anyone with permission to view it.

> 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.

Before You Begin

  • You must have access to Objectives. If the feature is unavailable, contact an Account Admin. See Objectives settings overview (Admin) for permission configuration.
  • Some steps below are marked (optional — admin-enabled). These options only appear if your Account Admin has enabled them. Contact your Account Admin if you need access.

Steps

  1. Go to Objectives in the left-hand navigation.
  2. Click Create a new objective.
  3. Enter a name for the objective.
  4. Enter a description (optional).
  5. Select an owner from the Owner dropdown.

- The owner is the primary stakeholder responsible for completion. Names shown depend on your organization's Objectives permissions.

  1. Select an objective type: A person, A group, or The whole company.

- If you select A group, continue to steps 7–8. Otherwise, skip to step 9.

  1. Select the group type from the dropdown.

- If the group type is not listed, ask an Account Admin to enable objective creation for that group type. See Enable or disable objective creation for group types.

  1. Select the group from the Group dropdown.
  2. Select a parent objective to align to (optional — admin-enabled). See Align an objective with a parent objective.
  3. If you selected a parent objective, toggle whether the child objective's progress impacts the parent objective's progress.

- See [How do child objectives affect parent objective progress?] for how this calculation works.

  1. Add tags (optional — admin-enabled).

- If no tags apply, leave this field blank.

  1. Click Add key result to create at least one key result.
  2. Enter a name for the key result.

- The objective will not save if a key result has no name.

  1. Select a measurement type: Percentage, Currency, Number, or Completed/Not completed.

- For a currency other than USD, click ... > Other currency and select from the dropdown.

  1. Assign a weight to the key result (optional).

- Click the value next to Weight or click Edit key result weights. If no custom weights are assigned, all key results are weighted equally.

  1. Link the key result to a Jira issue (optional — admin-enabled).

- Use the Link to option at the bottom right of the key result field. Requires the Jira integration.

  1. Repeat steps 12–16 for each additional key result.
  2. Set the objective Start date and End date.

- If the objective is aligned to a parent, the dates must fall within the parent objective's start and end dates.

  1. Assign update and edit permissions (optional — admin-enabled).

- In the Who can update and edit this objective? section, add specific groups or individuals. - Editors do not see the objective on their Check-ins and do not receive a notification when added.

  1. Select a visibility setting: Public, 15Five permissions, or Specific people.

- For private access (you and your direct manager only): select Specific people. Your name and your manager's name are pre-populated — do not add additional names. - If Global Objective Viewers are enabled, they automatically have view access and cannot edit unless also granted edit permissions. - Child objective visibility is independent of parent objective visibility. - See Understand Objective Visibility Settings in 15Five for full details.

  1. Click Create objective.

The objective now appears on the All Objectives page and is visible to all users who have permission to view it.

If Something Goes Wrong

Issue Check Fix
Create a new objective button is not visible Confirm your account has access to Objectives and that your role has create permissions Ask an Account Admin to review your Objectives permissions. See Objectives settings overview (Admin).
Group type does not appear in the dropdown The group type may not have objective creation enabled Ask an Account Admin to enable it. See Enable or disable objective creation for group types.
Key result measurement options do not include a needed currency Currency selection requires clicking ... > Other currency Click ... on the key result, select Other currency, then choose from the dropdown.
Objective does not save A key result is unnamed, or required fields are incomplete Enter a name for every key result and confirm all required fields are filled.
Alignment option does not appear Aligned objectives may be disabled in your account Ask an Account Admin to enable aligned objectives. See Enable or disable aligned objectives.
Tags field does not appear Tags may be disabled in your account Ask an Account Admin to enable tags. See Enable or disable Objectives tags.
Jira link option does not appear Jira integration is not active for your account Contact your Account Admin or IT Admin to enable the Jira integration.

Not Covered Here

This article does not cover bulk importing objectives. See Bulk import objectives via CSV.

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