Kona — Feature Overview

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 Meeting Assistant and Kona Coach.

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 Meeting Assistant

Kona Meeting Assistant joins scheduled manager–direct report 1-on-1 meetings as a silent 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 Meeting Assistant and assigns access to managers. See Set up Kona Meeting Assistant (Admin).
• Each manager connects their calendar so Kona can identify upcoming 1-on-1s. See Connect Your Calendar to Kona Meeting Assistant.
• 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 Meeting Assistant. 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, Microsoft Teams DM, 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 Meeting Assistant (Admin)
• Connect Your Calendar to Kona Meeting Assistant
• 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
• [Send Kona to a 1-on-1 meeting]
• View and Manage Kona Meeting Notes in Your 1-on-1 Agenda
• Kona for Managers — Feature Overview

Analyze

• Kona Meeting Assistant — Feature Overview
• Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview
• Understand the Kona Usage Report

Common Issues

• Report a Kona issue from your 1-on-1s
• [How Do I Manage Kona Notifications?]
• [Does Kona Record Audio or Video?]
• [Who Can Access My Kona Meeting Transcripts?]
• [How Long Does Kona Keep Meeting Transcripts?]
• [What Is Kona Pre-Trained On?]
• [What is the Kona Users Group and how does it stay current?]

Key Rules

• Kona Meeting Assistant 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 private to the manager and direct report. HR admins cannot access raw transcripts without explicit consent.
• Transcripts are processed to extract insights and deleted after 30 days.
• Kona does not store audio or video content.
• Participants can pause Kona notetaking at any time.
• Kona Meeting Assistant 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 Meeting Assistant — Feature Overview
• Kona for Managers — Feature Overview
• Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview
• Set up Kona Meeting Assistant (Admin)
• Connect Your Calendar to Kona Meeting Assistant
• 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