1. Betterworks
  2. Betterworks Engage
  3. Action Center

Focus Areas & Action Plans

Contents

Focus Areas

With focus areas, people leaders and managers can:

  • Analyze survey results
  • Shortlist improvement areas
  • Take action on improving 1-2 areas by creating action plans

This helps them plan their improvement areas better and increases the adoption of action planning within their teams. Focus areas can be added from the dashboard, survey reports, and/or poll reports by clicking on the wrench icon:

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A pop-up modal will display the added focus areas (you can add multiple focus areas):

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Creating Action Plans from Focus Areas (Recommended)

Action plans help managers and/or people leaders to take relevant actions based on survey and/or poll results to build engaged teams. With this capability, it will:

  • Enable managers and/or people leaders to create transparency about the actions by sharing the actions with the teams

  • Enable employees to check on and contribute to their manager’s and/or organization’s action plans

  • Close the loop between People and Strategy by enabling managers to take the most effective action to build an engaged team; help managers move from listening to doing

To create an action plan from focus areas, simply go to the Action Center via the "Focus Areas Added" box (referenced above) or the left-side panel (reference below) and click "Define Action Plan" on the focus area that you'd like to take action on:

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Note: You can add focus areas from different surveys and/or polls.

To view the action plans created for a particular focus area, simply click the "[#] Action Plan created" link or click on the "Action Plans" tab:

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To delete focus areas, click the three horizontal dots to the right of "[#] Action Plan created" and select "Delete Focus Area" from the drop-down menu:

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Creating Standalone Action Plans

Click "Create Action Plan" at the top-right corner of the Action Center:

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Select whether to create the action plan from a template or create your own action plan from scratch:

Select a template

  • All of the information will be pre-populated. We have approx. 150 action item templates. These templates are backed by leading industry and academic research (related research documentation is also available in the Resource URL section of the template for your reference), giving you scientific reasoning behind why the particular action plan is important and how that will help in improving your results:

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Create your own action plan from scratch

  • Name — Give your action plan a name
  • Description — Provide necessary details with steps that needs to be taken
  • Resource URL — You have any academic backing for why this action plan needs to be done, you can enter it in this section
  • Assignee — Assign this action item to the applicable user
  • Due date — Assign a due date
    • By default, this is set to 30 days from the date of creation, but can be changed
  • Send Reminders — If this is checked, a notification will be sent to the assignee a set # of days before the due date
    • By default, this is set to 7 days, but can be changed
  • Notify On Overdue — If this is checked, a notification will be sent to the assignee a set # of days after the due date
    • By default, this is set to 3 days, but can be changed

To complete the process, click "Create the Action Plan":

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Setting Progress for An Action Plan

After an action plan is created and assigned, the assignee will receive an automated email and will need to complete the action plan by the due date indicated:

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While working on an action plan, there are three statuses the assignee can set for it:

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  • In Progress — Setting this status will show the administrator that work has begun on the action plan. 
  • Completed — When an action plan is complete, selecting this status will close it. A pop-up modal will display. On this screen, the assignee should provide any relevant comments on how the action plan was executed. The rating show allows the user to rate their efficacy on the action plan itself:

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  • Dismissed — if a plan is unable to be completed, the assignee will have to provide comments on why that is the case. The administrator will receive an automated email once the action plan is closed and can view the same in their Action Plan Center. 

Linking Action Plans to Goals

Note: To use this feature, your organization will need subscriptions to both Engage and Betterworks Core (our performance enablement platform). For more information on how to update your subscription, please contact your Program Architect, CSM, or support@betterworks.com.

Linking An Action Plan To A Goal

Watch a video walkthrough

1. Click on the wrench icon from any of the several locations where it appears in the Engage platform (i.e., under Survey → Reports → Opportunity Areas).

2. Select an action plan template or create one from scratch.

3. Select "Create a new goal".

4. Click "Create the action plan".

5. The action plan will be created in Engage, and a goal will also be created in Betterworks.

6. Clicking "View Goal" will take you to the goal in Betterworks.

Note: If you're not logged into Betterworks, clicking "View Goal" will take you to the Betterworks login page, then redirect to the appropriate goal, post-login.

Deleting Action Plan Linked To Goal

You'll be able to delete the action plan from the Action Center. You'll also be able to delete the goal (created from the action plan) from the Goals list page in Betterworks. However, deleting one will not automatically delete the other (i.e., deleting the action plan in Engage will not automatically delete the associated goal in Betterworks). 

Link An Action Plan To A Milestone

Watch video walkthrough

Note: You can select any goal owned by you or any public goal within your organization. You can also search either by the goal name or the owner of the goal.

1. Click on the wrench icon from any of the several locations where it appears in the Engage platform (i.e., under Survey → Reports → Opportunity Areas).

2. Select an action plan template or create one from scratch.

3. Select "Create a milestone contributing to an existing goal”.

4. Select "Choose a Goal" to select the goal for which the action plan will be created as an associated milestone.

5. Select the goal.

3. Click "Create Action Plan".

4. The Action plan will be created in Engage, and a milestone to the selected goal will also be created in Betterworks. Clicking "View Milestone" will take you to the goal under which the milestone was created.

Note: If you're not logged into the Betterworks platform, clicking "View Milestone" will take you to the Betterworks login page, then redirect to the appropriate goal, post-login.

Deleting Action Plan Linked To Milestone

You'll be able to delete the action plan from the Action Center. You'll also be able to delete the milestone (created from the action plan) from the Goals list page in Betterworks. However, deleting one will not automatically delete the other (i.e., deleting the action plan in Engage will not automatically delete the associated milestone in Betterworks). 

FAQs

Will the action plan pre-populate any fields in the goal or milestone?

Yes. 

Action plan field name Goal/milestone field name
Action plan name Goal name
Description Description
Assignee Owner
Date action plan was created Start date (not applicable to milestones)
Due date Due date

Note: If you have categories enabled in Betterworks, a new category named "Engage Action Plan" will automatically be created. All goals/OKRs synced from Engage will then automatically be tagged with the "Engage Action Plan" category.

Who will be able to see my Goals in Engage to select as part of their action plans?

Your Betterworks permissions will flow to the Engage platform. Only users who have view access in Betterworks can see the goal and milestones as options to connect action plans to.

If the Due Date or Completion status of the Action Plan is updated in Engage, will it sync to Betterworks core?

No. The sync only occurs during goal/OKR creation. Any updates should be made in the Betterworks core platform in the Goals/OKR module.

If the Due Date or Completion status of the goal is updated in the Betterworks core platform, will it sync to Engage?

No. The sync only occurs during goal/OKR creation, and it only occurs in one direction, from Engage to Betterworks core.