Write a peer review in a peer initiated review cycle

Your company launched a review cycle that includes peer initiated reviews, and you're ready to write a peer review of your teammate. This article walks through the process of how to do so.

In peer-initiated reviews, you are in control of who you write peer reviews of. There is no approval process for peer-initiated reviews. That being said, your job as a peer is to include information about your teammate's development, including constructive feedback to help them increase performance and goal orientation.

In this article, you will learn...

• What the peer initiated review cycle process looks like
• How to complete a peer review
  • As a review cycle participant
  • As a non-review cycle participant

Peer-initiated peer review process overview 

• You select which participant(s) you would like to write a peer review
• You can start drafting up your peer review(s) anytime after selecting
• Complete your peer reviews and remember to submit by the due date (you can see the due date by opening one of your peer reviews and looking at the 'Review details' section on the left of your page)
• The peer's manager will receive a notification that you have completed a peer review
• The peer's manager will look over your peer review and may be able to remove answers they don't see as constructive
• Depending on review cycle setting, this peer's manager may or may not be able to see your identity— you can view visibility settings by opening one of your peer reviews and looking at the 'Review details' section on the left of your page
• Your peer reviews will not be shared with the peer you reviewed until their manager shares the results— this usually is the last step in the review cycle

Complete a peer review

If you are a participant in the review cycle, you can open the review cycle from within the Best-Self Review® tab and follow the steps below to initiate a peer review of another participant. If you're not a review cycle participant yourself, you will not be able to view/access the review cycle from within the Best-Self Review® tab— please continue to the following section of this article.

As a review cycle participant

1. Click on Best-Self Review® in 15Five's main, left-hand navigation.
   
2. Click on the name of the review cycle you want to write a peer review for.
   
3. At the top of the page, click to open the 'Manage peers' tab.
   
4. Select the participant(s) you'd like to write a peer review of. If the review cycle contains upward or manager reviews, your immediate manager or direct report(s), respectively, will not appear in the list of people you can write peer reviews about. Click Select peers.
   
5. To remove a person from the list of peers you are responsible for reviewing, click '...' to the right of their name and select 'Remove' from the dropdown menu.
   
6. To open a peer review, click '...' to the right of the peer's name and select 'View' from the dropdown menu. Alternatively, open the review cycle and click 'Write reviews' at the top of the page.
   
   From here, you can see a list of all reviews you're responsible for writing. Simply click on the person's name to open their review.
   
7. Write your peer review(s) and Submit when complete.
   
8. For more information on visibility and due date of the peer review, see the 'Review details' section on the left of your page.
   

As a non-review cycle participant

If you're not a participant in a review cycle that includes peer-initiated reviews, you won't see the review cycle in your Best-Self Review® tab of your account— but you still have the option to write peer reviews about the participants. Follow the steps below.

1. Go to your 15Five homepage and find the peer review alert under your "To-dos." Click Go to cycle.
   
2. Select the participant(s) you'd like to write a peer review of. If the review cycle contains upward or manager reviews, your immediate manager or direct report(s), respectively, they will not appear in the list of people you can write peer reviews about. Click Select peers.
   
3. To remove a person from the list of peers you are responsible for reviewing, click '...' to the right of their name and select 'Remove' from the dropdown menu.
   
4. To open a peer review, click '...' to the right of the peer's name and select 'View' from the dropdown menu. Alternatively, open the review cycle and click 'Write reviews' at the top of the page.
   
   From here, you can see a list of all reviews you're responsible for writing. Simply click on the person's name to open their review.
   
5. Write your peer review(s) and Submit when complete.
   
6. For more information on visibility and due date of the peer review, see the 'Review details' section on the left of your page.