![]() I love looking at peoples’ faces when they receive Kudos - and at the faces of their coworkers who see the good work that person delivered. It’s always a delightful surprise when I see the number of cards in the Kudos column. And if you’re doing the simple “ What Went Well” type Retrospective, Kudos can be added as an additional column. If you’re doing Mad-Sad-Glad, Kudos can be included in the Glad column. For example, if you’re using the “sailboat” Retrospective, Kudos can be drawn as the sun in the sky. Gratitude via Kudos fits into just about any Retrospective technique. Everyone loves giving and receiving a sincere “thank you” from the people they work with every day. Whenever I’ve tried this technique, Kudos has improved trust, whether the team was already high-functioning or was facing challenges. But as trust grows, you’ll see the number of Kudos increase - and the number of team frustrations decrease. Your team may only give and receive a handful of Kudos in your first try at this technique. I then sit back and watch the magic happen. In the Retro instructions, I ask attendees to add a note that thanks one or more teammates for great work they’ve done over the last Sprint. In the Retrospective, ask the attendees to give each other some Kudos for everyday work which makes their own jobs easier or more enjoyable. My favorite method is to add a Kudos column to every Sprint Retrospective. Give your team a forum and context for providing those Kudos. Trust and collaboration are key signposts for teams becoming self-managed. ![]() That in turn leads directly to collaboration, and to further virtuous cycles. If your team develops the habit of thanking the people who’ve helped them, and do that on a consistent basis, Kudos will encourage a culture of trust. This simple but powerful idea borrows on an idea my basketball friends showed me: simple gratitude. I’ve worked with my teams to develop a great way to cultivate trust. They don’t become collaborators who cohere into a self-managed, high-performing team. Without trust, team members work in silos, doing their own thing. Trust is the basis for everything we do as Agilists. Their trust in me led to a virtuous cycle - and it led to a few victories in pickup games too. In fact, those teammates became better friends, and led me to work harder to improve my game. Those kudos also made me trust my fellow players more. That bit of praise stuck in my mind, and though I was never a very good player, I worked hard on my shooting ability. ![]() I did work on my long-range jumper, though, and I still can remember how thrilled I was when my teammates complimented me when I hit a crucial shot. When we played basketball I would always fight for rebounds but taller kids would usually be able to grab the ball. I played hard in games, but often found that didn’t help my team much. I was small and wore thick glasses, so I was almost always picked last when we formed teams. I never was a great athlete when I was a kid. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |