Goal Cascading & Performance Reviews Flashcards

When cascading goals from the executive level to individual contributors, which approach best maintains strategic alignment while allowing team-level flexibility?

Answer: Translate organizational objectives into role-specific outcomes that support the broader strategy

Effective cascading translates high-level objectives into role-specific outcomes so each employee's work directly supports organizational strategy.

A manager notices that two team members have conflicting individual goals that could undermine collaboration. What is the best corrective action?

Answer: Revise the goals to align them so both employees must collaborate to succeed

Revising conflicting goals to require collaboration eliminates counterproductive competition and reinforces teamwork as a performance value.

Which type of goal-setting framework explicitly links each employee goal upward to a departmental goal and further to a company objective?

Answer: Goal hierarchy mapping

Goal hierarchy mapping explicitly connects individual goals upward through departmental and organizational levels to ensure full vertical alignment.

During a mid-year performance review, an employee's goal is no longer relevant due to a market shift. A certified people manager should:

Answer: Update or replace the goal to reflect current business priorities

Agile goal management requires updating goals mid-cycle when business conditions change, ensuring continued relevance and fairness.

What is the primary risk of a purely top-down goal cascading process with no employee input?

Answer: Employees may lack ownership and commitment to goals they had no role in shaping

Without employee input, goals can feel imposed rather than owned, reducing intrinsic motivation and commitment to achievement.

A department manager wants to ensure her team's goals remain aligned with the company's annual plan throughout the year. Which practice best supports this?

Answer: Hold quarterly check-ins to assess progress and realign goals as needed

Quarterly check-ins create structured touchpoints to assess goal relevance, address drift, and realign priorities with the evolving organizational plan.

Which performance review bias occurs when a manager rates an employee based primarily on their most recent performance rather than the full review period?

Answer: Recency bias

Recency bias leads managers to overweight recent events, distorting an accurate picture of performance across the entire review period.