How the Cleveland Guardians strengthened engagement & streamlined remote performance management with Leapsome
“Usually, it’s pulling teeth to get our teammates to do their assessments, but during that first review cycle with Leapsome, we heard nothing but good feedback about how user-friendly it’s been. We’ve been able to customize a lot of things on the back end, so the review looks exactly how we want it to look.
Basically, we love Leapsome.”
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In late 2023, the Cleveland Guardians went fully remote due to office renovations.
To keep a strong feedback culture and connection, the organization needed a platform that would quickly onboard new users, simplify performance management, and help managers maintain team morale.
These were all capabilities that the Guardians’ previous HR platform lacked, making it clear that the solution no longer aligned with the team’s evolving needs. At the time, admins struggled with constant manual workarounds, from creating surveys outside the system using Survey Monkey or Microsoft Forms to repeatedly downloading and cleaning raw data. The poor front-end user experience left employees feeling confused and disengaged.
The Guardians were ready for a change that would enhance efficiency and better support their people processes.
“The previous system was not very user-friendly or appealing. It was pretty cumbersome and didn’t do a lot for us in terms of employee engagement or surveying.
We wanted something that’s user-friendly and engaging; that our teammates can figure out how to use, and that has all the backend stuff we as administrators would like to do. So we went looking for a one-stop shop.”
— Nate Daymut, Assistant Director of Organizational Development at Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians evaluated several HR software providers — and chose Leapsome. The organization rolled out multiple modules for goal setting, performance reviews, feedback, surveys, meetings, and learning. For a remote-first environment, this combination offered the data-driven approach and consolidation they sought.
HR Generalist Bree Brown shared that the team “approached the setup of Leapsome with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, which [Leapsome’s] Customer Success Manager Jamie did an amazing job at matching!”
Before Leapsome, Brown and her team often waited days for technical support. Now, Leapsome’s Customer Success team offers fast, hands-on assistance, and our AI-powered Success Center enables the organization to quickly address smaller questions independently.
“Our previous platform did not have a great help feature, and requesting support was a really complicated, drawn-out process. When we started working with Jamie, she was very quick with her responses, always willing to hop on a call and work through everything.
The help center is another part of Leapsome that we love because we can get smaller questions answered before having to contact our CSM.”
With proper support in place, the Guardians’ team was able to roll out Leapsome to simplify its HR processes while kicking off the remote year.
Leapsome’s Surveys module was an essential upgrade. Previously, generating a meaningful report could take up to a month — largely because extracting and cleaning data from Halogen alone required that much time.
With Leapsome, survey results were accessible instantly, and participation remained high, even in the new remote setting.
“Now, the day a survey ends, we can access all the insights we need,” Daymut explained. This streamlined approach boosts team morale and cuts administrative overhead.
Our Reviews module allowed the Guardians to create structured, customized performance evaluations, ensuring that employees and managers found the process intuitive.
“The adaptability of the Reviews module has been a great fit for us — it’s already making a difference,” Brown shared.
Under their old system, performance evaluations were difficult to manage and even harder for employees to complete. With Leapsome, admins can set up custom competencies, tailored questions, and flexible cycles to match specific organizational needs.
Instant Feedback works seamlessly alongside Reviews, fostering a culture of real-time recognition and continuous improvement.
“We’ve seen a lot of engagement and growth with Instant Feedback — some of our employees have even become super users,” said Daymut.
He emphasized how team members are now actively championing the feature across the organization. This has helped the Cleveland Guardians build a culture of continuous feedback — not just feedback during performance reviews.
With Leapsome, the Guardians’ goal-setting process went from fragmented and manual to centralized, automated, and transparent.
The Organizational Development team can now enable employees to track key results and update their goals throughout the year to maximize alignment and performance.
For many managers (particularly newer managers without formal guidance on leading effective meetings), Leapsome’s Meetings module has become a go-to tool for structured, transparent team check-ins and 1:1s.
Shared agendas and templates help create consistency — especially crucial as employees meet remotely.
The Cleveland Guardians now organize live and self-paced courses with Leapsome’s Learning module; this includes specialized resources like Spanish lessons and materials on Black History Month. It’s also a place where managers see who’s actively learning and how it impacts their performance:
According to Hajnal Eppley, the Guardians’ Learning & Development Coordinator, “new teammates can seamlessly dive into the Learning module, and managers gain a better sense of their team’s growth.”
Leapsome’s flexibility and unified design helped the Cleveland Guardians maintain connection and productivity during remote work. The result? A more connected, empowered, and data-savvy workforce.
“Leapsome has been incredibly helpful. It’s like night and day from our previous system.
I’m not a very technical person, but with all the resources and support we’ve had, it’s been a lot easier to learn the back end of Leapsome, especially for reviews.
Even the survey creation is super easy, and Leapsome made the way we collect and analyze data much more digestible.”
— Bree Brown
The team leveraged Leapsome to drive measurable improvements across its HR operations:
“With the previous system we had, we didn’t have any consistent metrics. Now, we are using eNPS to measure engagement, and Leapsome has made it much easier to evaluate our teammates’ experiences throughout this transitional year.
It’s so easy to update our engagement survey to add specific questions related to our new work model — and we can then compare it against the benchmark data Leapsome provides; that’s super helpful and also really important for our leadership team to see.”
— Nate Daymut
With a single system, employees have an easier time signing up for training, and managers have automated support in setting this up and tracking development. Brown is convinced that “a manager using all of the tools they have in Leapsome is a more effective manager.”
Daymut added that “managers can now access reporting or create Surveys on their own, wherever they are, and without lengthy back and forth,” freeing up time for the Organizational Development team.
“There’s more power for the user than there was in the previous system, and Leapsome really works well for any kind of remote or hybrid work experience.”
The Cleveland Guardians’ next step is to expand the use of Instant Feedback, refine career pathing and competencies, and tap into Leapsome’s AI capabilities for enhanced decision-making.
The team is also looking to enhance data analysis by correlating learning participation with performance outcomes, underscoring the value of professional development across the board.
The Cleveland Guardians’ journey highlights how an intuitive, people-first platform can drive engagement, efficiency, and long-term success. If you’re ready to take your performance management, feedback culture, and employee development to the next level, Leapsome is here to help.
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