a rationale for rampant shout outs
I’ve done a little bit of consulting along the way and one of the first places I beeline is a team’s Slack or Teams or active listservs. Wherever the org is talking to itself regularly. I’m on the hunt for a channel or thread of appreciation / shout outs / gratitude / props.
Some orgs have one! This is good.
Most orgs use the one they have dramatically less than they should. This is not good.
Here’s a rough and ready rationale for rampant shout outs of values-aligned choices and behaviors.
This is the cheapest, high return way to boost performance all across an organization. Each well-made prop is an example of “how you can be excellent around here” or “what it looks like to embody x operating value.”
There’s a cool equity dimension of rampant props - you offer an accessible guide to newbies, self-doubters, and folks “lower” in traditional hierarchies to leader approval, excellent performance, and belonging. Do the values-fueled stuff you see in props. That’s the recipe. Cook it.
Generally speaking, a place where folks see and offer positivity all around is a place where people will have more energy in the face of hard problems and painful circumstances.
Appreciation is one mode of feedback; it’s not a category that sits outside of or parallel to feedback. A significant increase the in the number of shout outs isn’t dilutive, so long as those shout outs speak to concrete, replicable actions tied to values.
Leader attention is an inordinately powerful resource within an organization. When you’re a leader and you shout out something, people pay attention to it, even if the vibe or tone of your shout out makes them eye roll a lil bit. Shouting out is a way to scale the behaviors that you want to see more of.
Often a massive bolus of shout outs is needed to get a pattern and practice in motion. Once that baseline is set, praise can proliferate in many other forms. Leaders can tailor it, keep it off stage, radically distill it.
Some of the most satisfying appreciation I ever got was from a leader who would occasionally reply to emails I sent to the team, ones he liked, with just one word:
“this.”
-Eric
