Hero and Hassle of the Month

Early in the life of Pardot we heard feedback from our team that we needed to do a better job acknowledging employees that had gone above and beyond as well as hassles in the company that were impeding people from being as productive as possible. To help with this, and increase the internal communication, we introduced the Hero of the Month and the Hassle (or improvement) of the Month.

Here’s how it worked:

• Every morning, as part of our daily check-in, we’d ask an additional question: are there any heroes or hassles? The idea is that recognizing heroes and talking about hassles would be top-of-mind for everyone in the company each day.
• GetSatisfaction was used with a private idea exchange for the Hero of the Month and a separate one for the Hassle of the Month whereby employees submitted a hero or hassle and other employees voted on their favorite.
• At the monthly all-hands meeting, we’d recognize the Hero of the Month and the Hassle of the Month by giving a $100 bill to each winner and talking through the submissions in front of the whole team. And, as a bonus, each winner got to keep a cool SkyMall lawn ornament at their desk for the month.

Through this Hero and Hassle of the Month program, we significantly increased employee satisfaction and developed an environment focused on continual improvement. As startups grow, scaling the culture becomes more challenging, and this program worked well for us.

What else? What are some more thoughts on the Hero and Hassle of the Month?