4 ms·

Counterpoint: if you're going to run an all-hands with any kind of frequency, please ensure that virtually all the content is relevant to virtually all the atte

by fenomas 10y ago

Counterpoint: if you're going to run an all-hands with any kind of frequency, please ensure that virtually all the content is relevant to virtually all the attendees. I spent many years at an (otherwise excellent) company that did quarterly all-hands meetings, which were de-facto sales events. The country manager (also the president of sales) went through the sales targets, then the sales pipeline, and then handed out awards to those involved in the biggest sales. Usually there followed some kind of presentation from engineering or marketing, with content meant to be useful to the sales staff. For the people outside of sales there was a bit where other regional managers handed out awards, so at best there was something to look forward to and at worst it was a waste of time. But for the handful of us who also didn't report to one of those managers, the whole thing bordered on demoralizing.

minikites 10y ago
I think this is the biggest problem with something like an "all-hands" meeting. Most of them end up needing to pass out ribbons like these: https://buyolympia.com/q/Item=will-bryant-i-survived-another-meeting-ribbon https://buyolympia.com/q/Item=will-bryant-i-survived-another...
_puk 10y ago
If the company is small enough, and the all-hands frequent enough, those awards become a 'who haven't we given an award to yet', which ultimately undermines the point of giving it out in the first place.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  >those awards become a 'who haven't we given an award to yet' // Why would it matter, surely you award those who've acted exemplary regardless of prior awards. A company that handed out rewards in any other fashion would be unusual, wouldn't it?
  - ryanbrunner 10y ago
    Having been on exec teams that have chosen who to give these rewards to, there's always an enormous amount of politics in the decision to who to give the reward to. Who's received in in the past is definitely a factor.
- fenomas 10y ago
  There's nothing wrong with recognizing people per se. It doesn't need to be a "biggest X of the year" award, either - just calling someone up because they've just finished a 6-month project successfully is a fine thing to do in an all-hands. In a big enough company it's worth it just so people know what other orgs are doing. My point was just that it can be tedious/demoralizing for people who aren't eligible to be called up.
  - bunderbunder 10y ago
    As someone who doesn't work on client facing stuff, I've found the recognition section does become tedious and slightly demoralizing over time. At least where I've worked, the awards always go to someone who made a big sale or went the extra mile for a specific client, which means that folks whose job is to build the product are effectively not eligible. Or if they are recognized, it's always for a generic team accomplishment, which ends up feeling like, "$group_of_20_people hit a delivery target! Golf clap everyone!"
    - jschwartzi 10y ago
      Yeah, I've noticed that there's never any recognition of anything I'm involved in from anyone I don't report to. I can only conclude from this that the work I'm assigned doesn't actually matter all that much to the rest of the company. It's very tempting to phone it in while looking for another job. It's basically a meeting for QA and manufacturing to remind everyone about QA and manufacturing.
    - alistairSH 10y ago
      Push your org to implement some sort of peer-recognition system. My employer's (large commercial software company) award system is peer-based - anybody can suggest an award, from simple kudos up to multi-thousand dollar awards. Kudos don't require approval and are typically announced in weekly or monthly team meetings. The larger things are announced in the division or company-wide meetings, as appropriate. The system actually doesn't allow generic team awards. It can be a bit annoying, but it also prevents what you describe. If I want to recognize a team, I have to call out each person individually. As a project manager (but with no direct reports), I try to award a few kudos per quarter, just to let my peers (including all the teams I work with regularly, that's 50 developers/testers) know I'm paying attention. I typically submit a few larger awards per year. So far, I haven't had any outright rejected by my director or VP, only the level adjusted (both up and down). Edit - another thought - I also proactively seek feedback from product management and sales. It doesn't take a lot of feedback to make a difference in team morale. While my teams are directly client facing, it's not difficult to obtain client feedback that is directly relevant to my projects.
- alistairSH 10y ago
  Do they really need to be formal awards, and not just "And a big thanks you to Cindy for her work on project X!" (followed by a sentence or two about why X matters).
- vpresident 10y ago
  In a small team, if you can't toss a kudos for an employee once in a while it means that you don't know what he's doing, or he needs help to improve his work.
toomanybeersies 10y ago
Haha, sounds a lot like and reminds me of assembly back in school. Sit there for an hour or two to hear how well the rowing team or the rugby team went, listen to a speech or two by some coaches and be generally thoroughly bored through the whole thing. Never quite understood the purpose of those assemblies, and I still don't.
- keenerd 10y ago
  Searching lockers?
- beachstartup 10y ago
  also known as pep rallies.
  - bunderbunder 10y ago
    It's an accurate name. I always did feel a bit more pepped up after the chance to take a midafternoon nap.
jondubois 10y ago
Yeah, it just serves to remind you that you're just a small fish in a sea of people...

by fenomas 10y ago

minikites 10y ago

I think this is the biggest problem with something like an "all-hands" meeting. Most of them end up needing to pass out ribbons like these: https://buyolympia.com/q/Item=will-bryant-i-survived-another-meeting-ribbon https://buyolympia.com/q/Item=will-bryant-i-survived-another...

_puk 10y ago

If the company is small enough, and the all-hands frequent enough, those awards become a 'who haven't we given an award to yet', which ultimately undermines the point of giving it out in the first place.

pbhjpbhj 10y ago
>those awards become a 'who haven't we given an award to yet' // Why would it matter, surely you award those who've acted exemplary regardless of prior awards. A company that handed out rewards in any other fashion would be unusual, wouldn't it?
- ryanbrunner 10y ago
  Having been on exec teams that have chosen who to give these rewards to, there's always an enormous amount of politics in the decision to who to give the reward to. Who's received in in the past is definitely a factor.
fenomas 10y ago
There's nothing wrong with recognizing people per se. It doesn't need to be a "biggest X of the year" award, either - just calling someone up because they've just finished a 6-month project successfully is a fine thing to do in an all-hands. In a big enough company it's worth it just so people know what other orgs are doing. My point was just that it can be tedious/demoralizing for people who aren't eligible to be called up.
- bunderbunder 10y ago
  As someone who doesn't work on client facing stuff, I've found the recognition section does become tedious and slightly demoralizing over time. At least where I've worked, the awards always go to someone who made a big sale or went the extra mile for a specific client, which means that folks whose job is to build the product are effectively not eligible. Or if they are recognized, it's always for a generic team accomplishment, which ends up feeling like, "$group_of_20_people hit a delivery target! Golf clap everyone!"
  - jschwartzi 10y ago
    Yeah, I've noticed that there's never any recognition of anything I'm involved in from anyone I don't report to. I can only conclude from this that the work I'm assigned doesn't actually matter all that much to the rest of the company. It's very tempting to phone it in while looking for another job. It's basically a meeting for QA and manufacturing to remind everyone about QA and manufacturing.
  - alistairSH 10y ago
    Push your org to implement some sort of peer-recognition system. My employer's (large commercial software company) award system is peer-based - anybody can suggest an award, from simple kudos up to multi-thousand dollar awards. Kudos don't require approval and are typically announced in weekly or monthly team meetings. The larger things are announced in the division or company-wide meetings, as appropriate. The system actually doesn't allow generic team awards. It can be a bit annoying, but it also prevents what you describe. If I want to recognize a team, I have to call out each person individually. As a project manager (but with no direct reports), I try to award a few kudos per quarter, just to let my peers (including all the teams I work with regularly, that's 50 developers/testers) know I'm paying attention. I typically submit a few larger awards per year. So far, I haven't had any outright rejected by my director or VP, only the level adjusted (both up and down). Edit - another thought - I also proactively seek feedback from product management and sales. It doesn't take a lot of feedback to make a difference in team morale. While my teams are directly client facing, it's not difficult to obtain client feedback that is directly relevant to my projects.
alistairSH 10y ago
Do they really need to be formal awards, and not just "And a big thanks you to Cindy for her work on project X!" (followed by a sentence or two about why X matters).
vpresident 10y ago
In a small team, if you can't toss a kudos for an employee once in a while it means that you don't know what he's doing, or he needs help to improve his work.

toomanybeersies 10y ago

Haha, sounds a lot like and reminds me of assembly back in school. Sit there for an hour or two to hear how well the rowing team or the rugby team went, listen to a speech or two by some coaches and be generally thoroughly bored through the whole thing. Never quite understood the purpose of those assemblies, and I still don't.

keenerd 10y ago
Searching lockers?
beachstartup 10y ago
also known as pep rallies.
- bunderbunder 10y ago
  It's an accurate name. I always did feel a bit more pepped up after the chance to take a midafternoon nap.

jondubois 10y ago

Yeah, it just serves to remind you that you're just a small fish in a sea of people...