She brought up an interesting point: asking your colleague if (s)he wants recognition. Sending recognition is usually a decision made in the moment. Asking per

She brought up an interesting point: asking your colleague if (s)he wants recognition. Sending recognition is usually a decision made in the moment. Asking permission makes a process out of it. Having a process reduces your motivation to send recognition. Her five reasons are spot on. But I'd like to add that people should understand their work environments and the politics involved. It's easier with small to small-medium sized organizations where you know all or most of the managers and their quirks and know the politics at work. My environment is small-medium. Part of what we're judged on is helping colleagues. The managers are all onboard with it. When a colleague from the Unix admin team went out of his way to help my team I didn't hesitate to send his manager a message in praise of the effort. Getting a colleague in trouble for taking time out of assigned work is not an issue.