Best practices for High Fives

While extremely simple, there is an art and science to giving meaningful High Fives. Here's our cheat sheet for high-fiving like a boss. 🖐


Best practices for High Fives

Focus on the small things

It isn’t always the big wins or gestures that merit appreciation. Look around and you’ll likely notice dozens of small moments worth celebrating. It could be someone’s demeanor or their attention to detail.

What to do: @Maria, I really admire how you take such an interest in everyone’s well-being.

Be specific

General high fives are less meaningful for the recipient. What specifically did your co-worker do that was so awesome? People want to know what they did that got your attention. 

What to do: @Courtney great job writing that research-backed blog post - the research elements that you included were extremely relevant to the feature we were highlighting. 

What not to do: @Courtney great job writing that blog post! 

Include the impact

Sharing the impact your co-worker had on you makes recognition twice as meaningful. Don’t only thank them for what they did, also share the impact it had on you personally or professionally!

What to do: @Shane you did a great job speaking about 15Five at the conference this weekend. You articulated our “why” in an inspiring manner which left prospects interested in learning more about our product!

What not to do: @Shane you did a great job speaking about 15Five at the conference this weekend.

Cite company values

If your company has company values in 15Five, you can #hashtag the company value in your High Five. Doing so means the High Five not only contains the impact, but also the company value that was displayed by the person. Since company values are included in Best-Self Review® and in High Fives, account administrators have multiple places to report on culture champions and spot trends!

Other tips

After you’ve written an amazing high five, you’ll have the option to send it privately or publicly. Keep your audience in mind before your click Send. Some people like to be recognized privately, while others like to be recognized publicly. 

Remember, recognition should be both timely and frequent! For additional resources on High Fives, click here

Check out these additional resources ⬇️

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