15Five’s Talent Matrix is a 9-box visualization tool in Best-Self Review® reporting that helps HR leaders and managers better understand performance and potential across their organization. It’s designed to support more fair, data-driven decisions about compensation, promotion, succession planning, and development. By combining responses from Private Manager Assessment (PMA) questions, performance ratings, and other key indicators, the Talent Matrix makes it easy to spot top performers, rising stars, and at-risk individuals—all in a single view.
In this article, you will learn...
- Prerequisites for Using the Talent Matrix ✅
- How to Use the Talent Matrix 📊
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to Best-Self Review® results.
👥 This article is relevant to Review admins and Cycle collaborators.
📦 This feature is available in the Perform and Total Platform pricing packages.
Note
This article focuses on using the Talent Matrix in review reporting. If you’re looking for how to use it in calibration sessions, check out our "Hold a calibration session" article.
Prerequisites for Using the Talent Matrix ✅
The following criteria must be met to use the Talent Matrix:
- Your company has an in-progress or completed review cycle that includes manager reviews.
- At least one manager review has been submitted and shared.
- The manager review question template used in the cycle includes Yes/No or Opinion Scale questions.
- Answers in opinion-scale questions are ordered left-to-right (from low to high). If not, the Talent Matrix may not accurately reflect performance.
How to Use the Talent Matrix 📊
- Click Performance in 15Five's main, left-hand navigation and select Best-Self Review® from the dropdown menu.
- Open the relevant review cycle.
- Open the Company's results tab.
- You'll land on the Summary tab of review results. Scroll down to the Talent Matrix section.
Note
The Talent Matrix will only appear after at least one manager has shared results with a participant.
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Apply filters to narrow your view and analyze results for specific employee cohorts.
- Use the People filter to view results for your direct reports, your hierarchy, or specific individuals, groups, or manager groups.
- Use the Demographics & People Data filter to view results by demographic attribute (Age, Ethnicity, Gender, Race, or Salary) segments.
Tip
Save time and ensure consistent reporting by clicking Presets > Save Current as Preset to store your selected People and Demographics filters. HR admins can share presets with one another to standardize reporting across cycles. Learn more about filter presets →
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Select Your Axes. Use the X-axis and Y-axis dropdowns to choose the criteria to plot. You can select from: Opinion Scale questions, Yes/No questions, and Performance Ratings.
Tip
To make dropdowns easier to scan, you can create shortnames for questions. Just click into the X or Y-axis dropdown and select “Edit question short names" at the bottom of the menu. Shortnames are visible to everyone with results access.
- The matrix will populate based on how participants were rated in the selected questions.
Some things to note:- Participants will only appear if their manager answered and shared results for both selected questions. Those without complete data will be excluded from the matrix view.
- Talent Matrix results will change as managers submit and edit reviews.
- Hover over # Participants at the bottom of the matrix to see who is missing and why.
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Enter Focus Mode. Click the Focus mode button in the top-right corner of the Talent Matrix to open a full-width view that makes it easier to explore your data. In Focus Mode, avatars appear in every box, even when the standard view uses bar charts—giving you richer, more visual insight into individual participants.
- Analyze Your Talent Landscape. Once the matrix is populated, you can use it to identify employees with high performance and potential, spot low-performing or misaligned individuals, and make strategic decisions about coaching, development, and rewards.
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Download results. Click the Download button in the top-right corner of the Talent Matrix to export results as a CSV or XLSX file. The download includes all participants in the cycle, how their manager answered the two questions selected in the Talent Matrix, what box the participants fall into, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
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You must be a Review Admin or Cycle Collaborator.
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At least one manager must have submitted and shared results.
You can use Yes/No or Opinion Scale questions from:
- Private Manager Assessment
- Performance Ratings+
- Company Values
- Competencies
- Objectives
- Manager Effectiveness
- Growth & Development
To create or edit a shortname, follow these steps:
- Click on the X or Y-axis selection field and select "Edit question short names" at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
- Choose the question you want to create or change a short name for.
- Use the "Question short name" field to provide a shortname. Then, click Save.
- The shortname will be immediately reflected in the Talent Matrix.
Yes. If a review admin edits a shortname, that change is visible to everyone who accesses the Talent Matrix. This helps ensure consistency across teams when analyzing data.
Yes. Best-Self Review®️ reporting, including the Talent Matrix, updates automatically as reviews are submitted or edited.
Edits made during a calibration session won’t appear in reporting—including the Talent Matrix—until all sessions for the cycle are locked.