Say thank you with the help of Kudo cards
How sad must it be to constantly receiving suggestions for improvement during your working life? Unfortunately, in most companies it is the case that the completion of the many daily tasks is taken for granted. Appreciation does not take place. If you try to prioritize the daily tasks, the picture is always the same: all tasks are important to the person who has assigned them to us and should at best be completed first. However, it can happen that something gets left behind, is done late or is done incorrectly. That is human! Colleagues and superiors do not always understand this. On the contrary: negative feedback and suggestions for improvement (e.g. regarding our time management) are the reaction.
Such situations are not easy for employees: It feels like a lack of appreciation on the part of colleagues. While it seems to be easy for us to give an employee or colleague suggestions for improvement, praise is rarely given.
Since words of praise rarely come from our lips, we have introduced so-called kudo cards at diva-e. These cards are used to express praise and thanks for great work among colleagues. Through the cards we are actively reminded how many opportunities there are for this. With the card we then give the praise directly to our colleagues: We write on a kudo card the name of the employee and why we just want to say thank you. But why all this?
It's simple: negative feedback leads to an improvement in work, but positive feedback encourages us to perform at our best. Here it is important to show the employee that his work is not taken for granted and that even small things are appreciated. We humans are always passionate about what we do when we are intrinsically motivated - i.e. we do something because we really want to do it and see a purpose in it. If we are signalled to ourselves that we are needed or that we have done something good, then we do not rest on it, but continue to try to give our best. So in order to motivate employees, it is not necessarily necessary to lure them with external factors - it is usually enough to simply say: "We are very satisfied with your work! So, as so often, it is the little things in life that make a change and ensure that we do good work with even more enthusiasm.
The motivating kudo cards are thrown into the designated kudo box. While the cards are sorted at regular intervals in Karlsruhe and Jena, sent by e-mail to all employees and then pinned to the bulletin board, the Kudo cards are sorted in Berlin and Frankfurt and then read out loud at the joint breakfast. On the pinboards there are cards like "Thank you for your support in the project work" or "Thank you for the great organization of the summer party! These are small sentences that are spoken out loud far too rarely, because far too often tasks are taken for granted.
What is only a small gesture for the author of the card can work true miracles for the recipient. Words are more than a string of letters, because they can awaken feelings of enthusiasm, passion, hope and confidence in us. All too often we underestimate the power of words and quickly forget what feelings of happiness a single sentence can evoke in us.
By: Marvin Zeeb