Sharing and receiving feedback is essential to learn as an individual, as a team member, as a leader. And like the two sides of a coin, you can offer positive or negative feedback. From research we know that the factor that makes the greatest difference between low and high performing teams is surprisingly the ratio between positive and negative feedback: 5 positive to 1 negative feedback.
So, what if we could find a way to multiply the volume of positive feedback in our teams? This was my point when I came across Jurgen Appelo’s “Managing for Happiness” book and the kudo chapter. At the same time, my colleague Tina shared the idea of promoting a feedback culture in our team. We sat together and thought about the best way to introduce the idea of a kudo box to our colleagues.
So, we started with a prototype. I had just ordered a new headset and we used the packaging box as our Kudo collection box. We still use that box today… Tina downloaded the kudo cards samples from the Managing for Happiness website, we printed them and introduced the concept in our team meeting. The reaction of the colleagues was very positive.
So, we have been using the kudo box as part of our weekly team meeting for more than one year now. We bring the kudo box with us, open it, and read the cards. This is always followed by a clap of hands and the handover of the card to the colleague who has been appreciated. Each week there are at least 1-2 cards in the box, sometimes more than 10.
As we have also team colleagues in Bulgaria and India we ask them to send their kudo contributions to a colleague based in Germany. So, we don’t have separate kudo boxes in different locations. Additionally, we also include the contributions sent to team colleagues via the official “SAP Appreciate” channel from employees outside of our team. Tina has decided to post all the kudo messages on a kudo wall next to her desk. i.e. we focus on the recognition aspect and have not linked it to rewards.
As we developed our WHY and HOW team statements last year, we decided to create our own kudo cards to highlight the positive contributions of team colleagues along with our values. Thanks to Srishti for designing them – see the featured image on top.
We love kudos. We are all humans 😉 Kudo cards are a simple tool to reinforce the focus on sharing five times more positive than negative feedback.
#management3.0 #kudo #feedback #kudoscards #recognition #positive
