How to give Kudos by awarding badges
In addition to providing regular feedback inside Small Improvements, the platform allows your team to award each other with badges. We keep things very simple: There is no leaderboard or rules attached to badges. Moreover, we see our badge functionality as a way to make continuous feedback focused on fun recognition of a job well done. Not as a way to single out people for promotion, bonus, or performance plan.
Article Quick Links
Overview
There are multiple ways to recognize one another. Using the Create button found at the top of any Small Improvements page, the Praise button at the top of the Praise screen, or using integrations with Slack or Gmail. You don't have to award a badge with a praise, but doing so aligns the message with a visual touchstone. Some companies even tie these images to core values, so that praise has a sense of purpose.
Activity stream view
Praise show up on the Praise wall, the home stream, and also in the daily digest emails (if your company chooses to send these out). They will also appear on a user's profile page and the Helpful Resources Sidebar, for quick reference, as long as the person is active in Small Improvements.
Configuring badges
HR Admins can customize the badges that are available for staff to choose from. Out of the box, Small Improvements starts with a set and explanations for each. But you can adjust all of this to better fit your company identity.
Navigate to: Administration tab → Click the "Badges" button.
Here you can:
- Reorder or remove any of the existing badges
- Adjust the titles and descriptions
- Or even upload and define your own custom badge
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we use badges to automatically create performance reviews? And what about leaderboards?
The Small Improvements Badge System could in theory be complex. But as mentioned above, our primary focus is an effort to keep ad-hoc feedback lightweight and easy. So we decided to not build a leaderboard or calculate a score based on awards collected. One will not be on our roadmap in the immediate future.
Can we restrict how many badges can get awarded, and by whom?
This is not possible. We suggest that teams manage this directly by setting expectations with their employees.
We do want everyone to be able to award a badge. It doesn't really matter if praise comes from the CEO or from an intern. A "thank you" is a "thank you" and just as relevant, no matter who says it.