Competency questions are auto-generated from competencies already uploaded to 15Five. Configuring them in a question template controls which competency types appear, who answers them, and how reviewers rate and comment.
Before You Begin
- Competencies must be imported to 15Five before you configure competency questions. Visit the Competencies and Paths settings page to verify uploads.
- Be intentional about which competency types you include. If a reviewee matches role-based, group, and company competencies simultaneously, all three sets generate separate questions. A reviewee with 8 questions per type will have 24 competency questions total.
- You must already be inside a question template's Questions section. See Create a custom question template to reach this point.
Steps
- Scroll to the Competencies section of the template.
- Click Configure competencies.
- Select the competency types to include: role-based, group, and/or company.
- Under review audience, choose self reviews, manager reviews, or both.
- Under Select an answer template, choose the rating scale for competency questions.
- To use the default scale, leave Recommended selected (1–5, Never demonstrates → Always demonstrates).
- To use a custom scale, select one from the dropdown.
- Review the scale labels in the lower section; edit labels or descriptions as needed.
- To add or remove scale points, use the scale editor (minimum 3, maximum 7 points).
- Under toggle options, leave Questions are required on to make competency questions mandatory.
- To make competency questions optional, toggle Questions are required off.
- Toggle Include field for comments on to let reviewers add a text response alongside their rating.
- Toggle Require comments on to make a written comment mandatory for every rating.
- Click Create question.
If Something Goes Wrong
| Issue | Check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No competency types appear in step 3 | Competencies may not be uploaded | Go to Competencies and Paths settings and confirm competencies exist |
| Custom answer templates don't appear in the dropdown | Templates may not have been created yet | Create an answer template first, then return to this step |
| Require comments toggle is unavailable | Include field for comments is off | Toggle Include field for comments on first, then enable Require comments |
| Competency questions don't appear for a specific reviewee | Reviewee may not match any uploaded competency | Confirm the reviewee has an assigned role, group, or company competency in Competencies and Paths |
Not Covered Here
This article does not cover creating or editing the competencies themselves — see Competencies and Paths for that workflow.