Kona is a 15Five add-on suite that brings AI-powered meeting assistance and manager coaching into 1-on-1 workflows. It includes two components: Kona Notetaker and Kona Coach. Kona Notetaker is also the recommended meeting source for Meeting Assistant, an agent in the Agents Hub. See Meeting Assistant: Feature Overview.
Kona is part of 15Five's connected AI system. Data captured by Kona flows into the Context Layer, where it powers Focus Briefs and AI-Assisted Reviews. See How 15Five AI works together for how data flows between capabilities.
Access and availability
- Requires access to Kona (add-on)
- Relevant roles: Account Admins, Managers
- Available on Perform and Total Platform pricing packages
Feature Structure
Kona has two distinct components. Each can be used independently.
Kona Notetaker
Kona Notetaker joins scheduled manager and direct report 1-on-1 meetings as a visible participant. It operates in Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
What it produces:
- Structured meeting notes and identified action items, synced to the 15Five 1-on-1 Agenda
- A post-meeting summary shared with both the manager and direct report
- A continuous performance record across the review cycle, available to inform AI-Assisted Reviews
How it is activated:
- An admin enables Kona Notetaker and assigns access to managers. See Set up Kona Notetaker (Admin).
- Each manager connects their calendar so Kona can identify upcoming 1-on-1s. See Connect your calendar to Kona Notetaker.
- Kona joins qualifying meetings automatically based on join conditions. See Kona meeting join conditions and participant requirements.
Kona Coach
Kona Coach adds AI-powered coaching on top of Kona Notetaker. After each 1-on-1, Kona Coach analyzes meeting data alongside 15Five engagement scores, feedback trends, and manager effectiveness metrics.
What managers receive:
- Personalized coaching tips delivered via Slack, email (for Teams/Outlook users), or the Kona Coach page in 15Five
- Monthly progress reports delivered in Slack on the first working day of each month
- Tracking across 18+ manager effectiveness behaviors over time
What You Can Do
Set Up
- Set up Kona Notetaker (Admin)
- Connect your calendar to Kona Notetaker
- Invite a Manager to Kona Coach via Account Settings
- Manage Kona Auto Join and recurring meeting settings
Use Kona
- Kona in 1-on-1 meetings — what managers can expect
- View and Manage Kona Meeting Notes in Your 1-on-1 Agenda
- Kona for Managers — Feature Overview
Analyze
- Kona Notetaker: Feature Overview
- Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview
- Understand the Kona Usage Report
Common Issues
- Does Kona Record Audio or Video? — Kona uses meeting captions when they are available. If captions are off, it asks in the meeting chat for permission to record. Kona never stores recordings, only transcripts.
- How Long Does Kona Keep Meeting Transcripts? — Transcripts are encrypted and stored for 30 days for quality assurance. Transcripts are never accessible to HR, managers, or employees.
- Who Can Access My Kona Meeting Transcripts? — No one. Transcripts are not accessible to HR, admins, or managers.
- What Is Kona Pre-Trained On? — 18 Manager Behaviors, established managerial best practices, aggregated coaching research, and Transform content.
- Report a Kona issue from your 1-on-1s
Key Rules
- Kona Notetaker requires a one-time calendar connection per manager before it can join meetings.
- Kona joins only meetings that meet the defined join conditions. See Kona meeting join conditions and participant requirements for the full criteria.
- Meeting notes and summaries are visible only to the manager and direct report who were in the meeting.
- Kona never stores recordings, only transcripts.
- Transcripts are encrypted and stored for 30 days for quality assurance.
- Transcripts are never accessible to HR, managers, or employees.
- Participants can pause Kona notetaking at any time.
- Kona Notetaker data can inform AI-Assisted Reviews. Private 1-on-1 notes do not become newly visible through that process.
For full privacy and retention details, see Kona privacy and transcript retention.
Related Articles
- Kona Notetaker: Feature Overview
- Kona for Managers — Feature Overview
- Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview
- Set up Kona Notetaker (Admin)
- Connect your calendar to Kona Notetaker
- Invite a Manager to Kona Coach via Account Settings
- Kona in 1-on-1 meetings — what managers can expect
- Kona meeting join conditions and participant requirements
- Kona privacy and transcript retention
- Understand the Kona Usage Report