Quick Launch Guide: Performance Reviews in 15Five

🧑‍💻 Step 1: Prepare Your People Data

Before you launch a performance review cycle, make sure your people data in 15Five is accurate and complete. This ensures the right participants are included and that you can segment and analyze results effectively after the cycle ends.

You can make updates via your HRIS, bulk import CSV, or one-off in employee account settings.

Here’s what to check:

• 👥 Confirm your user list. Ensure all employees who should participate in the review are active in 15Five. Learn how to add new people →
• 🏷️ Populate demographic attributes: Ensure you've populated demographic attributes (Birth date, Ethnicity, Gender, Race, and Salary) for employees to enable demographic filtering and analysis after the cycle ends.
• 👔 Review manager-employee relationships. The manager listed in 15Five is responsible for completing their team’s reviews by default. If others should write reviews, assign them as additional managers.
• 👥 Verify group assignments: Make sure employees are assigned to the correct groups—such as departments, teams, or levels—especially if you plan to assess group-specific competencies during the cycle. Accurate group assignments also allow you to filter and analyze results by group type once the cycle concludes.
• 💼 Ensure role and job descriptions are accurate: Confirm that each employee is assigned the correct role (e.g., AE, CSM, Junior Engineer) if you intend to evaluate role-specific competencies. Additionally, check that job descriptions are up to date—review writers can reference them when completing reviews, ensuring feedback is grounded in role expectations. Learn how to manage job information →

⚙️ Step 2: Configure Settings

Before launching your first review cycle, make sure your Best-Self Review® feature settings are aligned with your org's needs. You only need to do this once—your settings will carry over to future cycles.

To access feature settings, click on the Settings gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five, then open the Best-Self Review® section. 

Focus on these key settings:

• 👩‍💼 Review administrator(s): Because reviews often contain sensitive information, it's important to assign one or more Review Admins. Review Admins can create review cycles, manage question templates, and view all in-progress and completed responses. Learn how to use Best-Self Review® as a Review Admin →

  ✏️

  Note

  Review Admins have full access to all review results except their own. For their own review, they have the same visibility permissions as any other participant.

• 🚫 Exclude groups or individuals from your reviews: While we recommend running company-wide cycles to collect performance designations across your workforce, you can globally exclude specific groups (e.g., contractors, interns, seasonal employees) or individual participants if needed. You'll also have the option to exclude groups or individuals one-off when you create your review cycle.
• 🔒 Visibility defaults: Choose the ideal visibility settings for your organization. Learn more about visibility settings in Best-Self Review® →
• 📊 Competencies: Competencies are the skills, behaviors, and knowledge employees need to do their jobs well. You can optionally include a "Competencies" section in review cycle question templates, where reviewers assess how employees demonstrate company-wide, group-specific, or role-specific competencies. Learn how to add and manage competencies →
• ⭐️ Performance Ratings+: Performance Ratings+ automatically calculates a numerical score for each participant by combining self and manager review responses. These scores are used to assign performance designations (top, mid, or low). Use this section to enable performance ratings and configure tool settings.
• 📧 Review Kickoff Email: This email is automatically sent to participants on the review start date, giving them a warm welcome to the process and outlining what to expect. You can customize the subject line and message to reflect your organization’s tone. 15Five will also include key details like timelines and deadlines.

🧠 Step 3: Prepare Your Templates & Question Strategy

Before you create your review cycle, you’ll need to finalize your question templates and configure Performance Ratings+. These tools determine what feedback you’ll collect and how that feedback translates into strategic insights.

Question templates define the questions participants will answer during self, manager, peer, and/or upward reviews. You must select these during review cycle creation, so they need to be ready in advance.

Performance Ratings+ automatically calculates a performance score for each participant based on responses in self and manager reviews. Scores are used to assign performance designations (Top, Mid, Low) that appear in the HR Outcomes Dashboard and inform downstream decisions like calibration, promotions, and compensation.

Here’s what to do:

• 📝 Select your question templates: Each review type—self/manager, peer, and upward—requires its own question template. You can use 15Five’s recommended defaults, build your own, or clone and edit an existing one. Learn more →

  Our Recommendation: Use 15Five's Default Templates ⭐️

  We recommend using the following default question templates:

  • Self/Manager: 15Five template - Self & Manager Questions
  • Peer: 15Five template - Peer Questions
  • Upward: 15Five template - Manager Effectiveness

  These templates include question sections like the Private Manager Assessment (PMA) and Manager Effectiveness competency questions, which help you gather valuable feedback on promotion readiness, manager impact, and compensation adjustments.

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  Tip

  You can view question templates on the Template Configuration page (in-app link). To preview the questions included in a template, click the three dots next to it and select “View.”

• 🧮 Create a performance ratings formula: Define the formula that calculates each employee's performance score. The formula pulls in answers from your selected self/manager question template and applies weights to the questions that matter most. Learn how to create a formula →
• 📊 Build a performance ratings rubric: Rubrics map the scores from your formula to performance designations (e.g., Top, Mid, or Low). These designations appear in the HR Outcomes Dashboard and can be used for calibration, compensation reviews, and strategic planning. Learn how to build a rubric →

✍️ Step 4: Create & Launch Your Review Cycle

With your settings in place, it’s time to create your review cycle—the framework that delivers review questions to participants and collects performance feedback. Only HR Admins and Review Admins can create review cycles.

Begin by navigating to the "Review cycle" page (Performance > Best-Self Review®) and clicking Add Review Cycle. A modal will guide you through the process of creating your cycle.

Best Practices for a Successful Cycle:

• 🔄 Run a Full 360° Review: Include self, manager, peer, and upward reviews to gather rich, well-rounded feedback.

• 👥 Add Cycle Collaborators: Collaborators have the same permissions as Review Admins—but only within their assigned cycle. They can assist with setup and help track progress. Learn how to use Best-Self Review® as a cycle collaborator →

• 📅 Set Smart Milestones: Establish clear timelines for each phase of the cycle. See milestone best practices →

• ⏰ Automate with Repeat Cycles: Save time by setting your review cycle to recur on a regular cadence. You’ll get a reminder email one week before the next cycle is scheduled to begin. Scheduled cycles won’t launch automatically—admins must confirm before launch.

• 📊 Include Performance Ratings+: Turn on Performance Ratings+ to generate performance scores using your selected formula and rubric.

➡️ What's Next?

Your review cycle will automatically launch on the start date you selected. When it begins, participants will receive a kick-off email introducing the cycle and prompting them to take action.

To maximize engagement and clarity, we also recommend making a company-wide announcement (via Slack, Teams, or your internal comms channel). A thoughtful launch message helps set expectations, build momentum, and drive participation.

You can share the following resources to help your team get started:

• Best-Self Review® for review admins
• Best-Self Review® for cycle collaborators
• Best-Self Review® for review managers
• Best-Self Review® for review participants
• Best-Self Review® for additional managers
• Write or edit a review in a review cycle