Kudos, the journey to happiness

I tend to think that in these challenging times that one of the key components we must pursue is happiness. Do you say happiness? Yes, the answer is happiness. We work an average of 40 hours per week, we share with our teams, we prepare and celebrate the triumphs and we strengthen ourselves in the stumbles and what better than that to be happy in what we do.

According to a note published by Infobae in Argentina, the non-tangible factor that enhances employee performance is the general well-being that comes from the statement that “A happy employee works better.” Do you usually stop to think about what makes you happy in your job?

That is how I decided to experiment with one of the Management 3.0 practices, I started my way with the use of Kudos Box. This dynamic can be carried out with cards that can be placed in a kudos box congratulating a colleague or through a mural. The goal is simple, stop the ball, stop doing things, and take a moment to recognize our teammates. This recognition usually generates joy, motivation, and strengthens the ties between them.

The practice was necessary as the team had come off tough weeks with major deployments and that attrition had taken its toll on the group. It seemed important to me after much effort to be able to recognize the achievement of each one. To put it into practice, I put together a 3-step circuit on a Miro board.

We started the activity using a Niko-Niko as an Icebreaker where each of the team members placed a face to indicate how they were and told us a little about their mood.

Then we continue to introspect how this sprint went using a dynamic based on Twitter where each participant shared their tweet which will include a # and then build our trending topic.

Finally, we gave a place to thanks and to highlight the work done by the entire team during these last weeks. To adapt it to the online mode I decided to use a modified Kudos Box so that they could recognize not only their teammates but the team itself.

The result of the activity allowed us to know our state of mind, situations, and actions to improve and finally get all the pending thanks that we had. This energizes the team for all the challenges that lie ahead.

As a facilitator, I learned and enjoyed a lot, especially the outcome with the Kudos Box, where they began to give thanks, to put +1 as a sign of approval in some of the comments, and to see the complicit smiles through the camera. Sometimes it is necessary to generate space for these kinds of moments, that’s my greatest learning. This strengthens the team, they are the protagonists and it is good to know and recognize it.

In future experiments, I would propose to continue promoting this practice on a daily and self-managed basis. We don’t need a retro to thank, let’s make it part of our work routine. It is certainly our next goal.

I recommend this practice for any team, there is no shortage of opportunities to thank, but many times the day to day we wear and we forget. They can build a kudos wall in one look, on a wall, and test it. Share your experience and let’s all work together to achieve job happiness.