What Is An Awesomeness Group?

Have you ever felt that when you do good things people don’t notice, but if you make one mistake, there is a chain of emails that starts flowing? You are not alone in this feeling. Everyone experiences the same things because we do the same things.

We don’t take time to appreciate and recognize people when good things happen every day.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With just a few simple steps, you can start making a gradual change toward daily recognition, appreciation, and gratitude in the workplace.

One amazing way could be to start an Awesomeness group.

What Is An Awesomeness Group?

The concept of an Awesomeness group is pretty simple. It’s a dedicated group comprised of all the employees at your company where only three things happen: recognition, appreciation, and gratitude.

There are no other goals or agendas: just expressions of gratitude and words of encouragement and appreciation, spread amongst the entire team.

That means you’ll need to put your Awesomeness group in a separate channel or thread on Whatsapp, Slack, Skype, Facebook, or whichever platform you use to communicate internally. That way, it is completely independent of all other work-related groups, and there is no confusion or crossover.

How do we know that this concept works in practice? We know because we’ve been honing and perfecting the Awesomeness group at our company for about a dozen years now.

When we first founded the Awesomeness group, we didn’t get off to a great start.

To be honest, we did struggle for the first two or three years.

But – and this is the most important thing – we kept at it, adding our own solutions as we went along and figuring out what worked best.

For the past few years now, the Awesomeness group has been the core of everything we do. It’s a positive space that anyone in the workplace can go to when so many things aren’t going right in their day and their need a bit of cheering up. They can read through all the comments in this group and feel calm, happy, and inspired by all the good vibes.

(Read about the mistakes we made and how we corrected it here: 10 Mistakes To Avoid To Make Your Awesomeness Group Work.)

Now you know what an Awesomeness group is! But we still need to explain the philosophy behind it, so that you can understand how and why it works.

What Is The Awesomeness Group Philosophy ?

We all still carry the same reptilian brain we had 2 million years ago. Very little has changed in terms of our behavior.

The number one function of this brain (or rather, a group of structures in the brain called the basal ganglia) is still to protect us, which means it is always looking out for what is not going right, what does not look normal. It’s checking to see if this thing we perceive as wrong or abnormal is going to harm us.

Of course, these actions do keep us safe, but they also force our brains to always look for mistakes and see the world in a more negative light. That’s why when someone does something wrong, we get worked up, but when they are doing everything right and all is proceeding according to plan, we perceive it as normal and safe.

In other words when things are good, our natural instinct is not to appreciate it. But when things go wrong, our instinct is to highlight it in order to correct it. That’s why we get so upset if the correction doesn’t happen or is slow to be implemented. Our reptilian brain knows that this situation is not normal, and it’s not happy about it.

The intention behind establishing an Awesomeness group is to change people’s focus on what is going right (recognition) and, most importantly, share it with the rest of the company (appreciation). Small things that may otherwise go unnoticed get highlighted for everyone to acknowledge and praise. It’s all about building a culture of positivity and workplace camaraderie with a bit of excitement and fun.

In addition to giving and receiving recognition and appreciation, we can’t forget one other important element: gratitude. Being grateful releases chemicals in our brain – serotonin and dopamine, specifically – which make us feel good, irrespective of age, position in the company, or the type of work each one of us does. This is another way to maximize the positive effects that your Awesomeness group can have on you and your coworkers.

Resources For Your Awesomeness Group

If you don’t have one already, I encourage you to set up your own Awesomeness group, so you can experience all the benefits of recognition, appreciation, and gratitude in the workplace. You’ll find that it’s easy to set up and hugely rewarding.

I have written various articles to help you to get started, including one with a list of mistakes you should try to avoid and one with challenges you might face.

Conclusion

Have you already started your own Awesomeness group? Are you planning to? If so, I’d like to hear from you about how it’s going. Sound off in the comments below and be sure to refer to the resources above if you ever get stuck.