Getting More Out of Small Improvements with MCP

Small Improvements now connects to the other tools you already use, through MCP. On its own, that connection lets you ask questions about your Reviews, Objectives, and Praise data, through Claude or Slack, instead of exporting a spreadsheet.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a connection that lets AI tools like Claude read data from Small Improvements, and from any other tool you’ve connected the same way, when you ask them to. Once it’s set up, you can type a question in plain language and get an answer pulled from your live data, across systems, without switching tabs or building a report first.

It’s read-only. It surfaces what’s already there, it doesn’t create Cycles, send Reviews, or change any settings in Small Improvements or elsewhere. If you want to act on what you find, you’ll still do that inside the tool itself.

HR admins sit at the intersection of more systems than anyone else on the team. Here’s where connecting Small Improvements to what you already use tends to pay off.

• Small Improvements + your LMS, for training needs. Ask which teams or individuals are showing consistent skill gaps in Reviews, then cross-reference against what training they’ve actually completed. It’s a fast way to turn Review feedback into a concrete training plan, instead of leaving it as a comment no one revisits.
• Small Improvements + your ATS, for a feedback loop on hiring. Ask how a recent hire’s Review data compares to what came up during the hiring process, strengths that were flagged, concerns that were raised, the reasons they were hired in the first place. It’s one of the few ways to actually check whether your hiring signals are holding up.
• Small Improvements + your HRIS, for calibration and compensation. Bring Review ratings, Objectives outcomes, and compensation data into the same conversation. Ask for a summary of rating distribution against compensation band by team, so calibration and comp discussions are grounded in the same data set instead of two separate exports.
• Board and leadership updates. When leadership asks for a quick read on how performance management is going, you can pull in signals across the platform, at scale. For example: how are people performing in their Reviews when they are not hitting their Objectives.

A good way to start: pick one pairing that answers a question you’re already asking manually, once a quarter or once a Cycle, and see if you can get the same answer through the MCP connection instead.

Managers usually don’t need company-wide data. They need a fast, accurate read on their own team, right before a 1:1 Meeting or a Review deadline, ideally without having to check three different tools first.

• Small Improvements + your LMS, for training that actually matches the gap. Ask what training needs came up in a direct report’s last Review, then check what courses in your LMS would actually close that gap. It turns a Review comment like “could grow in stakeholder communication” into an actual next step.
• Small Improvements + your project or work tool, for Review and 1:1 prep grounded in real output. Ask what a direct report has actually shipped or closed out recently, and put it next to what’s coming up in their Review or their Objectives. It’s a good way to walk into a Review with specifics instead of relying on memory, and to catch cases where the story in the tracker doesn’t match the story in the Review.
• Small Improvements on its own, for spotting trends across your team. You don’t always need a second tool. Ask what’s trending up or down across your team, in Praise, Objectives progress, or Review Cycle Insights, to catch a shift before it becomes a bigger conversation.
• Small Improvements + Slack or Teams, for richer prep and follow-through. Pull recent conversation context ahead of a 1:1 Meeting or Review, or check who on your team has been publicly recognized lately and who hasn’t. It’s a light way to make sure updates aren’t just happening in Small Improvements but is also showing up where your team actually spends their day.

The goal isn’t to replace the conversations you have with your team, it’s to walk into them with better information. The MCP connection works best as prep, not as a substitute for actually talking to your people.

1. Confirm the MCP connection is enabled for your organization, and check which other tools have been connected alongside Small Improvements. Your HR admin or IT team will have set this up; if you’re not sure what’s connected, ask before assuming a pairing is live.
2. Connect your tool of choice, Claude, Slack, or Teams, following the setup steps in the Help Center.
3. Start with one question you already ask regularly, ideally one that currently takes pulling data from two places. Getting a fast, accurate answer to something familiar is the easiest way to build trust in the connection before relying on it for anything new.
4. Keep asking in plain language. You don’t need special syntax, just describe what you’re looking for the way you’d describe it to a colleague.

• The connection only surfaces data you already have permission to see, in Small Improvements and in any connected tool. It doesn’t expand anyone’s access.
• Treat answers as a starting point, not a final word. If something looks off or unexpected, check it against the source tool directly before acting on it.
• This is a query tool, not an action tool. Any changes, like updating an Objective, submitting a Review, or enrolling someone in a course, still happen inside the tool itself.