Managers are the #1 driver of employee engagement, performance, and retention. 15Five’s Manager Effectiveness Indicator (MEI) provides a clear, data-driven view of how managers are performing across core manager effectiveness competencies. With MEI reporting, you can see which managers are excelling, who may need targeted development, and which skills to prioritize—so you can take strategic, informed action to strengthen manager performance at scale.
This article contains the following sections...
- Manager Effectiveness Indicator Overview 🌐
- How MEI is Measured 📈
- MEI Reporting Elements 📊
- Related Articles 📖
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to the HR Outcomes Dashboard.
👥 This article is relevant to roles and individuals assigned access to the Outcomes Dashboard.
📦 This feature is available in the Total Platform pricing package.
MEI Overview 🌐
The Manager Effectiveness Indicator (MEI) is a dynamic score that reflects how effectively managers demonstrate key leadership competencies. Calculated using data from manager effectiveness assessments, the MEI offers a consistent, data-driven way to evaluate leadership performance, identify skill gaps, and guide development efforts at scale.
You can view your organization's MEI and explore detailed scores for individual managers in MEI Reporting on the HR Outcomes Dashboard. This reporting helps you understand how managers are doing overall, where targeted support may be needed, and which leadership behaviors to focus on for improvement.
Roles and Visibility 👥
By default, Account Admins and HR Admins can view and interact with the HR Outcomes Dashboard, including access to the MEI. In configuration settings (in-app link), you can remove access for these roles or grant access to specific individuals. Learn how to control access to the HR Outcomes Dashboard →
How MEI is Measured 📈
MEI is based on how consistently managers demonstrate eight core Manager Effectiveness competencies. These competencies reflect the everyday behaviors, habits, and skills that drive high performance, strong engagement, and team success. They are:
- Managing Oneself
- Demonstrating Business Acumen
- Setting Goals
- Enabling Productivity
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Influencing Others
- Supporting Career Growth
- Building Strong Teams
Read more about the Manager Effectiveness competencies →
Where the Data Comes From
MEI is calculated using feedback on these competencies, gathered from either Manager Effectiveness review cycles or engagement surveys.
In these structured reviews, managers are evaluated by themselves (self review), their direct reports (upward review), and/or their own managers (manager review).
Each reviewer rates how frequently the manager demonstrates each of the eight competencies using a five-point Likert scale (from Always Demonstrates to Never Demonstrates), with optional written feedback for each question.
These cycles can be run independently or as part of a broader performance review. Learn how to run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle →
These surveys collect anonymous feedback from employees about their direct manager. It includes eight statements—each tied to a key competency—that respondents rate on a five-point scale. (from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree):
- I understand what is expected of me at work. (Setting Goals)
- My manager contributes to my productivity. (Enabling Productivity)
- My manager frequently provides feedback that helps me improve my performance. (Giving & Receiving Feedback)
- My manager effectively directs our people and resources toward our most important priorities. (Demonstrating Business Acumen)
- My manager positively influences others and our culture. (Influencing Others)
- My manager effectively balances doing work, delegating work, coaching, and influencing others. (Managing Oneself)
- My manager actively supports my career growth and development. (Supporting Career Growth)
- My manager values my opinions. (Building Strong Teams)
Manager Effectiveness engagement surveys can be launched on their own or integrated into a larger engagement campaign. Learn how to run a Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey →
Note
To protect the confidentiality of survey participants, there is a reporting minimum of at least 5 responses required to generate a value from the Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey for MEI scoring.
Note
If your organization hasn’t run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle or Engagement Survey, your MEI may still be calculated using historical 15Five platform usage data (e.g., Check-ins, High Fives, 1-on-1s). This fallback method is temporary and will be phased out in a future update. To ensure your MEI reflects real-world manager behaviors and competencies, we recommend running a Manager Effectiveness assessment.
Configure MEI Scoring
In MEI settings (in-app link), you can control how much weight each type of assessment—Manager Effectiveness review cycles and engagement surveys—contributes to the overall MEI score. This allows you to align the metric with your company’s feedback culture and cadence. Learn how to configure MEI →
MEI Reporting Elements 📊
MEI Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard (Outcomes Dashboard > Manager Effectiveness > ME Indicator) makes it easy to interpret your data.
It includes:
- Overall MEI Score: Your org’s current average score, out of 100.
- Trend Chart: Shows changes in MEI over time.
- Competency Highlights: View which competencies are strongest or need improvement.
- MEI Breakdown: Visualizes how many managers fall into each scoring range.
- Manager Heatmap: See how individual managers score across all eight competencies.
- List/Org Chart View: Toggle to see effectiveness by MEI factor or reporting structure.
This holistic view helps you prioritize where to invest in manager support and development. Check out our "Measure Manager Effectiveness Using the HR Outcomes Dashboard" article for a deep dive into these reporting elements.
Related Articles 📖
- HR Outcomes Dashboard: Feature Overview
- Measure Manager Effectiveness Using the HR Outcomes Dashboard
- Control Who Can Access the HR Outcomes Dashboard
- Configure the Manager Effectiveness Indicator
- What are 15Five's Manager Effectiveness Competencies?
- Run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle
- Run a Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
The MEI is measured by combining feedback from two sources: Manager Effectiveness Review Cycles and Manager Effectiveness Engagement Surveys. Both assessments evaluate how consistently a manager demonstrates the eight Manager Effectiveness competencies.
You can configure how much each source contributes to the overall MEI score in your settings, allowing you to align measurement with your organization’s feedback approach. The final MEI score is displayed as a number out of 100.
Help Center article 💡: Configure the Manager Effectiveness Indicator
If your organization hasn’t yet run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle or Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey, your MEI score may still be calculated using historical 15Five platform usage data (e.g., Check-ins, High Fives, 1-on-1s). This approach was part of an earlier version of MEI.
To unlock more accurate, actionable MEI data, we recommend running a Manager Effectiveness assessment. This will shift your MEI to reflect your managers’ performance in key leadership competencies like goal-setting, feedback, and career development.
- Help Center article 💡: Run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle
- Help Center article 💡: Run a Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey
Note
We’re phasing out platform usage as a factor in MEI. In an upcoming update, MEI will be based solely on manager effectiveness assessments—ensuring the score reflects real-world manager behaviors and competencies, not just tool adoption.
If you don’t see the Manager Effectiveness Indicator (MEI) in your account, it could be due to one of the following reasons:
- You don’t have access to the HR Outcomes Dashboard. MEI is housed within the Outcomes Dashboard, so you’ll need to be granted access by an Account Admin.
- Your organization isn’t on the Total Platform package. MEI is only available to customers on 15Five’s Total Platform plan.
- The Manager Effectiveness feature is turned off. The “Manager Effectiveness” setting may be disabled in your company’s Feature Overview settings (in-app link). An Account Admin can enable it.
If you believe you should have access, we recommend reaching out to an Account Admin to check your role permissions and feature settings.
MEI updates automatically based on the most recent data from surveys and reviews. If scores appear stale, consider launching a new review cycle or survey to refresh the data.
- Help Center article 💡: Run a Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle
- Help Center article 💡: Run a Manager Effectiveness Engagement Survey