Engagement Technique: Shout Outs!

Recognition doesn’t need a programme, a platform, or a quarterly budget review, it can be as simple as giving the platform for your team to do it themselves!

Shout Outs are one of the simplest and most effective engagement techniques you can run. They create space for people to publicly thank a colleague for something specific, meaningful, and often unseen.

How it works

Well, you can do it in a number of different ways, whatever works best for you, but think about where you get your whole company together.

At its simplest, Shout Outs work brilliantly in a town hall or all-hands meeting. Reserve 5 minutes of this check in to open the floor and invite people to say thank you to a colleague. It’s good to have these sent in advance for review, and you can encourage them to explain why this thank you has been given. Explain what the person did, and why it mattered.

This can be less appealing for the more introvert employees, so it could be that you have a ‘shout out’ spokesperson to read for them – think about what works best for your team. To add a little extra energy, you can ask a senior leader to pick their standout shout out and reward it. The reward doesn’t need to be huge – a voucher, small prize, or public recognition is often enough, but it shows that recognition isn’t just reserved for senior leaders, yet senior leaders are listening too!

Supersize it

If you want this to run continuously, create a dedicated Kudos or Shout Outs channel in Slack or Teams. This becomes a public stream of appreciation that:

Shows what great behaviour looks like in practice.
Highlights work leaders may not see day to day.
Is genuinely uplifting to read.
Is especially powerful for new starters, who quickly see what’s valued.

You can keep it simple, or add light incentives:

A monthly or quarterly reward for standout shout outs.
Multiple smaller prizes rather than one big one.
If budget allows, regular rewards that anyone can win.

Set a budget, make sure it works for your company size so the cost doesn’t spiral – but it doesn’t have to be huge, if any – what you’re curating is a live feed of what’s engaging people, what’s being appreciated, and where your culture is strongest.

Why it works

Builds a habit of peer-to-peer recognition.
Reinforces positive behaviour in real time, creating a record of positivity.
Strengthens relationships across teams.
Makes appreciation visible, not just implied.

Most importantly, it’s EASY. It doesn’t rely on managers alone, and everyone gets to notice and celebrate great work.

What to watch out for

Encourage specific shout outs. “Thanks for being great” is nice; “Thanks for staying late to help with that deadline” is powerful.
It can be gamified – although really, if people are finding ways to get things ‘shouted out’, let the games begin
Make sure recognition doesn’t stay within the same small group – leaders can help spread it around, find ways to get teams involved, i.e. encourage at least one per department and a spokesperson for the team (someone who is encouraged to source a thank you)
Keep it genuine. Forced praise kills the magic.
The idea is to make it inclusive – consider your approach to introducing this that it doesn’t alienate. Maybe work with employees to find out a version of this that works for as many as possible. Maybe combine the slack channel with the weekly all-hands!

The takeaway

Shout Outs prove that recognition doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive to be effective. When people feel seen and appreciated by their peers, engagement follows.

This post is part of our Engagement Techniques series of practical, low-cost ideas to bring more connection and meaning into work. Find the rest here

👉 Want to explore techniques like this in more depth? I run interactive employee engagement workshops where we bring these ideas to life.