Enable values-driven work, build engagement and foster team appreciation in Slack and Microsoft Teams with Shoutouts. Shoutouts is a real-time recognition tool that helps celebrate, socialize, and reinforce behaviors that build an intentional culture around appreciation.

Use Shoutouts to celebrate great work in Slack, while making recognition available to employees at any time in Culture Amp. In this article, we'll cover:

After the Culture Amp app is installed and added to a public Slack channel, employees can give recognition by:

The Culture Amp app responds with an emoji, as well as a short reply in the thread of their message. Employees can find shoutouts given and received by navigating to the Shoutouts feed in Culture Amp.

Install the Culture Amp app in Slack from the Notifications page under Account Admin in Culture Amp. If you already have the app installed, update the app from that same page.

With the latest version of the Slack app installed, activate Shoutouts from the Shoutouts page under Account Admin in Culture Amp. Once enabled, Account Admins will receive a notification in Slack with some tips on getting started. Other Users won't be notified.

Organizational values allow you to connect your company culture with the behaviors that employees are recognized for every day. When you add your values, employees can tag one or more values to the recognition they give to colleagues in Slack.

Values can be tagged by either:

Anyone can choose to add values to a shoutout in Slack even if they aren’t the author of the shoutout. Values are restricted to any words or phrases that include 50 characters or less.

The Culture Amp app in Slack listens for the words "shoutout'" "shout out" and "shout-out" in public channels where the app is a member. You can tailor Shoutouts by adding other keywords to listen for.

To add a keyword, go to Settings > Shoutouts > Settings, and scroll down to the Keywords section:

Try adding keywords that match the praise words used by your organization (for example, kudos, mad props). Keywords are restricted to any words or phrases that include letters or hyphens and with 50 characters or less.

Add the Culture Amp app to any public channel in Slack. Simply type "@cultureamp" and hit Send.

You can also add the Culture Amp app to a channel by selecting Add an App from the Integrations tab in the channel's details.

Now that Shoutouts is set up in Slack, let your team know they can start to give simple, timely and authentic recognition without navigating away from the tools and spaces they already use. Asking senior leaders and other managers to model a practice of recognition is a great way to introduce Shoutouts to your organization.

Give a shoutout by including the word "shoutout" in the body of your message, like this: “shoutout @teammate and the awesome thing they did.” Shoutouts is not a slash command, so no need to start your message with "/" or even start the message with the word "shoutout".

Additionally, you can trigger a shoutout by adding a # in front of the word "shoutout," or including . or , after it.

If you’ve added custom values when setting up Shoutouts, consider including a value in your shoutout. Add a value by:

If you’re active in Slack when you receive a shoutout, you’ll see a message in the Slack channel where the shoutout was sent asking if you’d like to say thanks. This message is visible to only you. Saying thanks adds a short message to the app’s response letting the author know that you appreciate their shoutout!

When the Culture Amp app is added to a Team, users can give recognition by including the word "shoutout" anywhere in the body of the message and by tagging one or more of your colleagues.

The Culture Amp app responds with an emoji, as well as a short reply in the thread of the message. Users can find shoutouts given and received by navigating to the Shoutouts feed in Culture Amp.

For Shoutouts to function properly, the Culture Amp app must first be added to a team. It's important that the person installing the app in the team is also a member of that team to ensure successful integration.

Follow the steps below to install:

1. In Microsoft Teams, go to the "Apps" section on the left-hand sidebar.

2. Search for "Culture Amp" in the Apps search bar.

3. Click on the Culture Amp logo to open the app card, rather than selecting "open."

4. Next to "open," click the downward-facing arrow, then choose "add to a team."

5. Choose the team where you want to install the app, then select "add bot to team."

6. If the installation is successful, the Culture Amp app will send a welcome message to the General channel of the selected Team.

7. Once installed, users can give a shoutout using the Culture Amp app!

Give a shoutout by including the word ‘shoutout’ in the body of your message, like this: ‘shoutout @teammate and the awesome thing they did.’ Make sure to mention one or more colleagues in your message as well!

If your company has added custom values to Shoutouts, consider including a value in your shoutout. Add a value by:

If you’re active in Microsoft Teams when you receive a shoutout, you’ll see a message in the Team where the shoutout was sent asking if you’d like to say thanks. This message is visible to only you. Saying thanks adds a short message to the app’s response letting the author know that you appreciate their shoutout!

When someone gives you a shoutout in Slack, you'll find it under Mentions & reactions. In Microsoft Teams, the shoutout activity for a person can be found in the "activity" tab in the left hand bar.

You can also check all your shoutouts anytime on the Shoutouts feed in Culture Amp, under the Feedback menu.

Your view on the shoutouts feed depends on your role. Everyone sees You and Company tabs. You shows your personal shoutouts, while Company displays shoutouts across the whole company.

If you're a Manager, you get an extra Direct reports tab to see shoutouts your team members received.

In the Company tab you will see the below views:

When you receive a shoutout, you can also view it in Your feed on the Home page under the Recent section.

Shoutouts can be given in as many public Slack channels as you want. While some customers do create a dedicated Shoutouts channel, teams often give recognition in whatever channels are most convenient for them. Simply add @cultureamp to a public channel to give shoutouts.

When employees receive a shoutout, it will appear under Mentions & reactions in Slack. In Microsoft Teams, the shoutout activity for a person can be found in the "activity" tab in the left hand bar.

Employees can also access their shoutouts at any time on their Shoutouts feed in Culture Amp, found under the Feedback menu in the navigation. Additionally, shoutouts are also visible under Your feed on the Home page under the Recent section

People managers can access their team’s shoutouts on the Direct reports tab of their Shoutouts Feed in Culture Amp. This is where they will see all of the shoutouts given and received by their team – perfect for reviewing before a weekly 1-on-1 or during a performance review cycle. People managers can also access a direct report’s shoutouts from their profile during a performance review.

All shoutouts are visible to everyone via the Company tab. Managers can locate their indirect reports' shoutouts using the People filter there. Currently, the direct reports tab only includes shoutouts from direct reports.

Employees can easily remove a shoutout triggered in error by selecting Unmark as shoutout from the dropdown in the message's thread. Deleting the message will also remove the shoutout from Culture Amp.

No, currently shoutouts can only be given in public Slack channels. We do have plans to support private channel shoutouts in the future.

Yes, shoutouts can be given to as many individuals as you’d like! In order for shoutouts to work, at least one colleague must be tagged in your Slack or Microsoft Teams message. Shoutouts currently do not work for user groups in Slack.

You can create as many values as you would like. However, values are restricted to any words or phrases that include 50 characters or less.

To use custom emojis simply enter the shortcode you use in Slack to the value emoji text field. For example, ‘:smiley:’, ‘:thumbsup:’. Custom emojis will only display in Slack. They won’t display in Culture Amp.

Editing a previous Slack or Microsoft Teams message won't retroactively trigger a shoutout. The shoutout feature typically relies on specific triggers or commands within Slack or Microsoft Teams, so editing a message after the fact wouldn't activate it.

No, currently shoutouts must be added to each team individually, by a member of that team, to work properly.

Troubleshooting tips for Shoutouts in MS Teams:

No, at this time there are no export options available.

Yes, certain characters like ( ) [ ] { } & ^ % $ @ ! - + = \ | : ; " " < > ? / can block a shoutout from triggering if they appear at the beginning or end of the keyword.

No, an employee does not need to be an active user on Culture Amp to receive or provide a shoutout, but if they are not an active user, the shoutout won't appear in the Culture Amp feed.

No, shoutout data will only be removed from Culture Amp if the post itself is deleted or "unmarked as shoutout" from the Culture Amp bot response options.

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