When a direct manager changes during an active Best-Self Review® cycle, the system applies deterministic rules that affect upward reviews, manager reviews, and results visibility based on when the change occurs.
Key Rules
Before the cycle launches
- The new manager becomes the manager review author for that cycle.
During an active cycle
- The new manager immediately takes over the employee's full review experience.
- The new manager gains visibility into all submitted reviews and can share and finalize results.
- The previous manager loses access unless added as a review viewer.
Upward reviews (during an active cycle)
- A submitted upward review of the previous manager remains part of their results.
- An unsubmitted upward review is not automatically reassigned; the employee is not prompted to complete one. An admin or cycle collaborator can manually assign it.
Manager reviews (during an active cycle)
- A submitted manager review from the previous manager remains in the system; the new manager finalizes results.
- A draft manager review from the previous manager is deleted when the new manager takes over. Save drafts externally before making manager changes.
- If no review was started, the new manager is prompted to write the manager review.
After the cycle ends
- The new manager has no visibility into review results from cycles that ended before they became the manager.
- The previous manager can still complete pending actions — submitting or finalizing results — until the cycle is locked.
- To grant the new manager access to past results, add them as a review viewer or enable Visibility into all past reviews in feature settings.
Governing setting
- All behaviors above apply only when Automatic manager updates in active cycle is enabled in Best-Self Review® feature settings. If this setting is disabled, direct manager changes in 15Five do not affect active review cycles.
Common Misunderstanding
Changing the direct manager in 15Five does not automatically preserve the previous manager's draft. The draft is deleted as soon as the new manager takes over. There is no recovery path for a deleted draft.