The other day, I took our Thank You stickers to a team of business analysts. Without describing the product much, I asked for their initial impressions and general feedback. There was light hearted fun where some of the members remembered funny moments with their colleagues and picked a sticker to capture their emotion. After some time, I decided to write a Kudo card myself, using what I had read about “kudo cards”.
It was an interesting experience writing a Kudo Card. Thinking about a specific good thing someone had done and writing it down took some time and dedicated thought. But I did it and this is what I said:
"Neeraj, hats off to you for doing the long commute you do nearly everyday and still being positive"
The next thing I know is that Neeraj took a picture of the card and made it his WhatsApp profile picture. That put a smile on my face too :)
Remember I am not Neeraj's boss. In fact he's a peer in a team I work with. I just got hold of the stationery I needed and took it to their office. I happen to make the stationery myself, but it is also the cheapest product in it's class for getting started. This meant I got started without any funding issues, I did not even ask permission.
Too often we hear general appreciation, mostly top-down, for collective effort - "Well done team', 'Great Work', 'We did it', etc. And then there is appreciation for something specific one has done. The latter demonstrates that someone has paid close attention to what you did and remembered it. That level of appreciation, undoubtedly, adds a very valuable personal touch to your relationship with your colleagues.
