Update managers during an active review cycle

We understand that manager changes happen. But when they happen during an active Best-Self Review® cycle, there are potential implications. This article walks through how making manager changes during an active review cycle may impact the review cycle, as well as alternate options you can utilize to manage managers during an active review cycle.

In this article, you will learn...

Options for customizing managers and managing visibility in review cycles
How direct manager changes in 15Five impact review cycles

Access and availability

⛔️ Required access to Best-Self Review®.
👥 This article is relevant to all roles.
📦 This feature is available in the Perform and Total Platform pricing packages.

Managers in 15Five: Explained

Direct manager: Set in employee account settings. Responsible for day-to-day work, reviewing Check-ins, holding 1-on-1s, and viewing feedback.
Manager review author: Oversees an employee’s review experience—writes the manager review, manages peers, shares/finalizes results, and holds the final results meeting. Has full visibility into results.

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Note

By default, an employee’s direct manager is also their manager review author in review cycles. Review admins and cycle collaborators can update this if needed.

Options for customizing managers and manager visibility in review cycles

By default, if a change is made to a person's direct manager in 15Five during an active review cycle, their manager in the review cycle will be updated to the new manager. The impacts of this change are covered in the How direct manager changes impact review cycles section of this article.

Other options for customization:

Change only the manager review author

If you need to change a person’s manager for a review cycle but keep their direct manager the same (e.g., if the direct manager is on leave), a Review admin or Cycle collaborator can update this in the participant’s Edit Individual Review Settings page. This change won’t affect other areas of 15Five.

Add additional managers

If more than one person should write a manager review, you can add that person as an additional manager. Additional managers are people other than a review cycle participant's direct manager who can write a manager review about them.

You can add 1 default additional manager and up to 5 cycle-specific additional managers per participant.
Additional managers’ feedback is included in calibration sessions and can count toward performance ratings.
Default additional managers can also see all past reviews of the person they’re assigned to (if enabled in Best-Self Review® feature settings).

Add a review viewer

If someone needs read-only visibility into a participant’s results, an Account admin, Review admin, or Cycle collaborator can add them as a review viewer.

Grant managers visibility into past review results

By default, direct managers only see results from cycles they participated in as review authors. To grant visibility into all past reviews for their direct reports, an Account admin can enable the setting in Best-Self Review® > Visibility settings.

Allow non-managers to share and finalize results

By default, Review admins, Cycle collaborators, and manager review authors can share/finalize results. If additional people need this ability, a Review admin or Cycle collaborator can add them in Edit Individual Review Settings.

Prevent manager changes from affecting review cycles

Suppose you're making changes to employees' direct managers during an active review cycle, but want the previous managers to remain responsible for overseeing those employees' review cycle experiences. If you don’t want direct manager changes in 15Five to affect active review cycles, an Account admin can disable Automatic manager updates in active cycle in the Best-Self Review® feature settings.

How direct manager changes impact review cycles

These scenarios apply if Automatic manager updates in active cycle setting is enabled in your company's Best-Self Review® feature settings.

Changes before a review cycle launches

If a manager is updated before the cycle begins, the new manager will serve as the review manager for the employee in that cycle.

Changes during an active review cycle

The new manager immediately takes over responsibility for the employee’s review process. This includes visibility into submitted reviews and the ability to share and finalize results. The previous manager loses access unless added as a review viewer.

Upward reviews

If an upward review of the previous manager was already submitted, it remains part of their results.
If the upward review was not yet submitted, the employee will not be prompted to complete one by default. An admin or cycle collaborator can manually assign it if needed.

Manager reviews

If the previous manager submitted a manager review, it remains in the system. The new manager finalizes the results.
If the previous manager drafted a review, the draft is deleted once the new manager takes over. Drafts should be saved externally if needed before changes are made.
If no review was started, the new manager is prompted to write the employee’s manager review.

Changes after a review cycle ends

By default, a new manager does not have visibility into past review results for cycles completed before they became the manager.
The previous manager can still complete pending actions, such as submitting or finalizing results, until the cycle is locked.
To give the new manager visibility into past results, either assign them as a review viewer or enable Visibility into all past reviews in feature settings.