Conversations user guide - Employee

Conversations – Employee Guide

Summary

As an employee (Target‑user), you use Conversations to prepare for and follow up on structured discussions with your manager or another reviewer. Typical uses include performance reviews, growth conversations, 1:1 check-ins, and ad‑hoc follow‑ups.

In each conversation:

• You and the reviewer respond to the same discussion points.
• You both submit your reflections independently.
• You cannot see each other’s responses until both have submitted.
• After both have submitted, you can:
  • Comment on discussion points
  • Create and edit tasks (until the conversation is closed)
  • Generate and edit an AI‑created summary
  • Finally sign off the conversation once it’s closed.

My conversations

View all your conversations

1. Go to Overview → My conversations.
2. The table lists all conversations where you are the Target‑user.

The table shows:

• Conversation with – name of the Reviewer.
• Template – which conversation template was used.
• Period – the Period associated with the conversation, or empty / “No period”.
• Status – see Conversation statuses.
• Last updated – last time anything changed (create, submit, close, re‑open, sign).
• Action– context action:
  • Respond – you haven’t submitted yet.
  • Review – the conversation is closed but not yet signed by you.
  • View – read-only.

Preparing your reflections

Start your preparation

You prepare reflections once per conversation.

You can open a conversation by:

• Clicking the link in your email invite, or
• Going to My conversations and clicking Respond in the Action column.

This opens the Conversation page.

Enter responses

On the Conversation page:

1. You see one or more discussion points.
2. For each discussion point:
   • Read the question.
   • Enter your reflection in the text editor.
3. Your text is auto‑saved while typing or when you pause briefly.

Note:

• You may leave some discussion points empty.
• Before you submit, you will be warned if not all fields are filled—but you can still submit.

Submit your responses

When you’re ready:

1. Review your text.
2. Click Submit.

After submitting:

• You cannot edit your responses.
• Your responses remain hidden from the reviewer until they also submit.
• Status will be In progress (if only one of you has submitted) or Submitted (if both have submitted).

After both have submitted – shared conversation

When both you and the reviewer have submitted your responses, the conversation becomes a shared conversation.

Commenting

Comments help document clarifications, decisions, or meeting notes.

After both have submitted:

1. Go to the relevant discussion point.
2. Add a comment.
3. Your comment is visible to both participants and shows author and timestamp.

Use comments to:

• Ask follow‑up questions.
• Capture notes from your talk.
• Clarify or refine previously submitted reflections.

Tasks

In the Submitted state, tasks are in draft‑mode.

You (and the reviewer) can:

1. Add a Task with:
   • Title (required)
   • Description (optional)
   • Assignee– either:
     • You (Target‑user), or
     • The reviewer
   • Due date (optional)
2. Edit or delete tasks as long as the conversation remains Submitted.

Tasks in this state:

• Are not yet visible outside the conversation.
• Are intended to be prepared and agreed before closing the conversation.

AI‑supported editor

For responses and summary text, you can use the AI‑supported editor:

1. When text is entered, an Enhance button appears.
2. Click Enhance to open a modal with your original text.
3. Choose one of:
   • Rephrase
   • Fix spelling & grammar
   • Make longer
   • Make shorter
4. Review the suggested text and choose whether to apply it.

The AI is aware of the discussion point context. You remain in full control of what is finally saved.

AI‑generated summary

The summary gives an overview of the conversation.

• Adding a summary is optional.
• Either participant can create it.

To create or work with a summary:

1. Click Generate summary.
2. AI drafts a summary based on:
   • Your responses
   • Reviewer’s responses
   • Any comments
3. Edit the summary freely; changes are auto‑saved.
4. If you don’t want a summary at all, it can be removed.

If the conversation is closed without a summary, the reviewer is reminded to create one—but they can skip it.

When the conversation is closed

When the reviewer marks the conversation as closed:

• Status: Closed, not signed.
• All responses, comments, tasks and summary are read‑only.
• The tasks are finalized:
  • They appear in:
    • Your Tasks list
    • The task list in the conversation
  • They can only be marked Done or Todo.
  • They cannot be edited or deleted, even if the conversation is re‑opened.

Sign off the conversation

You receive a “Conversation closed” email with instructions.

After the conversation is closed:

1. Go to My conversations.
2. Click Review in the Action column.
3. Read through:
   • Your responses
   • Reviewer’s responses
   • Comments
   • Tasks
   • Summary (if present)
4. Click Sign (or equivalent action) to confirm you have read and acknowledged the content.

After signing:

• Status: Closed.
• If the reviewer re‑opensthe conversation:
  • Your signing is invalidated.
  • After re‑closing, you will need to sign again.

Conversation statuses for employees

You’ll see these statuses in My conversations:

• Not started
   Neither participant has submitted reflections.
• In progress
   One participant has submitted; the other has not.
• Submitted
   Both participants have submitted. Side‑by‑side view is active; comments, tasks and summary can be edited.
• Closed, not signed
   Reviewer has closed; everything is read‑only. You can sign. Reviewer can re‑open, tasks remain read‑only.
• Closed
   You have signed a closed conversation. Reviewer can still re‑open, which invalidates the sign‑off.