OKRs are often the clearest way to show what was planned and what was achieved during a period.
With Include objectives, you can bring OKRs directly into the review so employees, managers, and other reviewers can evaluate objective completion as part of the review, discuss the context, and align on the outcome (even when performance is strong but an OKR wasn’t fully achieved due to external factors).
This approach is especially helpful when:
someone delivered strong work, but an OKR wasn’t fully achieved because of dependencies, scope changes, or external blockers
the objective was shared across a team and you want to evaluate contribution, not just the final percentage
OKR cycles don’t match your review cycle dates (for example, annual review but quarterly OKRs)
you want a clear post-review discussion: “you rated this outcome as X, I rated it as Y, let’s align on why”
To set this up, you’ll do two things: add an Objectives block to your review template, and then enable OKRs when creating the review cycle by selecting the OKR period you want to evaluate. Below is a simple step-by-step guide.
Add Objectives questions to the review template
To show OKRs inside a review, your question template needs an Objectives question. This defines where OKRs will appear in the review flow (for example, in self-evaluation and manager review, or peer review).
Go to Performance > Review > Manage templates.
Create a new template by clicking +New question template.
Click + Add question and select Objectives.
In the New question window, provide the question text. Use Add variable to insert dynamic values into the question (where available).
If you want reviewers to explain their choice, enable Comment enabled (and turn on Comment required if you want the comment to be mandatory).
In the Scale section, you’ll see pre-filled label options that are commonly used for this type of question. You can keep them or adjust them to fit your wording:
rename labels
add or remove labels
add descriptions for clarity
Click Save to add the question to the template.
Repeat these steps to add as many questions as you need. A review template can include a mix of question types (for example, text, rating, competency, yes/no).
Create and configure the review cycle (with OKRs)
When your template is ready, create a new review cycle in Performance → Review and go through all cycle tabs. A review cycle includes five stages: Details, Reviewers & templates, Scoring, Milestones, and Kick-off.
Go to Performance → Review and click + New review cycle.
Open the Details tab and configure:
enable Include objectives
select the Objectives due period you want to evaluate
the employees (participants) who will be evaluated. Using conditions, you can filter employees by various parameters to ensure maximum flexibility in selecting the subjects of evaluation.
Open Reviewers & templates, then add the reviewer groups you need. You can add up to 6 review parties from the list of available:
'Self' option is designed for situations when employees need to provide self-assessment.
'Manager' option is for managers' evaluation of their subordinates. In the review visibility section, you can direct and indirect managers to view their reports’ review results after they are shared or once answers are submitted. You can also allow managers to share review results and comments with employees.
'Upward' option is for reviews when subordinates evaluate the performance of their manager.
'Team lead' option is useful when it is necessary to review team members by their leader.
The 'Custom' option is intended for cases when employees have a custom field, such as a mentor. You select the Employee reference field, and the participant will be evaluated by the employee from the corresponding field of the participant's profile.
'Peer' option is for colleague assessment. When creating the review cycle, you must set the minimum and maximum number of colleagues for one employee evaluation. In addition, you need to select how peers must be nominated.
Assign a question template for each group. Make sure the selected template includes the Objectives questions.
Open Scoring and configure scoring settings (This tab is applicable only when managers review the competencies of their subordinates. For all details about this section, check the Performance score and competency weights).
Open Milestones and set:
date of review cycle start
date by which peers must be nominated
final date for receiving responses (at this stage, managers should summarize the responses and share them with employees for discussion)
date when the review cycle is finished and all results are discussed
the period over which employee performance is evaluated
Open Kick-off and configure the launch email for various parties, reminders, and access settings.
The review cycle is ready! 🎉 Don't forget to save and publish the cycle to start the evaluation.
That’s it, your performance review is now linked to OKRs. After the cycle starts, reviewers will see objectives and key results directly inside the review and can evaluate them alongside your usual questions.
After submissions, the OKR ratings and comments can be used as a shared reference in review conversations, comparing self vs manager evaluation, discussing blockers and context, and agreeing on focus areas for the next OKR cycle.