> 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.
This article defines what Account Admins, managers, and employees can create, manage, and update within the Objectives feature.
Access and availability: Requires access to Objectives. Available on Focus and Total Platform pricing packages. Relevant to all roles.
Key Rules
- Account Admins can create and manage all objective types for anyone in the organization.
- Managers and employees can create all objective types, but some options are admin-controlled.
- All roles can assign key results to anyone in the company.
- Options marked with an asterisk (*) below are enabled or disabled by Account Admins in Objectives settings.
Creating Objectives
| Permission | Account Admin | Manager | Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objective types they can create | Company-wide, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development | Company-wide*, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development | Company-wide*, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development |
| Who they can assign as owner | Anyone | Themselves, their immediate direct reports, their hierarchy, anyone | Themselves, anyone* |
Managing Objectives
Managing includes editing, updating, deleting, archiving, cloning, and closing objectives.
| Permission | Account Admin | Manager | Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objective types they can manage | Company-wide, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development | Company-wide, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development | Company-wide, Department/Group, Individual, Self-development |
| Whose objectives they can manage | Everyone; anyone who grants them edit access via Who can update and edit this objective?* | Themselves, their immediate direct reports, their hierarchy, anyone, anyone who grants them edit access via Who can update and edit this objective?* | Themselves, anyone, anyone who grants them edit access via Who can update and edit this objective? |
Editing Key Results
All roles can assign key results to anyone in the company.
| Permission | Account Admin | Manager | Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Update key results from Check-ins | Themselves; anyone collaborating on the same objective (if the key result is visible in their 15Five) | Themselves only | Themselves only — employees can see all key results for objectives they own key results on, but cannot update key results assigned to others |
| Update key results from the Objectives tab | Themselves; anyone regardless of collaboration status (if the objective is visible from this tab); anyone who grants edit access via Who can update and edit this objective?* | Themselves; anyone who grants edit access via Who can update and edit this objective?* | Themselves; anyone who grants edit access via Who can update and edit this objective?* — employees can see all public key results and objectives via the Objectives tab but cannot edit items not assigned to them |
Global Objective Viewers
Some organizations designate Global Objective Viewers in Objectives feature settings. Global Objective Viewers have visibility into all objectives in the organization, regardless of each objective's visibility setting. This includes objectives set to Public, 15Five permissions, or Specific people, as well as aligned objectives that would otherwise be hidden.
Global Objective Viewers have view access only. This designation does not grant editing permissions. Editing permissions continue to follow the role-based rules in the tables above.
- A Global Objective Viewer who is an employee can see private objectives but cannot edit them unless they are the owner or have been granted edit access.
- A Global Objective Viewer who is a manager or Account Admin follows the editing permissions for their role.
Account Admins configure Global Objective Viewers in Objectives feature settings. See Objectives settings overview (Admin) for instructions.
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover objective visibility settings. See Understand Objective Visibility Settings in 15Five.