Feedback - instructions for platform and feedback admins

What it is and why use it

Feedback is a tool for managing how your organization collects feedback. You decide who gives feedback (self-assessment, managers, subordinates, peers) and what is assessed (competency profiles, selected competencies, open and closed questions). You can also show different questions to different respondent groups.

When a cycle ends, the results update competency levels in employee profiles and feed into reports.

Benefits:

• Employee development — strengths and areas for improvement seen from several perspectives.
• Communication culture — open or anonymous feedback builds honesty and trust.
• Team effectiveness — multi-directional feedback helps teams understand and improve how they work together.
• Fits your organization — free choice of respondents, questions and approval method.
• Better decisions — individual, team and cycle reports support development planning.

Feedback models depend on which respondents you select:

People involved and permissions

There are five roles in a cycle. One person can hold several of them at once — for example, a manager can receive, give, approve and manage feedback. Most employees only receive and/or give feedback.

Feedback cycle stages

Key rule: most cycle settings can only be changed until the start date. After that, they are locked.

Before the start

1. Check the permissions of feedback managers (administrators).
2. Check that the competency profiles of feedback recipients are correct (administrators / feedback managers).
3. Create the cycle and make the key decisions (feedback managers):
   • when the cycle starts and ends and — optionally — the approval deadline,
   • who gives feedback (self-assessment, managers, subordinates, peers),
   • whether feedback is anonymous,
   • whether questions come from competency profiles, selected competencies, general questions, or a combination,
   • whether different respondent groups should see different questions,
   • whether feedback recipients can choose their own respondents,
   • whether feedback requires approval and, if so, which approval variant to use.
4. Add feedback recipients.
5. Check that each of them has the right approver (if feedback requires approval).
6. Check the feedback providers — the system adds them automatically based on your organizational structure. Fix their type now — a respondent's type can't be changed after the start.

After the start

• Feedback recipients choose respondents (if allowed) and complete their self-assessment.
• Feedback providers complete their sheets.
• Feedback managers monitor progress and send reminders.

After the end

• Sheets can no longer be completed or edited.
• Individual and team reports become available — except the individual report in the "Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers" variant, which the employee only gets after approval.
• Approvers meet with feedback recipients and set final competency levels.
• After approval, competency levels are updated and reports show the final results.

Creating a cycle

To create a cycle, go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback → Create cycle. All participants can see the cycle description — you can link to supporting materials there.

Step 1. Cycle settings

1. Schedule

• Start date — from this day participants complete sheets, and most settings are locked.
• End date — after this day sheets can no longer be completed. You can change it later for everyone or for selected people.
• Approval deadline (optional, date and time) — when approvers should finish their assessments. Once it passes, the system sends them a reminder but doesn't block approval. The deadline is shared by the whole cycle.

2. Giving feedback

• Who will give feedback? — select any combination: Self-assessment, Managers, Subordinates, Peers.
• Inviting feedback providers — off by default. When on, feedback recipients can add and remove peers for the whole duration of the cycle. They can't remove their manager, a subordinate or themselves.

3. Feedback approval

• Feedback requires approval — on by default. When off, competency levels are set automatically as the average of all answers.
• Approval variant (when approval is on):
  • Approver assesses independently (default) — the approver completes their own sheet during the cycle and, after the end date, separately chooses the final levels.
  • Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers — the approver completes the sheet once, after the end date, while seeing the other respondents' answers. Their assessment becomes the final level straight away.
• Comment on approval — requires a summary comment, visible to the feedback recipient.
• Fill approval with the approver's assessment — pre-fills the approval with the assessment the approver gave in their own sheet. Not available in the "seeing others' answers" variant.

The differences between the variants are described in Feedback approval below.

4. Anonymous feedback

• Anonymity — nobody with access to the answers knows who wrote them. We recommend it only when subordinates assess their managers.
• Anonymity threshold — the minimum number of answers in a group for the answers to be shown. Details in Anonymous feedback below.

5. Answering

• Comments on competency questions are required — on by default. Turning it off makes completing sheets faster; comments can still be added to selected competencies.
• Answers to competency questions are required — on by default. When off, respondents can select "I don't know". An approver in the "seeing others' answers" variant never has this option — they must assess every competency.

Step 2. Feedback recipients

In the Feedback recipients tab, click Add people and select people or groups. The direct manager is automatically assigned as the approver.

If you add groups, sheets are created only for people who are in them when the cycle is created, not on the start date. To include new people, add the group again in the cycle details. You can add and remove people and groups for the whole duration of the cycle.

Step 3. Sheet template

In the Sheet template tab:

1. Add an introduction or keep the default text. You set the introduction separately for feedback recipients and feedback providers.
2. Choose the source of competency questions: competency profiles assigned to feedback recipients, selected competencies, both, or neither.
3. Optionally add general questions — open (text field) or closed (list of answers). Each question has separate wording for the self-assessment and for other respondents.
4. Set the order of questions.
5. Optionally turn on Different questions for different feedback groups (see below).

If the same competency is both in the profile and on the list of selected competencies, the respondent sees it only once — the profile version.

[Screenshot: sheet template with visibility settings]

Different questions for different feedback groups

This option lets you tailor the sheet to the respondent's group. Managers, peers and subordinates work with the person in different ways — not everyone can assess everything.

You can choose from the groups taking part in the cycle: self-assessment, managers, peers, subordinates. By default all groups see all questions. Each respondent sees only the questions assigned to their group.

Example: in a 360° cycle, the self-assessment and managers see both sections — the competency profile (job-specific competencies) and the list of selected competencies with general company competencies, e.g. Communication and Collaboration. Peers see only the list of company-wide competencies, because they often don't know the details of the role and couldn't fairly assess the profile competencies. Their sheet is shorter and the results are more accurate.

Rules:

• You can only assign a question to a group that takes part in the cycle. If you remove a group from "Who will give feedback?", it also disappears from the visibility settings.
• A required question is required only for the groups that see it.
• The same competency never appears twice in one sheet. If a group sees both the profile and the list and the competency is in both, it sees the profile version. If the profile and the list are seen by different groups, each sees the competency from its own source.
• In the "Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers" variant, managers always see both competency sections — they can't be unassigned, because the approver's assessment is the final level.

Step 4. Notifications

In the Notifications tab, set when to send reminders about incomplete sheets: every few days or a few days before the cycle ends. After the start date you can also send an instant notification at any time. Reminders go only to people who still have at least one sheet to complete.

The full list is in Notifications below.

Step 5. Feedback providers

The system adds respondents automatically, based on your organizational structure:

Answers are grouped and shown by feedback type. To edit respondents, go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback, click the cycle, then the feedback recipient.

• Add a person: click Add people, choose the feedback type, select people and confirm.
• Remove a person: next to the respondent, click the three dots → Remove feedback provider and confirm. Removing a person deletes their answers.
• Change feedback type (only before the start date): next to the respondent, click the three dots → Set as manager / subordinate / peer feedback.

If you don't need to change anything, the cycle starts according to its settings and participants receive notifications.

Editing a cycle

You can change all settings until the start date. Cycles that haven't started yet are in the Scheduled tab. After the start date, some settings are greyed out.

Respondent in the wrong group after the start? Remove them and add them again to the correct feedback type. Removing a respondent deletes their existing answers — they'll need to complete the sheet again.

Mistake in a competency profile after the start? Remove the feedback recipient from the cycle, fix the profile and add them again. Sheets already completed for this person will be lost.

Feedback approval

Feedback can be approved automatically or by an approver. Either way, the process ends with employees' competency levels being updated.

Automatic approval

After the end date, the system calculates the average of all answers for each competency, rounds it to the nearest level on the scale and assigns it as the final level. Every answer has the same weight — the self-assessment counts as much as the manager's assessment. Nobody needs to click anything.

Approval by an approver

The approver chooses the final competency levels based on all collected answers and comments. They can take into account context that the average doesn't show. Ideally, this is done during a conversation with the feedback recipient.

This mode has two variants:

How to approve in the "assesses independently" variant:

1. After the end date, go to Feedback > Fill in feedback and open the feedback to approve.
2. Review all respondents' answers, grouped by type, together with comments.
3. Choose the final level for each competency (for soft competencies — for each behavior).
4. Add a comment if the cycle requires it.
5. Check the summary — the comparison with the previous cycle — and click Approve.

How to approve in the "seeing others' answers" variant:

1. Until the end date, your sheet has the status Waiting for the survey to end. The Fill in sheet button is inactive.
2. After the end date, an Approve button appears in place of "Fill in sheet" — click it to open the sheet. For each competency you'll see the other respondents' answers, grouped by type, and below them the Your assessment (final level) section.
3. In general questions for feedback providers, you'll see others' answers and add your own. Answers to questions for the feedback recipient are shown as a preview only.
4. You can save the sheet, meet with the employee and come back later.
5. In the last step, check the table with the previous and final levels and click Approve. Competency levels are updated and the employee gets access to the report.

In this variant, the employee sees an Approver badge next to the approver. After the end date, they see the status To be approved and the approver's name, but no answers or levels.

The variant is available only if the cycle has one clearly identified approver. If the Managers group isn't selected, or there are several managers and none is marked as the approver, the option is locked.

If different questions for groups are turned on, the approver sees all questions along with which groups had access to them.

Approval deadline

You set the optional deadline (date and time) in the Schedule card. Once it passes, approvers who haven't finished their assessments receive a reminder. The deadline doesn't block approval, is shared by the whole cycle and works in both variants.

Monitoring progress

You'll find all the information in Feedback > Manage > Feedback. Data updates in real time.

• Percentage of completed sheets — visible on the cycle list. When you click a cycle, the tile at the top also shows the number of completed sheets out of the total.
• Number of people with approved feedback — a tile at the top of the cycle page.
• Feedback status — click the cycle and check the Feedback status column for each person.
• Sheet status — click the cycle, then the feedback recipient, and check the Sheet status column.
• Answers — click the cycle, the person and View answers. Click a question or competency in the table to see the answers from all authors. View feedback summary shows the final levels.

You can see answers from the start of the cycle. People with the Feedback – management permission can review answers and open sheets from the start date, and download them in the cycle report (Excel). Individual and team reports are only available after the end date. In an anonymous cycle, authors of answers are not shown.

Reports

The cycle report is an Excel file with all answers and comments, also from several cycles at once. You choose cycles from a searchable list.

The individual report shows a summary of one person's feedback. You can save it as a PDF, including a print version (A4 pages).

• Feedback recipient: Feedback > Fill in feedback → Completed tab → View report next to the cycle.
• Approver: Feedback > Fill in feedback → Completed tab → in Feedback for your team, click the person → View report (top right corner).
• Feedback manager: Feedback > Manage > Feedback → choose the cycle → three dots next to the person → View report.

The team report shows a summary of the whole team's results in one cycle. You can also save it as a PDF.

• Approver or manager: Feedback > Fill in feedback → Team report (top right corner) → choose the cycle. The report covers members of your team in this cycle.
• Feedback manager: Feedback > Manage > Feedback → choose the cycle → three dots → Team report → choose a manager (the report shows their subordinates) or an approver (the report shows the people whose feedback they approve).

Reports with different questions for groups. For each question you can see who answered it and which groups had access to it. A missing answer from a group that didn't see the question isn't counted as a missing answer.

Updated competency levels. After feedback is approved, you can check them in Competencies > Manage > Employee competencies > Browse profiles — along with whether a competency gap remains.

Archiving a cycle

When everyone's feedback has been approved, the cycle automatically moves from Ongoing cycles to Archived cycles. Reports and results remain available.

If you know that not all feedback will be approved — for example, an approver has left the company or the time planned for the cycle has run out — you can archive the cycle manually:

1. Go to Feedback > Manage > Feedback.
2. Click the three dots in the cycle row.
3. Select Archive and confirm.

This can't be undone — it blocks any further changes to the cycle. People without approved feedback get the status Not approved.

Note for the "Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers" variant: people without approval won't get a report at all. Before archiving, change the approver wherever possible.

Anonymous feedback

Anonymity means that nobody with access to the answers — including the administrator — knows who wrote them. You set it when creating the cycle and can't change it after the start date.

When to use it. We advise against anonymity in most situations: without transparency people feel less responsible for their answers, and honest, constructive feedback can also be achieved openly. We recommend it only when subordinates assess their managers and need psychological safety.

The anonymity threshold is the minimum number of answers for feedback in a group to be considered anonymous:

• if there are too few answers, the system merges them into one group, hiding their type (e.g. peers, subordinates, managers),
• if merging isn't possible, the feedback is hidden.

Example: feedback is given by one peer, one subordinate and one manager. Even without names it's easy to guess who wrote what — so the system merges these answers or hides them.

The same rules apply to the approver's sheet in the "seeing others' answers" variant. With different questions for groups, set the threshold with the number of people who actually answer a given question in mind.

Notifications

The module sends seven types of notifications — by email and in the platform. You can edit their content in Platform settings > Configuration > Definitions > Notifications. You set the reminder schedule in the cycle, in the Notifications tab.

In the "Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers" variant, notification no. 6 also means that the approver's sheet is now open, and no. 3 means that the employee has access to the report.

Sheet reminders (2, 5 and instant) go only to people who still have at least one sheet to complete.

FAQ

When are sheets created?

When any of the feedback providers opens a sheet for the first time. From that moment, changes — for example to competency profiles — won't be reflected in the sheet. In practice, you can change profiles until the cycle start date.

I made a mistake in a competency profile and the cycle has already started. What should I do?

Remove the feedback recipient from the cycle, fix the profile and add them again. Sheets already completed for this person will be lost.

I assigned a respondent to the wrong group and the cycle has already started. What should I do?

Remove them and add them again to the correct feedback type. Their existing answers will be deleted, so they'll need to complete the sheet again.

Can peers be prevented from seeing selected competencies?

Yes. Turn on Different questions for different feedback groups in the sheet template. You set visibility for the whole profile section, the whole selected competencies section and for each general question separately.

Can a manager see the self-assessment while completing their sheet?

Yes — in the Approver completes the sheet seeing others' answers approval variant. The sheet opens after the end date, and the approver's assessment becomes the final level straight away.

Can an employee see their report before approval?

In the "Approver assesses independently" variant — yes, from the end date. In the "seeing others' answers" variant — no, the report appears only after approval.

Is there a deadline for approving feedback?

You can set one in the Schedule card. Once it passes, approvers receive a reminder but can still approve feedback.

Can the administrator see answers while the cycle is running?

Yes. People with the Feedback – management permission can see answers from the start date — they can open sheets and download answers in the cycle report (Excel). They can't see individual or team reports before the end date.