You create a goal (sometimes called an objective, OKR or key result) with the New goal wizard in Performance > Goals. The wizard has two steps: General information (name, who the goal is for, period and frequency) and Configuration (how progress is measured and the targets). Each goal stands on its own and has its own measurement, so there is no separate "key result" to add afterwards.

Before you start

• Cascading goals (parent goals, sub-goals and the Based on sub-goals type of metric) are available on the Enterprise plan.
• You need the Create key results permission in Settings > Permissions > Goals, and the See key results permission with any scope.
• The scope of your Create key results permission decides who you can create goals for. With For the whole company you can assign goals to employees, teams, legal entities, roles or the whole company. With any other scope you can only pick individual employees inside your scope.
• Decide the goal period (for example 2026, Q1 2026 or a custom date range) and whether you want to track it in smaller periods (for example monthly targets inside a yearly goal).
• If the goal contributes to a bigger goal, you can create it as a sub-goal directly from the parent. See Cascade goals with parent goals and sub-goals.

Step by step

Create a goal from the goals list (admins, managers and employees with Create key results)

1. Go to Performance > Goals.
2. Click New Goal in the top-right corner of the goals list.
3. In the General information step, enter a Name for the goal (required). Example: "Increase recurring revenue".
4. Optional: enter a Description. The description is rich text, can contain links and has a maximum of 1,000 characters.
5. In Assign to, choose the type of assignee (Employees, Team, Legal entity, Role or Whole company) and then select who the goal is for. See Assign a goal to people, teams or the company.
6. Optional, under Options: select Create an individual goal for each person to create one separate goal per person in the selection instead of one shared goal.
7. Under Dates, choose the Goal period: a year, a half-year, a quarter, a month or a custom date range.
8. Choose the Target frequency (Yearly, Half-yearly, Quarterly or Monthly). The options depend on the goal period. See Set the goal period, frequency and targets.
9. Click Continue.
10. In the Configuration step, under Configure the metric, choose the Type of metric: Currency, Numeric, Percentage, Achieved / not achieved or Based on sub-goals. See Choose how a goal is measured.
11. Enter the Start value, the Target value and the Unit when the type of metric asks for them.
12. If the goal is split into periods, review the target of each period in the per-period table. Use Distribute equally to split the total target evenly across the periods.
13. Click Submit.

When you create a single goal, Factorial shows the message "Goal created" and opens the new goal's detail page.

When you select Create an individual goal for each person, Factorial shows the message "Goals are being created. You will be notified when they are ready." The goals are created in the background and you receive an email when they are ready, or if the creation failed.
 

Create a goal for a specific employee (managers and admins)

1. Go to Performance > Goals and select the Employees preset.
2. In the group of the employee, click New Goal. The wizard opens with that employee already selected in Assign to.
3. Complete the wizard as described in "Create a goal from the goals list".

You can also create a goal for an employee from the employee's goals side panel. See Review and weight an employee's goals.
 

Create a sub-goal of an existing goal

1. Go to Performance > Goals.
2. Open the row menu (...) of the parent goal and click Add sub-goal, or open the parent goal and click Add sub-goal.
3. Complete the wizard. The new goal is linked to the parent goal.

Rules and behavior

• If you have the Create key results permission with a scope that does not reach any active employee, then Factorial does not show the New Goal button.
• If your Create key results scope is not For the whole company, then Assign to only offers Employees, and the employee picker only lists the employees inside your scope.
• If you choose Team, Legal entity or Role, then you can select up to 10 of them per goal.
• If you choose Employees, then there is no limit on the number of people you can select.
• If you select Create an individual goal for each person, then Factorial creates one goal per person in the selection, each assigned to only that person, and emails you when the creation finishes or fails. If the creation fails, nothing is saved.
• If you create a goal as a sub-goal of a goal measured Based on sub-goals, then the goal period and target frequency are copied from the parent and can't be changed.
• If you create a goal from the goals list, then the wizard opens on the current year with Yearly frequency and Currency (EUR) as the type of metric.
• The Goal period picker offers dates from 1 January of last year to 31 December of next year.
• Every new goal starts with the status Not started.
• Factorial shows field errors only when you click Continue or Submit.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: "I can't see the New Goal button." → Cause: You don't have Create key results, you don't have See key results, or your Create key results scope doesn't reach any active employee (for example, scope "direct and indirect reportees" but you have no reportees). → Fix: Ask an admin to review your permission group in Settings > Permissions > Goals.
• Symptom: "I can only choose Employees in Assign to." → Cause: Teams, legal entities, roles and the whole company require Create key results with scope For the whole company. → Fix: Assign the goal to individual employees, or ask an admin to create it.
• Symptom: "An employee I want to assign doesn't appear in the picker." → Cause: The employee is outside the scope of your Create key results permission. → Fix: Ask the employee's manager or an admin to create the goal.
• Symptom: "The wizard won't let me continue and shows 'Adjust the period targets so they add up to the total'." → Cause: The period targets don't add up to the Target value. → Fix: Click Distribute equally or correct the period values until the message "The total target is correctly distributed" appears.
• Symptom: "I created goals for each person but I don't see them yet." → Cause: Individual goals are created in the background. → Fix: Wait for the email "Your bulk goal creation has finished", then refresh the list. If you receive "Your bulk goal creation failed", nothing was saved; review the selection and try again.

FAQ

1. How do I add key results to a goal?
In the goals experience, each goal is measured on its own. To break a goal into smaller measurable parts, create sub-goals and, if you want the parent's progress to come from them, set the parent's type of metric to Based on sub-goals.

2. Can I create one goal for my whole team?
Yes, if your Create key results permission has the scope For the whole company: choose Team in Assign to. Otherwise, select the team members individually in Employees.

3. What's the difference between one goal for several people and "Create an individual goal for each person"?
One goal for several people is shared: everyone contributes to the same progress. With Create an individual goal for each person, each person gets their own copy with its own progress, which you can weight and use in their performance reviews.

4. Can employees create their own goals?
Yes, if their permission group has Create key results with the scope For themselves. They can then only assign goals to themselves.

5. Where does the goal appear after I create it?
In the Goals view of Performance > Goals, and in the goals side panel of each person it is assigned to.