How to Prepare for and Run a Quarterly Review in Ninety
A Quarterly Review is a one-on-one conversation between a Manager and a Team Member held every 90 days. It's an opportunity to share what's working and what's not. Using the 1-on-1 tool, both parties prepare their thoughts in structured forms, then meet to compare responses side by side.
The steps to complete a Quarterly Review are:
The Manager creates the Review.
Both parties fill out the forms prior to the scheduled meeting.
The Manager starts the meeting on the agreed-upon date in Ninety to view both responses side by side.
The meeting and Review are completed.
Note: All Reviews and answers are saved within Ninety. They can also be printed as a PDF. For role permissions and how to edit or delete a Review, see Quarterly and Annual Reviews.
Availability: Quarterly and Annual Reviews are part of the 1-on-1 tool, available on the Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy plans. See Ninety's pricing page for plan details.
Creating the Quarterly Review
Anyone can create a Quarterly Review between two people, including assistants, HR professionals, and meeting facilitators.
Navigate to the 1-on-1 tool and click the Quarterly Reviews tab.
Click + Create Review (or + Quarterly Review in the upper right if reviews already exist).
On the Overview tab, title the review and add an optional description.
Choose a Time Period date range to pull in the managee's Rocks, To-Dos, and KPIs.
Set a Due Date for both parties to complete their forms before the meeting.
Confirm the Manager (this defaults to the user creating the review).
Add managees: click Select All My Direct Reports to create a separate review for each direct report, or click Add Managee(s) to add individual team members.
For each managee, select their Seat from the dropdown.
Click the Settings tab to adjust any review-specific settings before creating.
Click Create Review. Ninety sends a notification email to both the Manager and each managee.
Preparing the forms
After creating the Review, click Start Form or Edit Form on the right of the screen. The Team Member assesses their performance and then their Manager's. The Manager reviews their performance and then the Team Member's.
Click Start Form. The first section assesses the Team Member on the company's Core Values; their Competency, Commitment, and Capacity for the Seat; and their performance data on Rocks, To-Dos, and KPIs from each of their teams.
Next, the Manager is assessed. Ninety uses the Lead, Agree, Coach assessment for Managers.
Click Finish on the bottom left of the screen to submit your form, or click Save for Later to return to the form at a later date.
Save for Later vs Finish: Click Save for Later to save your progress and keep your form editable. Click Finish to submit your form so the other person can see it's done. After you click Finish, you can still edit your responses with the pencil icon until the review as a whole is complete (the meeting is held and signed, or all forms are complete when no meeting is planned). Once the review is complete, it locks and can't be edited.
To change the questions and commitments that appear on the forms, see Customizing 1-on-1 Review Questions.
Completing the forms
Click Save for Later to save your progress at any time.
After completing the forms, click Finish.
The other Review member sees that the form is complete.
Even after completing, clicking the pencil icon allows you to edit your responses until the review as a whole is complete.
After the Review is complete, click the PDF View Form button on its row to export and print responses.
Clicking on the Review opens the details panel on the right showing both parties' responses after the submission.
When each party can see the other's responses
Answer visibility is controlled on the Settings tab when you create the review. Only the Manager can set it, and it can't be changed once either party has started their form. Two settings work together: Meeting Settings and Answer Visibility.
Meeting Settings
Hold a Meeting after both participants complete. Once both participants complete their forms, a 1-on-1 Meeting can be held in Ninety. The Meeting is what reveals the Manager's answers to the Team Member, so it's required for the selected answer visibility setting.
Answer Visibility — choose one of three options:
Hide answers from both participants prior to review (default). Answers are not visible to either participant before the Meeting. Responses appear side by side once the Manager starts the meeting.
Share answers with both participants after completion. Once both participants complete their forms, answers are visible to both before the review.
Manager can view Team Member's answers before review. Once the Team Member completes their form, their answers are visible to the Manager. The Manager's answers remain hidden from the Team Member until the Meeting is held. This lets the Manager prepare with full context while keeping their own review from influencing the Team Member's submission.
Note: These settings must be chosen when the review is created. They can't be changed once either party has started their form.
Holding the meeting
After both parties have submitted their form responses, the Start Meeting option displays. When started, the meeting shows a side-by-side comparison of the form responses.
Tip: Run the Review from only one person's computer. All entries are editable within the Review by either party.
At the end of the meeting, each party electronically signs and dates the form, which concludes the session. Users then mark the Review complete and archived.
Printing the responses
After you complete the meeting, the responses are saved in Ninety. You can also print the responses for your records. Only completed Reviews can be printed:
Click 1-on-1 from the left navigation.
Click the Quarterly Reviews tab.
On the filters bar, click Past to show completed Reviews.
Click the PDF View Form button on the Review's row.
In the PDF Print Options popup, choose Portrait or Landscape, then click Print.