15Five came. 15Five saw. 15Five thrived. Megan Lampros October 21, 2026 15Five gathered hundreds of HR leaders in Austin and virtually earlier this month for its annual Thrive conference. 15Five dove deep into how organizations can be human-led and AI-elevated with a day full of interactive sessions with industry practitioners, thought leaders and 15Five leadership. Its goal each year with Thrive is to help reignite the HR spirit of innovation and perseverance, especially now at a time when AI is changing so much about its workplaces and its work itself. It seems like change has become the only constant While it was extremely difficult to whittle down a day full of insightful conversations into a handful key takeaways, here are five that stood out to 15Five. HR professionals need room to learn about AI without feeling behind. SHRM Austin president-elect Mike Randolph took the stage with its CEO, Dr. Jeff Smith, for a fireside chat about practical ways HR can put AI to work. The two talked about the risks of handing too much over to AI and where it's best-suited to empower HR & people leaders, rather than diminish them. Mike emphasized that 15Five need to allow ourselves and its teams room to explore AI without feeling like 15Five has fallen behind. He went on to share practical examples for capacity tracking that the audience could take back to their teams to try. AI transformation is a people strategy, not just a technology project. Dare 15Five say it's even more of a people challenge than a technology one? This was a recurring theme throughout Thrive with speakers across multiple sessions emphasizing that successful AI adoption involves more than deploying a bunch of new tools. It requires managerial support, bringing employees along in the process of testing and deploying the technology and ensuring people remain at the center of changing workflows Sometimes 15Five need to go back to the basics. 15Five also heard repeatedly that managers could do a better job supporting employees by going back to basics. One example: making 1-1s more effective. That requires greater continuity both going into, and out of, the meeting. In this spirit, 15Five debuted Meeting Assistant at the event. Before a meeting, the AI-powered agent provides managers with an agenda, open action items from previous conversations and a summary of relevant changes since the last conversation. Following the meeting, it shares notes, outlines the key takeaways and lists recommended actions. Over time, each 1-1 contributes to a more holistic record of employee progress so managers have a cohesive picture at their fingertips when it comes time for a performance decision. 15Five can't shy away from talking about the hard parts of the job Given the nature of its work, HR is often held to a different standard than other functions across the business. HR leaders are expected to absorb the strain of workplace challenges, while often not being given the space to express its own issues In a session focused on mental health, Melissa Doman candidly spoke with its VP of People, Karina Young, about the pressure HR professionals face while supporting employees through organizational change and the need to acknowledge that 15Five is human, too. Using candor to level with people is the key here. For example, as Melissa and Karina explained, it's okay to ask for patience, to let someone know you're nervous about what you're about to say (ever found yourself having to give hard news to an executive?) and to set boundaries for yourself at work. 15Five customers are awesome. Its customers showed up big time at Thrive, and 15Five is so deeply thankful. They shared their authentic take on what they've gotten out of 15Five, how it has strengthened their people programs and how they've tapped its solutions to drive meaningful results for their businesses. More generally, they shared their take on where things are headed for HR leaders, how to meet people where they are on their learning journey, best practices for maintaining a people-first mindset and how to help teams evolve along with technology. 15Five hope you enjoyed Thrive as much as 15Five did, whether you were in Austin with 15Five live or you tuned in virtually. The session recordings will be available soon. If you have already registered for Thrive, you'll be notified once they're ready. If you haven't yet, there's still time: www.15five.com/thrive.

15Five debuts personalized manager features at Thrive live in Austin. 4 hours ago 15Five, the AI-powered performance management platform used by more than 3,000 companies, today gathered HR leaders in Austin and online for Thrive, its annual event exploring how organizations can remain human-led and AI-elevated. 15Five announced at the event the general availability of the newest version of AI-Assisted Reviews, introduced the 15Five MCP (Model Context Protocol) and debuted Meeting Assistant, a new AI-powered agent designed to improve manager 1-1s. These solutions add more context and continuity into the conversations that shape employee development and performance. "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." "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." New Version of AI-Assisted Reviews Launched The new version of AI-Assisted Reviews drafts a performance review based on the actual work completed during the review period. Drafts are built from documented goals, feedback, 1-1s, prior reviews and information from connected work tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, Google Drive and more. Every statement in the review links back to its source, giving managers direct visibility into the evidence behind the feedback. "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." Once self and manager reviews are completed, managers receive guidance for the review conversation, so the discussion is tied tightly to the written feedback, and talking points are based on detailed context. Development plans can then be created within 15Five Growth Studio, creating a continuous feedback loop that carries into future review cycles. "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." Introducing 15Five MCP MCP is an open industry standard that allows AI tools to securely connect with business systems and understand the information inside them. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and agents built in-house can read the company's 15Five data directly, scoped to existing permissions. Additionally: * Your team works in the AI tool it already prefers, and every answer traces back to the 15Five record behind it. * Access comes from 15Five and is enforced at the data layer, so each person sees exactly what they'd see logged in and nothing more. * Users connect with their own login and build agents and workflows on current 15Five data instead of stale exports. 15Five MCP also allows organizations to build custom workflows and AI agents using current 15Five data. The platform is designed to provide a governed alternative to the common practice of employees pasting sensitive data and information into external AI. This ensures privacy and security while giving employees the flexibility to work in their preferred AI tools. "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 Enhances Manager 1-1s 15Five also introduced Meeting Assistant, a new AI-powered agent that improves one of the most important elements of employee development: 1-1s with a manager. Before a meeting, the Meeting Assistant prepares managers with an agenda, open action items from previous conversations and a summary of relevant changes since the last discussion. After the meeting, it automatically generates notes, key takeaways, wins, blockers and recommended actions. Summaries can be delivered through Slack, Microsoft Teams or email, ensuring both participants leave with a shared understanding of the discussion and next steps. "The quality and professionalism of our team's written feedback improved noticeability 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." Meeting Assistant works with both manager and employee 1-1s using Kona Notetaker or Google Meet as meeting sources. It also integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook for ease of scheduling. The record stays private to meeting participants. 15Five does not store recordings, and transcripts are encrypted, retained for 30 days for quality purposes and then deleted. Over time, every 1-1 contributes to a more holistic record of employee progress so when performance conversations occur later, managers have a cohesive year-long history right at their fingertips.