New 15Five AI Features debuted at Thrive Live in Austin, during which the firm unveiled new software for managers and human resources professionals. The yearly conference highlighted the opportunities for blending human leadership with AI. 15Five offers an AI-based performance management system utilized by over 3,000 firms. During the event, the company revealed the general availability of improved AI-Assisted Reviews. Moreover, the firm launched 15Five AI Features MCP (Model Context Protocol) and Meeting Assistant.
“HR leaders and managers don’t need more AI tools just for the sake of saying they have them; they need AI that fosters more informed conversations that help people achieve, lead and grow,” said Dr. Jeff Smith, CEO of 15Five. “Everything we showcased at Thrive is designed around the simple idea that technology, including AI, should elevate humans and their performance, not diminish their role. This belief has guided our work at 15Five since day one.”
Mike Randolph, President-Elect of SHRM Austin, discussed the importance of using AI to support employees.
“The risk I see in how a lot of organizations are approaching AI right now is that the tools start to lead and people start to manage the output,” said Mike Randolph, President-Elect of SHRM Austin, who spoke at Thrive. “What I’ve found in my own work is that AI is most useful when it’s handling the things that don’t actually require me…so I have more capacity for the work that does. That’s a different framing than ‘AI will do HR.’ It’s AI giving HR professionals more room to do their actual jobs better.”
AI-Assisted Reviews Improve Performance Feedback
The improved AI-Assisted Reviews function generates performance review content based on goals, feedback, one-on-one meetings, past reviews, and related applications. These range from Slack to Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, and Google Drive. Each claim is followed by the source URL to validate the feedback.
Jon Rosenson, President & COO of Expedient, shared details about how the function works for 15Five.
“I want people to do their work in the tools and workflows they already use and have the important moments from that work show up in 15Five when they’re relevant,” said Jon Rosenson, President and COO of Expedient. “Instead of asking employees and managers to assemble check-ins and 1-on-1 content only manually, 15Five can bring the right context together automatically, with the employee still in the loop to review and approve it.”
Upon completion of the employee and manager self-reviews, the platform offers advice regarding performance discussions and development plans using 15Five Growth Studio.
Ashley Jones, Senior People & Culture Program Manager of NexTech, talked about how the tool assisted her in looking back at her professional development.
“What really surprised me was how well the product was able to help me develop a response to how I had grown professionally,” Ashley Jones, Senior People & Culture Program Manager at NexTech. “It not only generated a thoughtful response based on the information I provided, but it also helped me think through the question in a way I hadn’t necessarily done on my own. That was probably the most valuable part of the experience for me.”
15 Five MCP Connects AI Tools With Business Data
15Five MCP allows secure connection of AI tools to business systems. Teams can use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and internal agents with existing permissions. This feature enables custom workflow development and prevents sharing sensitive information with external AI tools manually.
Rosenson elaborated on how MCP allows the development of custom applications by employees.
“The 15Five MCP gives team members who build their own apps a way to connect what they create directly into our people-management workflows,” said Rosenson. “Instead of building isolated automations, they can bring meaningful context into 15Five, where it can be reviewed, acted on, and ultimately used for better conversations. It makes 15Five a complementary layer to the innovation happening across the organization, rather than asking us to centralize all that innovation inside one platform.”
Meeting Assistant Supports Manager One-on-Ones
The meeting assistant creates agendas, follow-up action items, and important updates prior to meetings and post-meeting, and creates notes, takeaways, successes, roadblocks, and suggested actions. The managers can get the summarized information via Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email.
Kelly Sims, Chief of Staff of Orca Intelligence, provided feedback on the tool during its beta testing.
“The quality and professionalism of our team’s written feedback improved noticeably while testing Meeting Assistant,” Kelly Sims, Chief of Staff at Orca Intelligence. “It acts as a great sounding board, helping managers articulate constructive feedback clearly and objectively.”
The assistant works with Kona Notetaker or Google Meet and connects to Google Calendar and Outlook. The meeting transcript is kept private for the participants only, and 15Five does not keep any audio recording. The transcript is encrypted, stored for 30 days for quality reasons, and then erased. In general, 15Five AI features try to save time spent on administration and to enhance employee development. 15Five AI Features make the manager’s job easier and the performance review process better. Still, 15Five tries to use AI to aid human performance management.
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News Source: Businesswire.com
