This article walks through how to change a person's manager in 15Five. Within the 15Five platform, managers are responsible for things like reviewing Check-ins, holding 1-on-1s, reviewing engagement survey results for their teams, monitoring objectives, supporting their direct report(s) in Best-Self Review® cycles, and more.
In this article, you will learn...
- How to change a person's manager
- Why can't I select someone as a manager?
- What happens after a manager change?
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to the "Manage people" page.
👥 This article is relevant to Account admins and Managers.
📦 This capability is available in all pricing packages.
Note
Account admins can change a person's direct manager. A person's current manager can change their manager if the new manager is in their hierarchy.
How to change a person's manager
There are two ways to perform manager changes. One is individually, through the employee's account settings. The other is using a bulk action on the "Manage People" page.
Note
If your company uses an integration to sync managers to 15Five, please make manager changes in your Identify Provider or HRIS software, rather than in 15Five. Otherwise, any changes you make to a person's manager will revert upon the next sync.
- Click on the Settings gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five.
- Select 'People' from the dropdown menu.
- You'll land on the 'Manage people' page. From here, use the filters or search bar at the top of the page to search for the person whose settings you want to edit.
- Click a person's name to open their account settings page.
- Scroll down to the person's 'Account settings' section and click on the drop-down arrow below Direct Manager. Select the new direct manager from the drop-down list.
- Save your changes.
- Click on the Settings gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five.
- Select 'People' from the dropdown menu.
- You're now on the "Manage people" page. From here, use the "Search for teammate" textbox or "Filter by" dropdown menu to find the people you want to take bulk actions with.
- Check the box to the left of everyone's name whose direct manager you want to update.
- Click Actions at the top of the page and select "Change reviewer" from the dropdown menu.
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Select the manager you want to reassign the individuals to and click Change reviewer.
- Your changes will be applied immediately.
Why can’t I select someone as a manager?
To keep reporting relationships accurate, 15Five prevents reporting loops and invalid hierarchies.
You won’t be able to assign someone as a manager if:
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They already report (directly or indirectly) to the person you’re updating
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They are lower in the reporting hierarchy than the person they would manage
These safeguards help ensure clean reporting lines and accurate manager visibility across 15Five.
What happens after a manager change?
Changing a person’s manager affects visibility across several areas of 15Five. Below is a breakdown of what past managers and new managers can see in each feature.
Check-ins
Past managers
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Can view Check-ins submitted while they were the direct manager
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Don’t see new Check-ins unless they have visibility through another permission (for example, group visibility or drill-down access)
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Retain access to private comments made while they were the manager
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Never see private High Fives
New managers
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Automatically gain access to past Check-ins for their new direct reports
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Don’t see private comments that were made to the previous manager
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Never see private High Fives
If access to past Check-ins should be restricted, Contact Us for help.
1-on-1s
Past managers
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Can view 1-on-1s that occurred while they were the direct manager
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Lose access to new 1-on-1 agendas after the manager change
New managers
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Own all new 1-on-1 agendas going forward
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Don’t have access to past 1-on-1s unless those were shared directly with them
1-on-1s are always private between the two participants.
Objectives
Past managers
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Retain visibility into private objectives created while they were the direct manager
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May lose access if the objective owner updates visibility settings
New managers
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Automatically gain visibility into their direct report’s private objectives
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Always retain access to private objectives for their current direct reports
Best-Self Review®
A person’s direct manager is the default manager in Best-Self Review® cycles. If you'd prefer for someone besides a person's direct manager to serve as their manager in a review cycle, you can set that up by following the steps in our "Change manager review author" Help Center article.
Past managers
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Can view results from review cycles that occurred while they were the manager
New managers
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Can view only the review cycles where they are assigned as manager
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Don’t automatically gain access to past review cycles unless your organization enables this setting in Best-Self Review®
Additional visibility can be granted by assigning review viewers at the cycle level or globally.
Request Feedback and Given Feedback
Past managers
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Retain access only to feedback that was explicitly shared with them
New managers
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Don’t automatically gain access to past feedback results
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Can view feedback only if the direct report chooses to share it with them
Career Hub
Past managers
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Lose access to their former direct report’s Career Hub when the manager changes
New managers
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Gain immediate access to the Career Hub
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May see limited information until the direct report shares their Role Clarity or Career Vision
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See Strengths updates automatically as they’re made