Challenge

Running a software agency is a dynamic business. People work for different clients and various projects. Communication takes place mostly in slack. People work in the same environment, together, but apart. Such dynamics can put an agency on the risk when peoples' engagement drops. Agency's role is to foster the environment that supports growth. How to ensure engagement in teams, connect people and support a healthy atmosphere?

Solution

What do you feel when you receive a gift? Saying a thank you is a form of an appreciation of someone’s work. Bravelab is a software house that embraced the Management 3.0 approach. One of the practices of Management 3.0 is public recognition of colleagues that contribute to the organization. Sincere thanks brings out a ripple effect that affects the whole surrounding. If appreciation is contagious, why not allow people to say thank you from the tools they use? We did so at Bravelab and the outcome was very positive.

Outcome

As we communicate over Slack, we decided to allow people to appreciate each other right within the application. Thanks-app—our solution is a Slack app that allows people to say warm words from any channel.
For example, when Simon types /thanks @mariusz for birthday cake! two things happen. The message lands in #thanks channel. For birthdays cake! also appears in a web dashboard. The dashboard displays recent entries and top collectors. Another advantage of the web dashboard is accessibility from any browser.

Where we successful? Sure! Since 2018 we've sent over 1000 warm words. Simple Birthdays cake can not only spark a chit-chat at the coffee machine. Over time as people get into the habit of appreciation of each other, bonds between them make stronger. Strong bonds mean connected and engaged people. Engagement turns into a synergy that flows through the entire company. Thank you.

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