👥 Review admins and cycle collaborators can see PMA results of all review cycle participants. Managers can see PMA results of their direct reports. If hierarchy visibility is enabled in the review cycle, skip level managers can see PMA results for everyone in their hierarchy.
The private manager assessment is a set of questions that appears in the manager reviews of Best-Self Review® cycles. In this section of the manager review, managers answer future-focused questions about their direct reports.
Review admins, cycle collaborators, and managers can run reports on how managers answered private manager assessment questions (to differing degrees) so you can better understand performance across your team or company. When combined with Objectives, Competencies, and Company values, this information can be valuable for holistically understanding performance for each person in your company. This information can also be valuable for managers as they prepare to hold final meetings with their teams.
In this article, you will learn...
- What is the Private Manager Assessment?
- How to access private manager assessment reporting
- What downloads are available in private manager assessment reporting
- How to use the private manager assessment reporting section
- How to use the question details page
Tip
In addition to private manager assessment reporting, you can analyze PMA results using the talent matrix. 15Five's Talent Matrix is a visualization tool within Best-Self Review® that's used alongside the Private Manager Assessment to help HR teams and managers easily identify high and low performers.
What is the Private Manager Assessment?
The Private Manager Assessment is a section in manager reviews that includes five future-focused questions inspired by research from Deloitte and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review article, Reinventing Performance Management. These questions help reduce bias and can help managers more objectively assess performance and promotion readiness over time.
The questions are:
- [Name] is ready for a promotion today. (Strongly disagree - Strongly agree)
- [Name] is at risk for low performance. (Strongly disagree - Strongly agree)
- Given what I know of [Name]’s current performance, and if it were my money, I would award them the highest possible increase and bonus. (Strongly disagree - Strongly agree)
- Given how well I know [Name] works with others, I would always want them on my team. (Strongly disagree - Strongly agree)
- Given what I know of [Name]’s performance, if [Name] got a job offer somewhere else, I would feel: (Relieved, Accepting, Neutral, Anxious, Distressed)
Humans are naturally biased and poor at developing accurate and objective assessments of performance. Most assessments of performance, especially in the form of ratings, reveal more about the rater than the actual performance of the person being rated – this is known as idiosyncratic rater bias. Although managers rate other people’s skills inconsistently, they’re highly consistent when rating their own feelings and intentions. To reduce the idiosyncratic rater bias, the Deloitte-inspired questions ask managers what they would do with each team member rather than what they think of that individual.
With The Private Manager Assessment, managers are able to ground their answers in as many objective measures of behaviors and results as possible to ensure a more objective and fair assessment of performance over time.
Access private manager assessment reporting
Note
Private manager assessments can be edited by managers up until they share review results with their direct reports. If calibrations are included in the cycle, submitted private manager assessment answers are editable up until the manager reviews due date has passed. After which, calibration sessions (if applicable) will begin and any desired changes should be made within calibration sessions. Keep these two things in mind when pulling reports, as answers may change from when you first pull a report vs. when the cycle has ended and is ready to be locked.
- Click on Best-Self Review® in the left navigation of 15Five.
- Click on the name of the review cycle you wish to view to open it.
- If you don't have an administrative role in the review cycle, click into the 'Team's results' tab. It is at the top of your page, to the right of Overview, Peer nominations, etc.
If you have an administrative role in the review cycle, click into the 'Company's results' tab. - You'll land on the 'Summary' tab of review results. From here, scroll down to the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' section.
- To open the question details page for any given question, click ... to the right of the question and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu.
Available downloads
Summary page
- Private manager assessment results: Includes the distribution of answers given to private manager assessment questions about participants that match selected filters. Allows you to see how many people fall into each private manager assessment rating for each question in the assessment.
- To download this report, click Download next to 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' on the results summary page.
- Columns included in this download: Question number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
- Participant-specific data isn't included in this download. It is an overview of all private manager assessment responses. Keep in mind that private manager assessment answers can change due to manager edits or calibration sessions. You may need to re-run your download once all changes are final.
- Private manager assessment question-specific results: Includes how the question was answered for each participant included in the download, as well as other cycle-specific performance data for participants.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table and select 'Download all answers as CSV/XLSX' from the dropdown menu.
- Columns included in this download: First name, Last name, Is group admin for, Manager first name, Manager last name, Respondent first name, Respondent last name, Review type, Question, Question visibility, Question group names, Answer, Optional text answer, Date submitted, Review cycle name, Section type, Rating
Question details page
- Answer distribution report: Allows you to see what number of participants received each answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the answer distribution table.
- Columns included in this download: Question number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
- Answer distribution/participant view report: Includes a list of all participants that received a specific answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Date answered
- Compare groups report: Allows you to see how many people within each group on the compare groups chart received each answer to the PMA question. This download changes based on the filters chosen on the 'Compare groups' tab.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Compare groups' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the compare groups table.
- Columns included in this download: Group/Manager name ,Group/Manager ID, Group/Manager number, Question text, Question type, Review cycles, Review cycles count, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
- Compare groups/participant view report: Includes a list of all participants that received a specific answer to a PMA question.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Compare groups' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Date answered
- Trends over time report: Allows you to see how answer distribution changed for the question across selected cycles.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Trends over time' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the trends over time table.
- Columns included in this download: Review cycle, Review cycle ID, Review cycle count, Review cycle start date, Review cycle end date, Question text, Question type, Number of options, Question number of responses, Option value, Option count
- Trends over time/participant view report: Shows each participant and the answer they received to the PMA question across selected review cycles.
- To download this report, click ... next to any question in the 'Team/Company's private manager assessment results' table of the results summary tab and select 'View all answers' from the dropdown menu. Then, open the 'Trends over time' tab and click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the individuals table.
- Columns included in this download: Participant, Review writer, Review type, Answer, Review cycle, Comment, Date answered
Use the private manager assessment reporting section
The private manager assessment section of the results summary helps you understand how managers assessed their direct report(s) at a high level.
People filter
If desired, use the people filter at the top of the results summary page to dig into specific people's assessment results or members of a group's assessment results. If you want to view results for all participants whose review results you have permission to view, leave the filter alone.
For example: If you wanted to know how Carmen Velasco's manager answered these questions about Carmen, you would filter by Carmen Velasco. If you wanted to know how members of the New Hires group (who were also participants) performed in the private manager assessment, you would filter by the New Hires group.
Results table
The results table allows you to visualize the distribution of PMA answers for review cycle participants.
- All default PMA questions appear with red (representing negative answers), green (representing positive answers), and gray (representing neutral answers) bars, allowing you to easily visualize how these questions were answered by managers. If you customized the private manager assessment questions for the question template being used, those results will all appear in a neutral blue instead of the red/green variation— reason being, we are unable to determine what is "positive" and what is "negative" for custom private manager assessment questions.
- Hover over a distribution chart to get additional insight into how many people submitted a given answer.
- Click ... to the right of a question and click 'Download all answers as CSV/XLSX' to download the Private manager assessment question-specific results report, which allows you to see how the question was answered for each participant included in the download.
- Click ... to the right of a question and select 'View all answers' to open the question details page (see the next section of this article for more information about how to use this page).
Use the question details page
The question details page allows you to zone in on stats for a specific PMA question. There are three tabs on the question details page: Answer distribution, Compare groups, and Trends over time.
- The 'Answer distribution' tab provides insight into a specific question as well as how direct managers responded to this question by % and per participant.
- The 'Compare groups' tab helps you break down private manager assessment answers written about users in a certain group(s), how groups compare to other groups, and how groups compare to all participants. Ultimately, the 'Compare groups' tab allows you to dig in to which groups are falling behind or leading the pack in regards to each private manager assessment question.
- The 'Trends over time' tab gives you a look into how each question is being answered from review cycle to review cycle. Use this tab to help spot trends for a specific private manager assessment question and better understand how manager sentiment is trending.
Across every tab, there are two static sections: the question header and filtering options.
Question header
The question header includes the text of the question, how many participants were asked that question, and what type of question it was (Text, Yes/No, Opinion scale, or Multiple Choice). You can also use the dropdown menu to open the question details page for a different PMA question.
Filter options
Before walking through each tab, it is important to note the filters: Groups, Review cycles, Answer.
- Use the Groups filter to only view private manager assessment answers for certain groups/hierarchies.
- Use the Review cycles filter to select one or more cycle, giving you a list of all private manager assessment answers for all of the selected cycles. This allows you to review answers from more than one cycle at a time.
- Use the Answer filter to see only the reviews whose answer matches your selection. For example: I only want to see people who are "ready for promotion", so I filter by 'Yes'.
'Answer distribution' tab
The 'Answer distribution' tab provides insight into a specific question, how direct managers responded to this question by % and per participant, as well as download options.
Distribution chart
The top section of the page shows what percentage of answer fell into each answer category.
- Click on one of the answer options to filter the 'Individuals' table below to show only people who received that answer.
- Click Download in the top, right-hand corner of the distribution chart to download the Answer distribution report, which allows you to see what number of participants received each answer to a PMA question.
Individuals table
The individuals table shows you a list of the participants that a PMA question was answered about. If you filter the chart by clicking on a specific answer in the distribution table, the chart will only show participants that received that specific answer.
- Click Download to download the Answer distribution/participant view report, which includes a list of all participants that received a specific answer to a PMA question.
'Compare groups' tab
The 'Compare groups' tab helps you break down private manager assessment answers written about users in a certain group(s), how groups compare to other groups, and how groups compare to all participants. Ultimately, the Compare groups tab allows you to dig in to which groups are falling behind or leading the pack in regards to each private manager assessment question.
Filters
- Use the Groups, Review cycles, and Answers filters at the top of the page to make your 'Compare groups' chart easier to digest. The chart shows horizontal bars indicating the distribution of answers for each group. By default, all groups that have at least one member participating in a review cycle will be shown on the chart, but information can be manipulated using 'Groups' filter. The layout of the chart changes based on the type of question being viewed: multiple choice, yes/no, opinion scale, etc.
- Use the 'View by' option to switch up the y-axis to show Managers, Hierarchies, or Group types.
- Use the 'Sort by' option to sort the x-axis either alphabetically, from negative > positive results, or from positive > negative results.
- Click Download to download the Compare groups report, which allows you to see how many people within each group on the compare groups chart received each answer to the PMA question.
Compare groups chart
The compare groups chart shows what percentage of the group in the y-axis received each answer option to the PMA question. At the top, it shows what percentage of all review cycle participants that you have permission to view results for received each answer option to the PMA question.
- All default PMA questions appear with red (representing negative answers), green (representing positive answers), and gray (representing neutral answers) bars, allowing you to easily visualize how these questions were answered by managers. If you customized the private manager assessment questions for the question template being used, those results will all appear in a neutral blue instead of the red/green variation— reason being, we are unable to determine what is "positive" and what is "negative" for custom private manager assessment questions.
- Hover over a color to get additional insight into how many people received that answer.
Individuals table
Last but not least, there is an Individuals list below the chart that includes all participants included in your selected group(s) and how their managers answered the question at hand.
- Use the arrows next to any column header to sort alphabetically ascending or descending.
- Click Download to download the Compare groups/participant view report, which includes a list of all participants that received a specific answer to a PMA question.
Use cases
- 'Compare groups' example #1: You want a high-level look at how each group performed in regards to the question "Given how well I know [Name] works with others, I would always want them on my team". Click on the 'Compare groups' tab and you will see a list of all groups/teams/departments/etc whose members were included in the review cycle. Additionally, you will see how these group members' managers felt about their performance and teamwork. In the above screenshot, Marketing and Product Marketing group members who participated in the cycle scored at 100%; all group members who participated in the cycle are great team players and are valuable to the group, according to their managers. That is amazing!!! What is the secret to success on these teams? On the flip side, 33% of people from the Sales group who participated in the cycle scored low in the "working well with others" question. Why is that? Do you notice similar group trends across other questions as well?
- 'Compare groups' example #2: Let's say you have a group called "San Francisco Office" that includes all employees in one of your organization's offices. You can select that group using the 'Groups' filter on the answer distribution tab to see how San Francisco Office group members performed on a question. But in addition to showing you the overall answer distribution for that group, the 'Compare groups' chart will include all other groups that members of the San Fransisco Office group are in, so you can see which subsections of the group are performing differently. Do review cycle participants who are in both the San Francisco Office and Marketing groups score higher than those in both the San Francisco Office and Revenue Organization? Use the sort by option to see both ends of the spectrum of answers. Last, you can scroll down to the 'Individuals' list and see how each group member's manager answered the question.
- 'Compare groups' example #3: Your company has completed a few Best-Self Review cycles this year and you're ready to look at private manager assessment results from all three. When you include one review cycle only in the 'Review cycles' filter, how are groups performing? Do you have groups leading the pack across all three cycles or did that group have high scores on one cycle that skewed the data for all three cycles? How did these groups perform on their objectives which covered similar time frames? How about 15Five submissions and review rates? Some questions to be thinking about as you digest the private manager assessment answers and specifically the 'Compare groups' tab.
'Trends over time' tab
The Trends over time tab gives you a look into how each question is being answered from review cycle to review cycle. Use this tab to help spot trends for a specific private manager assessment question and better understand how manager sentiment is trending.
Filters
- To view trends over time, first select more than one review cycle using the 'Review cycles' dropdown. To pull company-wide trends, you must be a review admin or cycle collaborator for all review cycles you select.
- If you want to view trends over time for a specific group or only a few groups, use the 'Groups' filter. You can filter by answer if you want to view "Yes", "No", etc answers only. You can also click directly on the graph to filter by a specific answer. The 'Individuals' list below will update accordingly.
Trends over time chart
- Each review cycle being shown will be notated on the graph using a line with a point at the top (it looks like a pin). Hover over the point at the top to see overall % stats for each cycle.
- The dates at the bottom of the graph are pulled from the cycle end date.
- Click Download to download the Trends over time report, which allows you to see how answer distribution changed for the question across selected cycles.
Individuals table
The Individuals list below the chart will show all people who participated in any of the selected cycles and their manager answered the question for each cycle. In other words, some individuals will have multiple rows of data if they participated in multiple of the selected review cycles.
- Use the arrows next to any column header to sort alphabetically ascending or descending.
- Click Download to download the Trends over time/participant view report, which shows each participant and the answer they received to the PMA question across selected review cycles.
Related articles 📖
Once you're done analyzing results in the Private manager assessment section, you can continue to other sections to analyze results in different ways.
- Help Center article 💡: Analyze review results: Competency assessment reporting
- Help Center article 💡: Analyze review results: Talent matrix reporting
- Help Center article 💡: Analyze review results: Questions & Answers reporting
- Help Center article 💡: Analyze review results: Performance Ratings+ reporting