FAQs & Knowledge Base
Plain-language answers to every common question about Inspire Software — from definitions of continuous performance management and CFR, to how Inspire AI works, how pricing is structured, and what implementation involves. No gating, no 'contact us to learn more.'
Concepts & Definitions
Straight answers to the “what is” questions. Each entry starts with the short answer, then goes deeper.
What is continuous performance management?
Continuous performance management is an approach that replaces the once-a-year review cycle with an ongoing rhythm of structured conversations, real-time feedback, and regular recognition. Rather than assessing performance at a single point in time, it builds a continuous record of progress, coaching, and development — making formal reviews more accurate and reducing recency bias. Inspire's continuous performance capability is built around CFR (Conversations, Feedback, Recognition).
What are CFRs (Conversations, Feedback, Recognition)?
CFR stands for Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition — the three operating elements of continuous performance management. Conversations are regular structured dialogues between managers and employees, replacing the annual review cadence with an ongoing rhythm. Feedback flows in real time, not just at review time — peer-to-peer and manager-to-employee. Recognition is tied to company values and visible organization-wide, reinforcing the behaviors and outcomes the company cares about. CFR was popularized by John Doerr in 'Measure What Matters' as the human counterpart to OKRs.
What is strategy execution?
Strategy execution is the organizational discipline of translating a company's vision and strategic priorities into coordinated team and individual action — and measuring whether that action is delivering the intended outcomes. Most organizations struggle with execution, not strategy. The strategy is clear at the top but invisible at the team level. Inspire addresses this by connecting company OKRs to team goals to individual objectives, and making progress visible in real time so leaders can identify and address execution gaps before they compound.
What are OKRs and how do they work in Inspire?
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework. Objectives are qualitative — what you want to achieve. Key Results are quantitative — how you'll measure whether you achieved it. In Inspire, company OKRs connect to department OKRs, which connect to team OKRs, which connect to individual goals. Every employee can see how their work contributes to the broader company strategy. OKRs in Inspire are not used to set compensation — they're used to drive focus, alignment, and transparent execution.
How does Inspire connect OKRs and continuous performance without tying compensation to OKRs?
Inspire keeps OKR progress and compensation decisions intentionally separate. OKR data is visible in performance reviews as context — it shows whether strategic goals were progressed — but it doesn't automatically generate a rating or compensation outcome. Performance decisions remain with managers and HR, informed by the data, not automated by it. This allows organizations to use OKRs for their intended purpose (focus and alignment) without creating the gaming behavior that comes from directly linking OKRs to pay.
What is strategy execution software — and how is it different from project management?
Strategy execution software connects organizational goals (typically OKRs) to team and individual work, tracks execution progress, and surfaces alignment gaps. It's not a project management tool (Jira, Asana). Project management tracks tasks and deliverables. Strategy execution tracks whether the right priorities are being pursued and whether progress is on track to achieve strategic outcomes. Inspire integrates with project management tools — it doesn't replace them.
How does Inspire AI work?
Inspire AI is designed to reduce administrative work and surface insights — not replace human judgment. AI generates conversation agendas based on active goals and recent activity. It drafts performance review narratives from conversation history so managers review and edit rather than write from scratch. It summarizes OKR progress for business reviews. It surfaces patterns in manager engagement, conversation frequency, and goal confidence. Every AI-generated output is visible, editable, and approved by a human before it affects any employee record. Inspire does not use your employee data to train AI models for third parties.
What integrations does Inspire support?
Inspire integrates with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, Asana, Workday, and supports SSO/SCIM for identity management. These are included at no additional cost in standard plans. Teams and Slack integrations enable conversation prompts and recognition in the tools employees already use. Workday and HRIS integrations handle employee data sync. SSO/SCIM handles provisioning and deprovisioning. See the full integrations page for detailed capability descriptions per integration.
What does implementation look like?
Most organizations go live with Inspire within 4 weeks. Week 1–2 covers configuration, integrations, and admin training. Week 3 is manager training and goal/OKR setup. Week 4 is go-live. Days 30–90 continue with adoption support and business review setup. A named customer success partner stays with your account post go-live — support doesn't end at launch. See the full implementation guide for the week-by-week plan, roles, and success criteria.
How does Inspire handle data privacy and security?
Inspire is pursuing SOC 2 Type II certification. Data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256). Inspire integrates with enterprise SSO and supports SCIM for user provisioning. Customers retain ownership of their data. Employee data in Inspire is not used to train AI models for third parties. A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is available for GDPR-compliant organizations. See the Security page for the full compliance posture.
