Kona helps you run more effective 1-on-1s by joining your meetings as a silent observer, capturing insights, and offering personalized coaching based on what actually happens in your conversations.
Depending on which add-on your company uses, Kona may also provide AI coaching (with Kona Coach) or simply capture meeting notes and action items (with Kona Meeting Assistant).
This article walks you through what to expect before, during, and after a Kona-supported 1-on-1.
Access and availability
⛔️ Required access to Kona.
👥 This article is relevant to Managers.
📦 Kona is available as an add-on for companies on our Perform or Total Platform pricing packages.
Recent Kona Enhancement ✨
We've shipped several updates to make your Kona experience smoother and smarter:
- Smarter Meeting Briefs: Morning briefs now skip if the manager or direct report declines the meeting—no more nudges for 1:1s that aren’t happening.
- More Flexible Timing: Kona now joins 1 minute before and stays up to 12 minutes —giving more coverage for late joiners.
- Improved Onboarding: Kona now matches the right calendar and Slack identity more reliably, reducing mismatches and setup errors.
- Cleaner Action Items: No more cluttered views—Kona hides the empty state when suggested next steps are present. You can now also reassign suggested actions directly in the 1:1 view.
Before Your 1-on-1 📅
Get Set Up
To use Kona in your 1-on-1s, make sure you've:
- Before you use Kona in your 1-on-1, please make sure you've gone through the steps in our Kona by 15Five: Setup and Support Guide to ensure Kona has been setup in your account.
- Synced your calendar with 15Five
- (If using Kona Coach) confirmed your coaching focus area, which HR may set or you can update later.
- Ensure the "Take Notes" option is enabled for Kona Meeting Assistant to take notes during your 1-on-1. If using Kona Coach, ensure the "AI Coach" toggle is enabled as well.
Morning Brief
On the day of your scheduled 1-on-1, Kona will send you a morning delivered via Slack (with email backup) message with:
- A meeting agenda overview
- (If using Kona Coach) a coaching tip tailored to your focus area
- Any open action items from previous 1-on-1s
You can use this to prepare and guide your conversation.
Go to the 1-on-1 agenda before you meet to review coaching tips, suggested action items, and a recap of your last 1-on-1.
During Your 1-on-1 ⏰
Kona joins your 1-on-1 as a silent participant. You don’t need to do anything differently during the meeting—just show up and lead the conversation as you normally would.
Kona Meeting Assistant
If your organization uses Kona Meeting Assistant, Kona will:
Capture key discussion points and decisions
Identify and assign action items
Automatically starts your 1-on-1 and syncs notes to your 1-on-1 Agenda
No coaching feedback will be provided. The focus is on accurate documentation and performance tracking.
Kona Coach
If your organization uses Kona Coach, you’ll get everything listed above plus AI-powered coaching. Kona listens for behaviors related to your coaching focus (e.g., recognition, accountability, feedback) and later delivers personalized tips to help you improve.
Your direct report will not see your coaching prompts—these are private to you as the manager.
During a meeting, you can control Kona with simple commands:
- Type Kona pause to temporarily stop note-taking.
Type Kona start to resume note-taking.
Type Kona leave to remove Kona from the meeting. (It won’t rejoin until your next scheduled session.)
After Your 1-on-1 📈
Kona Meeting Assistant
After the meeting ends, you’ll receive a Slack or email notification with a link to your 1-on-1 notes in 15Five. This includes:
Kona automatically ends the 1-on-1 so you don't have to mark it as ended.
A meeting summary
A list of action items
Notes added automatically to your 1-on-1 Agenda
These notes form a continuous record of progress and feed into AI-Assisted Reviews, making performance reviews faster and more complete.
Kona Coach
If you’re using Kona Coach, you’ll also receive a short reflection or coaching tip tailored to your recent meeting and focus area. These appear directly in Slack or Teams, as well as on your Kona Coach page in 15Five.
You can edit or add to your notes anytime and check off completed action items. Over time, Kona Coach uses this data to personalize future coaching guidance.
✅ Tips for Success
- Review your morning brief before each 1-on-1.
- Make time to reflect on the coaching tip post-meeting.
- Use the notes and action items to track follow-up and progress.
- Partner with HR if you want to refine your coaching focus.
💡 Need help?
For setup steps or troubleshooting, visit the Kona by 15Five: Setup and Support Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓
At every step, Kona protects both managers and their teams. The focus is always on helping you grow as a leader — without compromising privacy or exposing raw transcripts to compliance audits. For more about your security and privacy with Kona in addition to the below, please see our Privacy Policy.
Transcripts are kept for 30 days only, for coaching quality assurance. After that, they are permanently deleted.
Only Kona uses transcripts for coaching purposes. They are never accessible to HR, admins, or other managers.
No. Kona does not record audio or video. It only processes meeting transcripts to provide notes and coaching prompts.
No. Coaching prompts are delivered only to you as the manager. If you want your team to see them, you’ll need to share them directly.
No, Kona does not check off talking points automatically in 1:1s. That being said, it can add talking points automatically as part of the assistant process.
No. Kona’s privacy principle is to protect managers and their teams. Raw transcripts are never shared for compliance or audit access.
Kona will join a meeting only if there are exactly two participants. This is expected behavior. It does not matter whether an attendee is marked as “optional” or “required.” Kona will only join meetings that have two total participants.
No. Kona does not differentiate between required and optional attendees. If there are more than two participants on the meeting invite (regardless of optional status), Kona will not join.
No. Only one participant with Kona access is required for Kona to join a 1:1 meeting. Kona access is granted through the Kona Meeting Assistant (KMA) feature settings and can only be enabled for:
Managers
HR Admins
If a manager has Kona Meeting Assistant access:
Kona can join their 1:1 meetings with their direct reports.
The direct report does not need to have Kona access enabled.
If an HR Admin has Kona Meeting Assistant access:
Kona can join any 1:1 meeting where the HR Admin is a participant.
The other participant does not need Kona access.
Individual user settings allow users to manage how Kona joins their meetings.
What does “Auto Join” do?
If Auto Join is enabled, Kona will automatically join eligible future 1:1 meetings.
If Auto Join is disabled, Kona will not automatically join future meetings.
If Kona is already added to a recurring meeting, you have two options:
Option 1: Update in My Settings
Expand the relevant meeting section in your Kona settings.
Remove Kona from the recurring meeting.
Option 2: Remove via your calendar
Open the meeting invite in your calendar.
Remove Kona from the attendee list.
Once removed via the calendar:
Kona will not be re-added to that meeting, even if Auto Join is enabled.
No. If Kona is manually removed from a meeting through your calendar, it will not be added back automatically — regardless of your Auto Join setting.