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Implement and Launch 15Five

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Ashlyn Lanaville

Rolling out 15Five successfully involves two key stages:

  1. Implementation – setting up your account, customizing settings, and preparing your leaders.

  2. Launch – introducing 15Five to your organization in a way that builds excitement and long-term adoption.

This guide walks you through both stages so your rollout is smooth, engaging, and effective.

Part 1: Implementation

Step 1: Define your goals

Before diving in, clarify what success looks like for your organization. Common goals include:

  • Increasing manager–employee connection

  • Driving engagement and performance

  • Streamlining performance reviews

Step 2: Determine what features you want to start with:

Check-ins

1-on-1s

High Fives

Feedback

Best Self Review®

Objectives

Engage

Career Hub

✏️

Note

The features you have access to depend on the 15Five plan your organization purchased. See our features offered here.

Step 3: Plan your launch

There’s no one-size-fits-all launch—choose the approach that best fits your organization’s culture and readiness.

Option 1: Early adopters approach
Roll out 15Five in phases, often by hierarchy (HR and executives first, then managers, then employees), department (Sales, HR, Engineering), or geography (NY office, then LA office).
👉 Best for companies that are new to continuous performance management.

Option 2: Company-wide approach
All employees start using 15Five at once.
👉 Best for organizations that already have a strong culture of performance management, or for smaller HR teams that prefer one big launch vs. multiple smaller rollouts.

Option 3: Blended approach
Roll out certain features (like Check-ins) to everyone immediately, then add features such as Objectives or Best-Self Review® over time.
👉 Best for companies taking a flexible, “meet you where you are” approach. Pilot groups and internal champions can make this transition smoother.

As you prepare to launch, make sure you and your employees are aligned on:

  • Why are we using 15Five?

  • How will this help us do our jobs?

  • How are we preparing for this new platform?

Step 4: Get tactical (configure, integrate, and prepare)

1. Configure the basics of 15Five
Most successful customers start by enabling core Continuous Performance Management features:

  • Check-ins

  • 1-on-1s

  • High Fives

  • Feedback

  • Best-Self Kickoffs

🔗 Helpful resources:

Configure Company Settings

Add additional company administrators

Role-based permissions in 15Five

Configure Smart Groups

Add groups and group types

Customize Check-in questions

Encourage Best-Self Kickoffs

2. Set up integrations

Integrations make 15Five easier to access and manage. Choose the ones that best fit your company’s tech stack. See the full list of integrations.

  • Single Sign-On (SSO) → Allow employees to log in securely with their existing credentials.
    👉 Set up SSO (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace)

  • HRIS connector → Sync employee data from your HR system automatically.
    👉 Connect your HRIS (BambooHR, Rippling, ADP, Workday, etc.)

  • Kona → AI-powered coaching assistant that joins 1-on-1s, captures notes, and delivers personalized, behavior-based feedback from 15Five data—helping managers grow and lead more effectively without adding to their workload.

  • Messaging tools → Bring 15Five into daily workflows.
    👉 Slack integration | Microsoft Teams

  • OKR integrations → Keep Objectives current by syncing with tools your teams already use.
    👉 Jira Cloud | Salesforce

Step 4: Train your managers (optional but recommended)

Before launch, ensure managers know how to review Check-ins, hold 1-on-1s in 15Five, and encourage employee adoption.
👉 Link to Manager basics.

Step 5: Pilot test (optional but recommended)

Run a small pilot with a few managers and employees to:

  • Collect feedback

  • Adjust settings or communication plans

  • Build internal champions

Part 2: Launching to Your Team

Step 1: Confirm invite email content

Keep the system invite short and save details for a company‑wide announcement.

Step 2: Invite your people

Step 3: Announce the launch (Slack/Teams/email)

Your 15Five launch day announcement should include:

  • Excitement around the official launch of 15Five
  • A reminder about why your team is using 15Five
  • Instruction for employees to check their email inboxes for the invite email and follow the link to activate their account
  • Specific expectations around usage
  • Information about what employees should do if they experience issues logging in
    💡

    Tip

    Our recommendation is to have employees reach out directly to 15Five's Support Team by emailing support@15five.com and CCing a designated account admin from within your organization. This ensures that your launch team is aware of any issues and can follow along with progress.

  • Guidance on where employees should direct questions about 15Five

Here's an example of a launch day announcement that you can reference (edit as needed):

We're thrilled to announce that today marks the official launch of 15Five at [ORG NAME]! This powerful tool will revolutionize the way we work and help us communicate and achieve our goals more efficiently.

👉 What's expected from you

Check your inbox for an invitation email sent from notifications@15five.com. Click Join your team in the email to activate and log into your 15Five account.
We ask that everyone log into their 15Five accounts by the end of this week. If you have any issues logging into your account, please reach out to 15Five's Support Team by emailing support@15five.com and CC [DESIGNATED INTERNAL ADMIN].
Next Friday, [DATE], all employees will be expected to submit their first Check-in using 15Five.
If you run into any questions as you get familiar with 15Five, please post them in our designated #15Five Slack channel and one of our internal 15Five champions will be happy to help.

Let's make the most of this exciting opportunity together!

Best,
[Your Name]

Step 4: Drive adoption post‑launch

Running into issues or need extra assistance?

Get connected with the  Right Expert at the Right Time on our Contact 15Five article.

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