Gather
Bring together the feedback someone has received and the interests they want to explore.
Case study · H&B
iPerform goals
Helping employees turn feedback and interests into goals they actually own.
01 Context
Goal setting started with a blank box.
iPerform is H&B’s internal employee review software. Each year, people set personal targets for the year ahead. The raw material for great goals was already there, in the feedback they’d received and the things they wanted to grow into, but turning that into clear, specific goals was hard.
In research, people told us goal setting felt like a chore. Many copied last year’s goals forward, and the feedback they’d received sat elsewhere in iPerform, rarely making it into the conversation about the year ahead.
02 The idea
Draft goals from what you already have.
We developed a tool that uses an employee’s feedback and interests to suggest personal goals for the next year. The employee then shapes each suggestion until it’s theirs.
Generate
Suggest draft goals, each showing which feedback or interest it came from.
Define
The employee edits, sharpens and commits, so the final goals are specific, measurable and their own.
Try it
Pick some feedback and interests
A simplified recreation to show the idea, not the production tool.
Feedback you’ve received
Things you’re interested in
Your draft goals will appear here.
03 Design decisions
Suggestions, never decisions.
Three principles kept the tool helpful without taking over.
Show your working
Each draft goal shows the feedback or interest behind it, so people can trust it and push back.
Easy to make your own
Drafts are a starting point. Editing is the main action, not an afterthought.
Built for the conversation
Drafts are shared with your manager, so the review becomes a conversation about the year ahead, not a form to fill in.
04 Impact
What changed.
1,200employees used it in the first cycle
2×faster to set goals
86%kept at least one suggested goal
“For the first time, my goals felt like they were actually about me.” An employee, during testing. Next, we’d bring check-ins through the year into the same flow, so goals stay alive beyond the review.