A few weeks ago I was part of a team that got to review the ITS Excellence Award nominations. There were about eight of us in a room reviewing dozens of submissions from our peers across the organization. Probably one of the most postiive meetings with my team I’ve been a part of since being here.
Reviewing nominations for @UChicagoITS excellence award and am blown away by the incredible stories people are telling about colleagues.
— Cole Camplese (@colecamplese) June 1, 2016
The notion of recognizing our own work is one that pays deep dividends in the long run. The fact that members of the team take the time to reflect on the work of one of their colleagues and fill out a nomination speaks volumes to the kind of team we have here in IT Services. It means people care about each other and have the capacity to recognize their work. I like that.
On more than one occasion those of us in the room mentioned how great it could be if the people we were reviewing could hear the amazing things not only the nominating person wrote, but the overwhelmingly positive remarks that often flew around the room from the committee. When it was all said and done, we walked out of the room feeling really great about our team, our work, and what we were accomplishing. Together.
Not to take away from what should rightly be the focus: the final award winners, but perhaps it would be possible to capture those bits and pieces of positive feedback and incorporate those into other efforts.
Perhaps they could be reiterated among visitors to a Coffee with Cole (coordinated with attendance with either the subject of the comment, or the provider of the feedback) as a touchstone for discussing a positive experience or as advice for dealing with something challenging.
Perhaps some of the comments could be dropped into a slack channel over the course of the year. It could then get some slack kudos and serve to remind folks that positive feedback can come in a variety of avenues and doesn’t need to only occur within the framework of the Excellence awards.
Even scrubbed of personal information, some positive comments might be a nice accent to flyers for the summer picnic, or a general email, etc.