Employee Spotlights: Shedding light on personal qualities.

The company in which I am employed is rapidly growing. With this, we are hiring at an increased rate.

Although this is a very exciting time for us, I am put into a position that I have not been in before. For the first time, I am unable to walk around the office and recall each individual’s name.

One of my favorite aspects of my job is the people I work with. We have always had a tight-knit dynamic. As incredible as it is to bring on new teammates, it has become harder to create the same level of relationships with others. This has nothing to do with who they are, it is simply due to the finite number of hours in the day to get to truly know one another.

It can feel like an impossible task to set time aside for everyone to continue deepening relationships.

However, this does not mean that the company cannot create avenues to assist in teammates getting to know one another better.

My previous newsletter focused on the addition of icebreakers in team meetings and events. This is certainly one way to better understand who somebody is beyond their profession. However, I’d like to recommend another form of recognition: Employee Spotlights.

What are Employee Spotlights?

It’s simple. An employee spotlight is the act of drawing attention to one of the many talented individuals at your company.

Not only does this give recognition and praise to the employee, but it allows others to better understand that person’s accomplishments, interests, or unique personal factors.

As a company grows, it is very unlikely that each employee will interact with one another. Teams will begin to spend more time within their own groups and less with other departments or teams. Growth creates unintentional silos. Again, this isn’t because people don’t like each other. It’s because they don’t have a reason to speak to one another. They haven’t had any opportunity to break the ice.

Employee spotlights can fix this problem. As other employees learn more about those they work with, they may notice a thing or two similarities. This immediately acts as a tool to break the ice.

For example, if I noticed in a spotlight that someone else loved the outdoors as much as I did, I would be quick to introduce myself by sharing that I shared a passion with them. Just like that, a working relationship has begun.

What’s the best format for this?

Every company has different means of communicating as a team. Our company tends to use messaging channels like Slack and Email the most.

Because of this, it would be best for us to use the company-wide email to spotlight an employee.

Depending on the amount of departments your company has, take turns featuring an employee from each sector. Have the department head submit a spotlight page to your company’s systems administrator to share with everyone.

Each week, have an email sent to everyone that features somebody different in the company. It is important to include individuals on all levels. Executives ought to learn about those in the trenches and vice versa.

Here are a few things that I would consider including in your spotlight:

→ Where is the person originally from?

→ How long have they worked at the company?

→ What is their current role at the company?

→ Do they have a spouse, children, or pets?

→ What are their personal hobbies or passions?

→ What is their favorite food?

→ Do they speak another language?

→ What do they consider to be their greatest accomplishments?

→ What are their career ambitions?

I would also encourage you to include a series of photos of this person. Perhaps one of them professionally, one with their family, and one of them participating in a passion of theirs.

As simple as that is, we have just created a series of icebreakers for other employees to approach this one. Friendships can kickstart significantly faster because the company or manager has created an avenue to reveal personal characteristics.

Now, when I walk into the break room to grab a snack, I will have something to talk about when I see the employee who was featured in that week’s employee spotlight.

Create your own avenue.

Consider creating a template or a sheet of questions that can be used to gather and share information about someone else.

Send this template to a different manager each Friday and plan to post the employee spotlight on the following Monday.

Discuss this opportunity amongst your colleagues and department heads to confirm that they feel this will benefit the culture and community of the organization.

If the vote is unanimous, it’s time to get started!

Don’t wait to draw deserving attention toward your teammates and employees. This is another free and quick mechanism that enhances buy-in and engagement in the company as a whole!