How to Use Ninety's 1-on-1 Tool

In EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, the People Component® rests on two questions for every person on your team: 

• Are they the right person?
• And are they in the right seat? 

The 1-on-1 tool in Ninety is where your organization consistently answers both questions, with documentation, over time. It houses two distinct features: Quarterly and Annual Reviews, and the People Analyzer®. Understanding what each one does and when to use it is the key to getting the most out of this tool.

What's inside the 1-on-1 tool

The 1-on-1 tool is organized into three tabs: People Analyzer®, Quarterly Reviews, and Annual Reviews.

Quarterly Reviews

Quarterly Reviews are structured forms that both the manager and the team member fill out independently before meeting to discuss their responses side by side. Each form covers Core Values, GWC® (Gets it, Wants it, Capacity to do it), Performance Data (Rocks, To-Dos, and Measurables from the review period), and a Leadership and Management Assessment.

Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews follow the same workflow as Quarterly Reviews, with additional depth, and are available when a more formalized conversation is needed. You aren't restricted to running them once per calendar year; use them for mid-year check-ins or any time a structured review conversation is warranted. Both Quarterly and Annual Reviews are available on the Accelerate and Thrive plans.

The People Analyzer®

The People Analyzer® is a standalone EOS tool for conducting one-way assessments of whether a team member is the right person in the right seat. 

Unlike a Quarterly Review, the People Analyzer is not a two-way conversation: one person (typically the team member's manager) evaluates a colleague's Core Value alignment and GWC for each seat they hold. Results are visible to both the reviewer and the person being reviewed once the review is completed. The People Analyzer is available on the Accelerate and Thrive plans.

What are Quarterly and Annual Reviews?

Quarterly and Annual Reviews are the structured performance review workflows for the 1-on-1 tool. The manager creates the review, sets a time period and due date, and adds the team member/ managee. Both parties then fill out their forms independently before coming together to discuss their responses side by side.

The review form is divided into two main sections.

Team member (managee) completes:

• Core Values: Rates themselves on each of the company's Core Values using +, +/-, or -.
• GWC®: Assesses whether they get it, want it, and have the capacity to hold each seat they hold.
• Performance Data: Reviews progress on Rocks, To-Dos, and Measurables from the review's time period.
• Leadership Assessment: Rates their manager on leadership commitments.
• Management Assessment: Rates their manager on management commitments.
   

Manager completes:

• Core Values: Rates the team member on each Core Value.
• GWC®: Assesses whether the team member gets, wants, and has the capacity for each seat they hold.
• Performance Data: Reviews the team member's progress on Rocks, To-Dos, and Measurables.
• Leadership Assessment: Rates themselves on leadership commitments.
• Management Assessment: Rates themselves on management commitments.
   

Both forms must be submitted before the meeting can start. Once the manager clicks Start Meeting, both responses appear side by side for discussion. At the end of the meeting, each party signs and dates the form to complete the review.

Performance Data and the review's time period

When you create a Quarterly or Annual Review, you set a time period (a start and end date). Rocks, To-Dos, and Measurables that fall within that time period populate automatically in the Performance Data section. Because Rocks are assigned to quarters based on their due dates and the company's fiscal year settings, the time period you set when creating the review affects which items appear. If you're seeing unexpected items in Performance Data, adjust the time period date range to match your intended quarter.

What is the People Analyzer®?

The People Analyzer® is an EOS tool that helps leadership teams evaluate whether each team member is the right person in the right seat. As Gino Wickman notes in Traction, the People Analyzer is among the top five tools EOS clients use most frequently, because most organizational issues ultimately trace back to people challenges.

The People Analyzer uses a two-part evaluation:

Part 1: Core Values assessment. For each of your company's Core Values (which come directly from the V/TO®), rate the team member with one of three responses:

• +: They consistently exhibit this Core Value.
• +/-: They exhibit it sometimes, but not consistently.
• -: They rarely or never exhibit this Core Value.

Part 2: GWC® evaluation. For each seat the team member holds, answer yes or no to each element of GWC® (Gets it, Wants it, Capacity to do it). Unlike Core Values, GWC is binary: the answer must be an emphatic yes or no. Because GWC is seat-specific, a team member who holds more than one seat requires a separate GWC evaluation for each seat.

Once you've rated all Core Values and GWC for every seat, Ninety shows you the result: right person, right seat; right person, wrong seat; wrong person, right seat; or wrong person, wrong seat.

Setting The Bar. Owners and Admins can set The Bar (the minimum threshold for right person and right seat) in People Analyzer Settings. The EOS-recommended default is any combination of three pluses and two plus/minuses for Core Values (with no minuses), and three emphatic yeses for GWC. To change The Bar, go to 1-on-1, click the People Analyzer tab, then click the gear icon on the right side of the filters bar.

Before you start. Two things must be in place before a People Analyzer review can be created:

1. Core Values must be defined in your Leadership Team's V/TO®. If Core Values aren't appearing in the review form, confirm the correct team has the Leadership Team (LT) designation in Company Settings. See Introduction to the V/TO for guidance on adding Core Values.
2. The team member must be assigned to at least one Seat on the Accountability Chart®. If the New Review button appears greyed out, the person isn't assigned to a Seat yet. See Assigning and Unassigning Users on the Accountability Chart.

Visibility. Once you click Complete on a People Analyzer review, the person being reviewed can see the results immediately. There is no option to hold results until a meeting. If you want to review results with the person before they see them on their own, complete the review together in person or schedule the conversation before clicking Complete.

How the 1-on-1 tool connects to other tools

Accountability Chart®. Team members must be assigned to a Seat on the Accountability Chart before a People Analyzer review can be completed for them. The roles and responsibilities defined in a Seat are also reflected in the GWC section of the review form, providing the evaluation with a clear, documented basis.

V/TO®. Core Values defined in the Leadership Team's Vision/Traction Organizer® (V/TO®) populate automatically in Reviews and the People Analyzer. If Core Values aren't showing, confirm the correct team has the Leadership Team designation in Company Settings.

Rocks. Rock completion data for the review period is automatically populated in the Performance Data section of Quarterly and Annual Reviews. Rocks (your 90-day priorities) appear based on the review time period you set when creating the review.

Scorecard®. Measurables assigned to the team member also appear in Performance Data, giving both parties a data-backed view of performance alongside the Core Values and GWC assessment.

Level 10 Meeting®. The People Analyzer is most impactful when used alongside your quarterly review cadence. EOS recommends completing the People Analyzer ahead of a Quarterly Review conversation so both parties can discuss the results together during the meeting rather than evaluating on the fly. Learn more about running Level 10 Meetings in Ninety.

Issues. Insights surfaced during a People Analyzer review (such as a team member who falls below The Bar) can be added directly as an Issue from within the Review meeting view. This keeps the people conversation connected to the problem-solving cadence of the Level 10 Meeting®.

Insights. The 1-on-1 Insights page shows Discussion Rate (the completion percentage for Quarterly and Annual Reviews), trends by manager, and People Analyzer data over time. Owners and Admins can use the Manager dropdown to view data across all managers in the company.

My 90. Pending Quarterly and Annual Reviews appear in a team member's My 90 dashboard, giving everyone visibility into outstanding action items without requiring the manager to follow up separately.

Meetings tool. For regular one-on-one meetings between a leader and a direct report, or for a Same Page Meeting® between a Visionary and Integrator, the recommended approach is to create a dedicated two-person team (optionally set to private) and run those meetings through the Meetings tool using a custom agenda at whatever cadence works for the pair. See Creating New Teams and Creating and Customizing Meeting Agendas.

Delegate and Elevate® (mobile). The Delegate and Elevate® tool helps leaders identify which tasks to keep, which to delegate, and which to elevate to someone better suited. It is available exclusively in the Ninety mobile app on the Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy plans. See Delegate & Elevate: Access the Key Leadership Ability from Ninety's Mobile App for details.

User permissions overview

The 1-on-1 tool is available on the Accelerate and Thrive plans. The Delegate and Elevate® mobile tool is available on the Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy plans. The 1-on-1 tool is not available on the Free or Essentials plans.

• Owners can create, complete, view, and configure all Reviews and People Analyzer evaluations company-wide.
• Admins can create, complete, view, and configure all Reviews and People Analyzer evaluations company-wide, except for evaluations completed by Owners, which Admins cannot see.
• Coaches can view all Reviews in the company and configure company-level settings, including The Bar.
• Managers can create and complete Reviews for their direct reports, and can view Reviews and People Analyzer evaluations they participated in.
• Team Members (also called Managees) can view the Reviews they are part of, and the People Analyzer evaluations submitted about them.
• Observers cannot access the 1-on-1 tool.

Deleting reviews 

Only the person who created a Review can delete it using the ellipsis menu on the review's row. Owners and Admins cannot delete Reviews they didn't create. If the person who created the review is no longer at the company, contact support to have the review removed.

For the full reference on roles and permissions, see User Roles and Permissions.

What's in the 1-on-1 tool

The articles below cover each feature and workflow in detail.

Quarterly and Annual Reviews: Best practices for completing your review forms, including a breakdown of each section, what each party sees, and the differences between Quarterly and Annual Reviews.

Prepare and Run a Quarterly Review: Step-by-step instructions for creating a Quarterly Review, preparing your forms, running the side-by-side meeting, and archiving completed reviews. Also covers printing and exporting to PDF.

Prepare and Run an Annual Review: How to create and run an Annual Review, including how to use the Annual Review for mid-year or other formalized conversations outside of the calendar year.

The People Analyzer®: A complete guide to using the People Analyzer® in Ninety, including how to set up Core Values and The Bar, complete multi-seat evaluations, view historical reviews, and assign evaluations to other leaders as To-Dos.

Customizing 1-on-1 Review Questions: How to add, edit, delete, and reorder the questions and commitments in your Quarterly and Annual Review forms. Changes apply to the entire organization. Available to Owners, Admins, and Coaches.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the "New Review" button greyed out on the People Analyzer?

The New Review button is greyed out when the team member isn't assigned to a Seat on the Accountability Chart®. The People Analyzer can only be completed for people who have a defined Seat. Go to the Accountability Chart, assign the person to the appropriate Seat, and then return to the People Analyzer. See Assigning and Unassigning Users on the Accountability Chart.

Can I reopen a Quarterly Review after it's been submitted?

Submitted review forms are locked and can't be edited or reopened from within the app. To reopen a submitted form to make changes, contact support and provide the names of the participants, the review type (Quarterly or Annual), and the approximate due date.

How do I delete a Quarterly Review?

Only the person who created the review can delete it. To delete a review you created, find it in the Quarterly Reviews or Annual Reviews list, click the ellipsis at the end of its row, and select Delete. If the manager who created the review is no longer at the company, contact support to have the review removed.

Who can see my People Analyzer review?

Visibility depends on the role of the person viewing the review. Owners can see all completed People Analyzer reviews across the company. Admins can see all reviews except those completed by Owners. Managers can see reviews they participated in (as either the reviewer or the person reviewed). Team Members can see evaluations that were submitted about them. Observers cannot access the People Analyzer. Once you click Complete, the person being reviewed can view the results immediately.

Can I customize the review questions?

Yes, Owners, Admins, and Coaches can customize the questions and commitments used in Quarterly and Annual Reviews. Go to 1-on-1, open the Quarterly Reviews or Annual Reviews tab, then click the gear icon on the right side of the Filters bar to open Review Settings. From there, you can add, edit, delete, or reorder questions and commitments. Note that all changes apply to the entire organization, not to a specific team or individual. See Customizing 1-on-1 Review Questions.

Can I run a People Analyzer review on someone with an Observer role?

Yes, as long as the Observer is assigned to a Seat on the Accountability Chart®. The People Analyzer can be completed for any user with a Seat, regardless of their plan role. Observers cannot complete a People Analyzer review on someone else, but they can be the subject of one.

Learn more

People First, Then Vision: The EOS® People Analyzer: A practical breakdown of what the People Analyzer is, how GWC works, and how to use the tool to build a team of right people in the right seats.

Why Quarterly Discussions Drive Retention, Clarity, and Team Health: The case for running Quarterly Reviews on a consistent cadence, and what gets lost when teams rely on annual reviews alone.

How EOS® Can Help You Set Employee Performance Goals That Drive Results: How to connect individual performance goals to company Rocks, the Scorecard, and the Quarterly Review conversation so goals are visible and reviewed consistently.

EOS® Accountability Chart: Your Key to the Right People in the Right Seats: The foundational EOS framework connecting Accountability Chart Seats to the People Analyzer, and why structure-first, people-second is the right sequence.