Leader Rounds FAQ
Setup
Do I have to configure anything before leaders can start rounding?
No. The three starter templates (Staff Rounding, New Hire 30-60-90, Senior Leader Rounding) install themselves the first time anyone opens the app, and the default cadence is 30 days. A leader with direct reports can capture their first round immediately.
How do I customize the rounding questions?
Starter templates stay pristine — you can’t edit them directly. On the Templates tab, click Duplicate on a starter, then edit the copy: reorder or remove questions, add new ones, and set the template’s own cadence. Question types are scale (1–5), yes/no, choice, free text, recognition pick, and issue capture.
Can different templates have different cadences?
Yes. A template’s own cadence overrides the tenant default for rounds made from it. A template with no cadence — like Senior Leader Rounding — creates no obligation at all: leaders can use it whenever they visit, and nobody shows as overdue because of it.
Permissions and access
Who counts as a leader in this app?
Anyone with direct reports in the org chart, plus anyone with a manager role or above. The rounding obligation covers direct reports only; a leader may also round on anyone deeper in their reporting line (skip-level), and doing so never adds to anyone’s overdue count.
Who can see a round’s private notes?
The leader who wrote them, that leader’s own management chain, and app admins. The person rounded on never sees them, and the AI assistant cannot read them for anyone.
Can the person rounded on update the issues they raised?
No. They can see their issues, the owner, the status, and the written reason if something is closed without a fix — but only the leader who held the round, that leader’s management chain, or an admin can change a status. This keeps the ledger the leader’s record of follow-through.
Who can see the Themes tab?
Leaders see themes for their own reporting line; admins see the whole tenant. Either way, a group’s number only renders when at least the configured minimum number of distinct people answered (3 by default) — smaller groups are counted as hidden, never shown.
Day-to-day
What makes a round count toward coverage?
It must be completed and substantive — at least one question actually answered. A round saved with every answer blank shows in history but does not count toward the leader’s coverage number. That rule is deliberate: it keeps box-checking from reading as engagement.
What should a leader do when someone is due but unavailable?
Use Skip on the due list and give the reason (for example, “on approved leave until March”). The reason is required. A skipped round is a recorded decision, so the director sees a deliberate skip instead of an unexplained gap.
Can an issue start out overdue?
No. When an issue is captured during a round, its due date is set to today or later — a past date is moved up to today, and if no date is given it defaults to two weeks out. Red status is earned by real slippage, never by form input.
Why does a recognition posted from a round say “awaiting approval”?
The one-click recognition goes through the same gates as any other recognition: content moderation, anti-gaming checks, and your tenant’s approval routing. If your Recognition program requires manager approval or the content is held for review, the post waits there. Each recognition answer can be posted once — the button then shows “Recognition posted.”
What does the “Same-day cluster” flag on Team Rollup mean?
It means most of that leader’s rounds in the window — five or more, with at least 80% stamped on a single calendar day in your organization’s timezone — were logged in one sitting. It’s a conversation prompt for the director, not an accusation: twelve rounds logged in four minutes usually weren’t twelve conversations.
When do leaders get reminded about due rounds?
Every Monday morning, each leader whose direct reports are past cadence gets one in-app digest naming who’s due. It fires at most once per leader per week. Admins can turn reminders off in Settings; individuals can mute the Leader Rounds category in their own notification preferences.
When something looks wrong
“Why can’t I see my manager’s notes from our round?”
That’s by design. A round has two layers: the shared one (the answers and any issues raised, which you can always see) and the leader’s private notes, which are never shown to the person the round is about. If you can see the round but no notes, nothing is missing.
“The issue I raised was closed without being fixed — why?”
Sometimes the honest answer is no, and the app requires that honesty to be visible: closing an issue without a fix requires a written reason, which appears under your issue on Rounds About Me. The item shows red on the leader’s ledger — it is not quietly hidden.
“Why is my team missing from the Themes page?”
Fewer people on the team answered that question than the anonymity floor requires (3 by default). The group is counted in the “hidden below the anonymity floor” line rather than shown. This protects honest answers on small teams; the group appears once enough distinct people have answered within the window.
“Someone is missing from a leader’s due list — where are they?”
Three common causes: the person doesn’t report to that leader in the org chart (the due list covers direct reports only), the person’s account is deactivated (deactivated people never appear), or they were rounded on within the cadence window and are simply listed as current rather than due.
Licensing and limits
What are the configurable ranges and limits?
- Default rounding cadence: 1–365 days (default 30); per-template overrides use the same range
- Theme anonymity floor: 2–25 people (default 3)
- Scale answers: 1–5
- Issue descriptions: up to 2,000 characters
- Team Rollup window: 7–365 days (page filters at 30/60/90)
- Weekly reminder: at most one per leader per week, in-app
- The AI assistant: 4 tools, all read-only
Licensing is per operator — the leaders who round — with admin opt-in per tenant; people being rounded on don’t consume seats.