15Five provides five science-backed default question templates for use in review cycles. Each template targets a specific review type and contains pre-built sections with ready-to-use questions.
Feature Structure
Each default template appears in the Recommended section of the Template configuration tab. All templates list "15Five" as the Created by user. You can preview any template before applying it, or clone it to make edits.
Templates map to these review types:
| Template | Review type |
|---|---|
| Self & manager questions | Self review + manager review |
| Peer questions | Peer review |
| Ad Hoc Peer Review | Peer review (ad hoc) |
| Upward questions | Upward review |
| Manager Effectiveness | Manager effectiveness review |
Self & Manager Questions Template
This template contains questions for both self reviews and manager reviews. Each section includes two versions of every question — one for the participant's self review and one for the manager's review of that participant.
Growth & Development
This section asks strengths-based development questions to increase motivation and performance.
Example questions:
- Self review: What are up to three wins you want to celebrate since your last review? What led to those wins?
- Manager review: What are up to three wins you want to celebrate with [Name] since their last review? What led to those wins?
- Self review: Where would you like to improve? What are up to three opportunities for growth to focus on before your next review? What next steps do you want to take?
- Manager review: Where would you like [Name] to improve? What are up to three opportunities for growth you want [Name] to focus on before the next review? What next steps do you want them to take?
- Self review: What impact do you want to have on the company's next quarter? What next steps do you need to take?
- Manager review: What impact do you want [Name] to have on the company's next quarter? What next steps do they need to take?
Company Values
This section asks review writers to reflect on how the participant lives out company values. These questions appear only if your company has added values in 15Five.
Answer format: five-point opinion scale — "Lives counter to the value" -> "Rarely lives out the value" -> "Sometimes lives out the value" -> "Often lives out the value" -> "Always lives out the value"
Example questions:
- Self review: Rate your contribution to the company value: Cultivate Health & Vitality
- Manager review: Rate [Name]'s contribution to the company value: Cultivate Health & Vitality
- Self review: Rate your contribution to the company value: Always Be Learning & Growing
- Manager review: Rate [Name]'s contribution to the company value: Always Be Learning & Growing
Competencies
This section asks review authors to rate participants on company-wide, group, and role competencies. These questions appear only if your company has added competencies. Review admins control whether competency questions appear in self reviews, manager reviews, or both.
Answer format: four-point opinion scale — "Never demonstrates" -> "Rarely demonstrates" -> "Often demonstrates" -> "Always demonstrates"
Example questions:
- Problem-solving: Having an appetite and thirst for problem-solving. Understanding, untangling, and ultimately helping to solve complex problems. Becoming comfortable quarterbacking and driving results toward a solution.
- Taking ownership: No excuses. Accountable and positive, even in difficult conditions. Taking ownership of problems and challenges within and outside the domain and not passing blame to others.
- Decisiveness: Resolving issues within the team and making meaningful decisions quickly. Driving others to make decisions quickly too. Valuing progress over perfection and ensuring the team is unblocked, making constant progress.
Manager Effectiveness
This section lets managers and participants reflect on how well manager effectiveness competencies are demonstrated. It uses a five-point Likert scale — "Never demonstrates" -> "Rarely demonstrates" -> "Sometimes demonstrates" -> "Often demonstrates" -> "Always demonstrates".
Manager effectiveness reviews can feed into the Manager Effectiveness Indicator in your organization.
15Five's Manager Effectiveness competencies:
- Demonstrating Business Acumen: Analyze complex situations, anticipate future trends, and develop plans that account for various factors across a business environment.
- Setting Goals: Prioritize work and define measurable objectives. Identify desired outcomes and develop a plan to reach them.
- Enabling Productivity: Create environments and provide resources that allow individuals to work efficiently toward their goals. Identify and mitigate factors that hinder productivity.
- Giving and Receiving Feedback: Provide or receive information about performance, behavior, or actions with the intention of improvement or continuation of strong performance.
- Influencing Others: Affect people's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Use awareness of people's values and needs to drive organizational impact.
- Supporting Career Growth: Help individuals develop the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to achieve their career goals through mentoring, coaching, and learning opportunities.
- Building Strong Teams: Foster teams to work well together, commit to a common purpose, and achieve goals efficiently and effectively.
- Developing Yourself: Stay organized, focused, and productive while managing teams effectively.
Objectives
This section lets managers and participants reflect on a participant's objectives over a set time period, defined during review cycle creation.
Answer format: five-point opinion scale — "Significantly below expectations" -> "Below expectations" -> "Met expectations" -> "Above expectations" -> "Significantly above expectations"
Questions included:
- Self review: In your opinion, how was your completion of all objectives and key results you owned? Please explain any contextual factors (e.g., stretch vs. non-stretch, changing priorities) in the comment field.
- Manager review: In your opinion, how was [Name]'s completion of all objectives and key results they owned? Please explain any contextual factors (e.g., stretch vs. non-stretch, changing priorities) in the comment field.
Private Manager Assessment (Manager Review Only)
The Private Manager Assessment (PMA) is a set of manager-only questions focused on future-facing career decisions about a direct report. PMA questions are automatically included in self & manager review question templates. These five questions are inspired by research from Deloitte and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review article Reinventing Performance Management. They are designed to reduce bias and support more objective performance assessment over time.
Default PMA questions:
- [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]
Additional questions in this section:
- Indicate [Name]'s overall impact based on their demonstration of company values. [Progress required -> On track -> Exceeding]
- Select the response that most closely matches [Name]'s potential. [Questionable fit -> Needs coaching -> High potential]
- The overall performance designation for [Name] is: [Below expectations -> At expectations -> Above expectations -> Outstanding -> Exceptional]
Peer Questions Template
The peer review template captures feedback from peers about cycle participants. Peers are either nominated by the participant or self-nominated, depending on cycle settings. Peers provide development-focused feedback including constructive input to increase performance and goal orientation.
Growth & Development
This section asks strengths-based development questions.
Example questions:
- What are [Name]'s top strengths?
- What is [Name] doing well that contributes to the progress of their work goals?
- What can [Name] improve to make better progress on their work goals?
Company Values
This section asks peers to reflect on how the participant lives out company values. These questions appear only if your company has added values.
Answer format: five-point opinion scale — "Lives counter to the value" -> "Rarely lives out the value" -> "Sometimes lives out the value" -> "Often lives out the value" -> "Always lives out the value"
Competencies
This section asks peers to rate the participant on company-wide, group, and role competencies. These questions appear only if your company has added competencies.
Answer format: four-point opinion scale — "Never demonstrates" -> "Rarely demonstrates" -> "Often demonstrates" -> "Always demonstrates"
Ad Hoc Peer Review Template
The Ad Hoc Peer Review template is used outside of structured review cycles. It allows employees to request peer feedback at any time, independent of a scheduled cycle.
This template contains a streamlined set of growth and development questions focused on strengths and improvement areas, without the company values or competencies sections included in the standard peer template.
Upward Questions Template
The upward review template captures feedback from direct reports about their managers. This template gives employees a structured way to provide input on their manager's performance and effectiveness.
Growth & Development
This section asks strengths-based development questions about the manager.
Example questions:
- What are [Name]'s top strengths as a manager?
- What is [Name] doing well that contributes to the progress of the team's goals?
- What can [Name] improve to better support the team's progress on goals?
Manager Effectiveness Competencies
This section asks direct reports to rate their manager on 15Five's Manager Effectiveness competencies using the same five-point Likert scale described in the self & manager template above.
Manager Effectiveness Template
The Manager Effectiveness template is a standalone template designed specifically to assess manager effectiveness competencies. It uses 15Five's eight Manager Effectiveness competencies (listed in the self & manager template section above) rated on a five-point Likert scale.
This template can feed data into the Manager Effectiveness Indicator in your organization's reporting.
Key Rules
- Default templates cannot be edited directly. Clone a template first, then edit the clone.
- Company values questions appear only if your company has added values in 15Five.
- Competency questions appear only if your company has added competencies.
- Review admins control whether competency questions appear in self reviews, manager reviews, or both.
- PMA questions are visible only to the manager completing the review — not to the participant.
- The objectives section reflects the time period set during review cycle creation.