Snitches & Flowers
An award where colleagues snitch on each other's good behaviour, and the winner has to share the gift with someone outside work. The rules, and why it works.
Digital Health, Novo Nordisk, 2021-2022.
The name is a play on "snitches get stitches". With us it was the other way round. You were supposed to snitch on a colleague's good behaviour, and then the colleague got rewarded. We started in Digital Health in October 2021.
I wanted four things out of it. That people got seen for role-model behaviour. That colleagues took the time to praise each other. That the people who see the best in others got seen too. And that we had a bit of fun, regularly.
The rules
Anyone can nominate a colleague. What counts is how the result was reached. The person nominating stands up at the all-hands in front of the whole area and says who and why. The winner gets their initials embroidered on the picture and a small symbolic gift with one condition: the gift has to be shared with someone who matters to them. Preferably someone outside work.
- 1Someone sees itA colleague notices role-model behaviour. What counts is how the result was reached.
- 2Stands upAt the all-hands, the person nominating stands up in front of the whole area and says who and why.
- 3Initials on the embroideryThe winner's initials are embroidered on the picture that hangs in the office.
- 4The gift is sharedA small symbolic gift that has to be shared with someone who matters. Preferably outside work.
- 5The story travelsTo the friend over dinner, and on LinkedIn, where colleagues can confirm it.
The award is an embroidery. My assistant Sannie made it, and every time we gave out the award she embroidered the winner's initials on it. The one who nominated and the one who won were photographed together with the picture, and then it hung in the office until next time. It was quirky and pretty atypical for a big company.
I wrote about the concept and the first award on LinkedIn.
What happened
The first award went to a colleague two others had nominated. My post about it got around 200 likes and 20 comments. The winner's own post got around 300 likes and 100 comments. In the comments, colleagues wrote on their own that they had seen the same thing. That is the signal I pay attention to, more than the numbers.
In March 2022 a colleague stood up in front of the whole area and explained why her colleague was a role model. She described how the colleague met resistance with a smile, and how she made sure the others who contributed got credit with their own managers. Most of it was about who she was and how she treated other people. The result came with it. The post.
A few months later it was the new winner who nominated someone else and told the story herself.
Why it works
People get to say what they otherwise don't. You often think a colleague is doing well. You rarely say it, and never out loud in front of everyone. The award forces the words out.
And good news travels. When the gift has to be shared with a friend or with family, the story gets told again, outside work. People enjoy their work more for it, and people who enjoy their work feel safe. They stay in the job when the mood is good and the collaboration works, and they are more willing to help each other.
It builds psychological safety too. Safety means you dare to ask, disagree or admit a mistake without being punished for it. When a colleague stands up and praises another for meeting resistance with a smile, or for making sure others get credit, the whole area hears which behaviour gets rewarded here. The praise comes from a colleague who saw it first hand.
There is research behind each part.
What the research says
What we do
What the research shows
Source
Saying it out loud
Gratitude helps us find, remember and bind ourselves to the people who are good for us. A theory, built from a review of the research.
Good news travels
Telling others about something good that happened adds joy on top of the event itself. Most when the other person responds with interest.
The gift is shared
Spending money on others makes us happier than spending it on ourselves. A large replication in 2020 found the effect again, but it was smaller and depended on how the experiment was set up.
Everyone hears why
We learn behaviour by watching what others do and what happens to them afterwards.
Bandura, social learning 1977
Mood spreads
In a lab experiment, positive mood spread through the group and led to more cooperation and less conflict.
Helping spreads
In lab experiments, cooperation spread from person to person, up to three steps out.
Safety
In 51 teams at a manufacturing company, psychological safety went with more learning: people asked, sought feedback and talked about mistakes. That gave better results.
It ties in with a yearly goal I have had in all my teams: everyone has to have helped a colleague succeed with a task the colleague owns. It has to be documented, and it counts when the annual bonus is settled. The award makes that behaviour visible. The yearly goal makes it part of the job.
I have not measured the effect of the award on its own. Employee satisfaction and retention were high in those years, but a lot else happened at the same time. Still, colleagues confirmed the behaviour on their own, and one winner passed the award on by nominating someone else.
If you want to try it
Three things I would keep. The person nominating stands up and puts their name to it. The why gets said out loud, so everyone hears what good looks like. And the gift has to be shared with someone outside work, because that is where the ripples get biggest.