The News: Strategic performance management platform provider 15Five has introduced several new product enhancements and has launched Spark AI to support managers where and when it is needed. The company also announced the concept of the HR Outcomes Flywheel framework, which helps move organizations toward strategic human resources (HR). More information on the announcement is found on the 15Five website.
15Five Announces New Platform Enhancements
Analyst Take: In what 15Five CEO David Hassell described as the one of the biggest evolutions of the platform since its founding, the company announced a series of enhancements to its platform that are focused on delivering better performance, engagement, and retention. And of course, there is some AI in the mix.
I was onsite at the Thrive event in Denver, Colorado, where the announcements were made at a keynote, and can say that there was audible enthusiasm from the HR leaders in the audience as the platform enhancements greatly reduce time spent on administrative tasks, enabling support of more strategic activities.
HR Outcomes Flywheel and Dashboard
This launch focuses on giving managers data-driven insights and, more important, recommendations and actions. The concept of the HR Outcomes Flywheel was introduced, which Head of Product Jeff Smith described as, “the future of strategic HR, connecting outcomes, signals, insights, recommendations, and action in a continuous accelerating flywheel.”
The Flywheel integrates performance and engagement data to create precise actions that are personalized to the outcomes an organization wants to achieve. Although it is still early days, 15Five shared some data from a handful of early adopter customers:
- 74% of managers improved one or more manager effectiveness competency
- 23% of managers improved the performance of their team
- 19% of managers improved intent to stay (retention)
- 24% of managers improved engagement on their team
The HR Outcomes Dashboard, which was launched in June 2023, has evolved to include real-time insights on areas that need to be addressed that will have the greatest leveraged, tailored recommendations and then guided actions for managers. The actions can be taken within the flow of work.
Spark AI Delivers Insights and AI-Supported Actions
The announcements made at the event support this flywheel. The company introduced Spark AI, which is an AI-driven assistant for managers, employees, and HR teams. Spark AI is accessible from within the platform. As mentioned earlier, recommendations and actions are part of the functionality. The company also demonstrated other use cases including summarizing information and delivering trend information. This feature includes distilling engagement survey data, both quantitative and qualitative.
Or it could be providing an overview summary of how the team is doing, all in one place and summarized into an actional view. This CoPilot function is coming in December. Managers can also receive information on how to conduct better one-on-one meetings and get guidance and support on performance reviews.
Another announcement was the partnership with microlearning provider Athena Online, giving 15Five customers access to globally known academics and business thought leaders.
It was good to see the focus on supporting managers as a strong thread through all these announcements. Managers typically have the most influence on employees’ overall experience – whether that be positive or negative. But this group struggles with an overwhelming number of tasks to perform combined with the subpar technology and sometimes leadership tools to be successful.
Seeing demonstrations of the ease of use and day-to-day time savings was not lost on the user community, and its often these perhaps less exciting on paper but more exciting in practice types of capabilities that land well with end users and the companies employing them. Overall, interesting enhancements to the platform and indications of a strong roadmap to come.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
