CPM Goal Cascading & Performance Reviews 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the OKR framework, what is the recommended ambitious target for Key Result achievement to signal healthy stretch?
- 100% achievement every quarter
- Around 70% achievement, indicating appropriate stretch (Correct answer)
- 50% achievement to balance risk
- Any result above 0% is considered success
Correct answer: Around 70% achievement, indicating appropriate stretch
In OKR methodology, achieving roughly 70% of a Key Result signals it was sufficiently ambitious; 100% consistently may indicate goals were set too conservatively.
Question 2: A manager consistently gives all team members average ratings to avoid conflict during performance reviews. This exemplifies which bias?
- Halo effect
- Attribution bias
- Central tendency bias (Correct answer)
- Contrast effect
Correct answer: Central tendency bias
Central tendency bias occurs when a manager avoids extreme ratings and clusters all employees near the midpoint, obscuring true performance differences.
Question 3: Which component of a SMART goal ensures the employee and manager have a shared, objective understanding of what success looks like?
- Specific
- Measurable (Correct answer)
- Achievable
- Time-bound
Correct answer: Measurable
The Measurable component defines concrete criteria for success, eliminating ambiguity about whether a goal has been achieved.
Question 4: When conducting a performance review for an employee on a performance improvement plan (PIP), what should the manager prioritize?
- Focusing exclusively on the employee's strengths to rebuild confidence
- Reviewing only the PIP milestones and ignoring other work
- Providing balanced, documented feedback tied specifically to PIP goals and observed behaviors (Correct answer)
- Postponing the review until the PIP period concludes
Correct answer: Providing balanced, documented feedback tied specifically to PIP goals and observed behaviors
A PIP-linked review must document specific behavioral evidence against the agreed milestones to be legally defensible and developmentally meaningful.
Question 5: Goal weight distribution in a performance review system refers to:
- The physical size of the goal-setting document
- Assigning different percentage contributions to goals based on their strategic importance (Correct answer)
- Ranking employees against each other by goal complexity
- The number of goals an employee is assigned
Correct answer: Assigning different percentage contributions to goals based on their strategic importance
Goal weighting assigns different percentage values to goals so that more strategically important objectives have a proportionally greater impact on the overall performance rating.
Question 6: A team leader sets an aggressive sales goal for her team without confirming that support resources are available. Which SMART criterion is most violated?
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable (Correct answer)
- Relevant
Correct answer: Achievable
An Achievable goal must be realistic given available resources, skills, and constraints; setting goals without confirming resource availability violates this criterion.
Question 7: Which performance review design best reduces the impact of manager subjectivity by incorporating input from multiple sources?
- Annual self-assessment only
- 360-degree feedback review (Correct answer)
- Manager-only rating scale
- Peer ranking system
Correct answer: 360-degree feedback review
360-degree feedback incorporates perspectives from peers, direct reports, and stakeholders, diluting any single rater's bias and producing a more balanced view.
CPM Goal Cascading & Performance Reviews 3
In the OKR framework, what is the recommended ambitious target for Key Result achievement to signal healthy stretch?