The Manager Effectiveness Indicator (MEI) is a reporting feature in the HR Outcomes Dashboard that provides a scored view of how managers perform across eight core leadership competencies. MEI data is sourced from Manager Effectiveness Review Cycles and engagement surveys, then surfaced across four reporting areas: the ME Indicator Dashboard, the Manager Summary Report, and the AI Coach Insights Report.
> Note: Your organization may have renamed the Best-Self Review® feature. If you don't see "Best-Self Review®" in your navigation, check with your admin for the name used in your account.
Required access: HR Outcomes Dashboard. Available on the Total Platform pricing package.
Feature Structure
MEI reporting is organized into three reporting areas, all accessible from the Manager Effectiveness tab in the HR Outcomes Dashboard.
ME Indicator Dashboard
The ME Indicator Dashboard contains two sections:
Org-Level Insights — Organization-wide reporting elements:
- MEI Score — The organization's current average Manager Effectiveness Indicator score, out of 100.
- MEI Trend — A time-series graph showing how the average MEI score has changed week over week.
- Competency Highlights — The top three competencies where managers are currently scoring highest based on the latest assessment data.
- MEI Breakdown — A weekly bar chart showing how managers are distributed across MEI scoring bands over the past 12 weeks.
Manager Details — Individual manager data in three views:
- Heatmap — Each manager's score across all eight MEI competencies, displayed as factor scores. The top row shows the organization's average for benchmarking.
- List — Each manager's MEI score alongside Engagement, Objectives, Top Performers, Turnover, Span of Influence, and Span of Control metrics.
- Org Chart — Manager data mapped onto the organization's reporting hierarchy, with expand/collapse and zoom controls.
All three views link to a Manager Details side panel showing that manager's MEI factor scores, Engagement, Performance, Turnover, Span of Influence, and Span of Control.
Manager Summary Report
The Manager Summary Report identifies managers with the greatest support needs by combining MEI scores, engagement results, performance designations, and recent enablement activity. It contains:
- Urgency Filter — Filters the Manager Table to managers meeting specific urgency criteria.
- People Filter — Narrows results by outcomes, groups, and attributes.
- Manager Table — A prioritized list showing each manager's MEI score, urgency designation (High, Medium, or Low), Risk Areas, and an AI-generated summary of why each risk area was flagged.
- Manager Details Panels — Per-manager panels showing Performance designation, Engagement (lowest-scoring driver), Team size insights, and Effectiveness data.
AI Coach Insights Report
The AI Coach Insights Report surfaces behavioral data from 15Five's AI Coach, Kona, to help evaluate how managers demonstrate key leadership behaviors. See Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview for Kona-specific reporting orientation.
Default weighting
The default MEI is 100% Manager Effectiveness Assessment and 0% Behaviors in 15Five. Under this default, Check-ins, 1-on-1s, High Fives, Objectives, and Reviews usage does not contribute to the MEI score. A company with no Manager Effectiveness Review cycle and no Manager Effectiveness engagement survey has no data driving its MEI under the default configuration.
| Factor | Subfactor | Default weight | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager Effectiveness Assessment (100) | Effectiveness Review | 50 | Reviews |
| Effectiveness Survey | 50 | Engage | |
| Behaviors in 15Five (0) | Check-in | 25 | Check-ins |
| Objectives | 25 | Objectives | |
| 1-on-1 | 20 | 1-on-1s | |
| Best-Self Review | 20 | Reviews | |
| High Five | 10 | High Fives |
Subfactor weights sum to 100 within their factor. Factor weights sum to 100 across the score. The Behaviors subfactor defaults still exist even though the factor is weighted 0 — they only take effect if an admin gives the Behaviors factor weight.
Scoring architecture
MEI scores are calculated across four levels. Only two are admin-configurable:
- Inputs → Subfactor. A weighted average using weights set by 15Five. Admins cannot change how individual measures within a subfactor roll up.
- Subfactors → Factor. A weighted average using admin-defined weights. This is configurable.
- Factors → Manager Score. A weighted average using admin-defined weights. This is configurable.
- Manager Scores → Company Score. A plain unweighted average of every manager score in the company.
If a company does not have a feature required by a subfactor (for example, Check-ins is not enabled), that subfactor’s weight is set to 0 and excluded from the calculation.
Weight rebalancing
Whenever enabled subfactor weights do not total 100, or an enabled subfactor has a weight of 0, the system rebalances automatically. The algorithm depends on the configuration mode:
Standard mode: 1-on-1s and High Fives are each capped at 20. The remaining weight is split evenly across the other enabled subfactors. If 1-on-1s and High Fives are the only enabled subfactors, the cap is dropped and they split 100 evenly.
Advanced mode: Remaining subfactors keep their relative proportions. Disabling one subfactor from a 20 / 20 / 60 split produces 25 / 75. An enabled subfactor sitting at 0 is given its default weight and then excluded from the proportional calculation.
Rounding is absorbed by the last subfactor so the total always lands on exactly 100. Saving triggers an asynchronous recalculation; the page polls every 5 seconds while it runs. Scores are stale until the recalculation finishes.
What You Can Do
Access and Navigate
Act on Data
- Use the Manager Summary Report to Prioritize Manager Support
- Use the AI Coach Insights Report to Evaluate Manager Behaviors
- Create a Manager Effectiveness Action Plan
Set Up MEI
- Configure performance review feature settings for manager effectiveness
- Create a manager effectiveness review cycle
- Add Manager Effectiveness questions to a question template
- Create a manager effectiveness engagement survey campaign
Key Rules
- MEI requires access to the HR Outcomes Dashboard. Users without this access do not see the Manager Effectiveness tab.
- MEI is available on the Total Platform pricing package only.
- If no Manager Effectiveness Review Cycle or engagement survey has been run, MEI scores are calculated from historical 15Five platform usage data (Check-ins, High Fives, 1-on-1s). This fallback is temporary.
- Engagement data in the List view and Manager Details panels is subject to confidentiality thresholds. A team must meet the minimum respondent threshold for engagement data to appear.
- Turnover data in the List view reflects employees with a termination date recorded in the past 30 days and requires termination data to be present in 15Five.
- Performance designations in Manager Details Panels are based on Best-Self Review® data.
- Companies onboarded before May 2025 may have different default factor weights than companies onboarded after that date. If two companies on "default" settings show different MEI scores, check whether their configurations were created before or after the May 2025 default change.
Related Articles
- Manager Effectiveness Assessment — What It Is and How It Works
- Interpret the ME Indicator Dashboard (Org-Level Insights and Manager Details)
- Use the Manager Summary Report to Prioritize Manager Support
- Use the AI Coach Insights Report to Evaluate Manager Behaviors
- Kona Reporting in the HR Outcomes Dashboard — Feature Overview
- Configure performance review feature settings for manager effectiveness
- Create a manager effectiveness review cycle
- Create a Manager Effectiveness Action Plan
- What competencies does the Manager Effectiveness Assessment measure?
- Configure Manager Effectiveness Indicator (MEI) settings in the HR Outcomes Dashboard