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Introducing Shoutouts 🎉 Celebrate Great Work When it Happens
Introducing Shoutouts 🎉 Celebrate Great Work When it Happens
How to set up Shoutouts and enable your teams in Slack
Ian LaPhilliph avatar
Written by Ian LaPhilliph
Updated this week

What can I learn from this page?

How to set up Shoutouts and enable your teams in Slack

Who is this guide for?

Account Admins

Enable values-driven work, build engagement and foster team appreciation in Slack 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:

TIP: Check out our course on how to leverage recognition at your organization for more resources and best practices.

NOTE: Your account may be hosted on our EU server. If so, you’ll notice ".eu" at the start of your account URL. If your organization is using the EU data center, please use this link to access Culture Amp Training.

How Shoutouts works

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

  • Including the word "shoutout" anywhere in the body of their message

  • Tagging one or more of their colleagues

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.

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Getting started with Shoutouts is simple

1. Install or update the Culture Amp app in Slack

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.

2. Turn on Shoutouts in Culture Amp

With the latest version of the Slack app installed, you can now turn Shoutouts on from the Shoutouts page under Account admin in Culture Amp. Users will not be notified when Shoutouts is turned on.

Once you turn Shoutouts on, you’ll also receive a direct message in Slack with some tips on getting started.

NOTE: Disco customers will need to uninstall Disco before installing Shoutouts

3. Add organizational values

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:

  • Including a value’s emoji in the body of the Slack message

  • Reacting to the Slack message with a value’s emoji

  • Selecting the value from the dropdown in the app’s threaded reply

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.

4. Add custom keywords

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. 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.

5. Add the Culture Amp app to Slack channels

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

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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.

6. Introduce Shoutouts to your team

TIP: Check out our Launch Kit to find templates for rolling out Shoutouts at your organization.

NOTE: Your account may be hosted on our EU server so you will notice ".eu" at the start of your account URL. If your organization is using the EU data center, please use this link to access Culture Amp Training.

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.

7. Give a shoutout to a colleague

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".

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

  • Including the value’s emoji in your message

  • Reacting to the message with a value’s emoji

  • Selecting the value from the dropdown in the message thread

8. Say thanks!

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!

TIP: Share our Shoutouts Guide for Employees article with managers and employees, as well as our quick tip video on how to give effective recognition.

NOTE: Your account may be hosted on our EU server. If so, you will notice ".eu" at the start of your account URL. If your organization is using the EU data center, please use this link to access Culture Amp Training.

FAQs

Must shoutouts be given in a specific Slack channel?

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.

How do employees view their shoutouts?

When employees receive a shoutout, it will appear under Mentions & reactions in Slack. Employees can also access their shoutouts at any time on their Shoutouts feed in Culture Amp, found under the Feedback menu in the navigation.

How do managers view their team's shoutouts?

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.

How do employees delete shoutouts?

Currently, only the author can delete shoutouts given in Slack. They can do this simply by deleting the original Slack message. Any shoutouts given by mistake, users will soon have the ability to remove from Culture Amp without needing to delete the original Slack message.

Can employees only give shoutouts from Slack?

Yes, shoutouts can currently only be given from Slack. Employees will soon be able to give shoutouts from Microsoft Teams too.

Can shoutouts be given in a private Slack channel?

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

Can shoutouts be given to more than one person at a time?

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 message. Shoutouts currently do not work for user groups in Slack.

How many custom values can be created?

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.

Can custom emojis be used when creating values?

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.

Additional resources

NOTE: Your account may be hosted on our EU server. If so you will notice ".eu" at the start of your account URL. If your organization is using the EU data center, please use this link to access Culture Amp Training.

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