Hang It on the Wall

“Tell us about something you did this year at work that had special meaning to you.” That was the invitation for Hang It on the Wall, a year-end tradition in my groups at Responsys, Oracle, and DocuSign. Each person had up to two minutes to share a story about something they did and why it deserved a spot on their figurative wall. Unlike conventional year-end awards, Hang It on the Wall was not about me recognizing a few stars; it was about everyone recognizing their own contributions and appreciating those of others. If that sounds too kumbaya, just know the business benefits stack up well against those of traditional awards.

By and For Everyone

People in organizations I led ranged from vice presidents with decades in the workforce to young adults right out of college. So the first thing to understand about Hang It on the Wall is that everything was relative. A rookie’s story about shipping her first feature enhancement could be as momentous as a VP’s story about overhauling our flagship product’s entire user interface. The cheering was for everyone, by everyone, and always heartfelt.

Leveling-up stories were always popular. Early-career product marketer Kelli ended up co-presenting the DocuSign product keynote at one of our international conferences; it was her first time presenting in a theater-style setting to hundreds of customers. Senior Director Eve did something similar, except she delivered a solo sales-kickoff keynote to more than a thousand reps and every executive in the company.

Then there were the overcoming-adversity stories. Justin needed to arrange coverage for three overlapping maternity leaves on his four-person team. Nisha needed to create and give seven different executive-level customer presentations in her first three months on the job, despite that not being her role’s main focus.

Creative-solution stories were another favorite. A former aide on Capitol Hill, Seth used his contacts to help DocuSign weigh in on legislation under consideration. Julian was able to seize a last-minute spotlight opportunity at a partner conference by recruiting a joint customer to speak. Nate and Keith hooked salespeople on competitive-intelligence emails with funny and visually clever infographic-style content.

And there were conquering-complexity stories. Natalie needed to reverse-engineer a standardized pricing model from an acquired company’s crazy quilt of bespoke contracts. Gabrielle and AB managed the complex process of sunsetting Responsys’ original analytics module, migrating hundreds of large-scale customers to a newer module.

Other story genres included being a mentor, helping win a complex deal, orchestrating a key product launch, anchoring a cross-functional effort, creating a high-impact deliverable, improving a business process, championing a new initiative—the list goes on.

Although the storyteller was central to each story, many people emphasized that their individual success depended on teamwork and the support of others. This reinforced a positive spirit of all for one and one for all.

Benefits to the Business

Hang It on the Wall was an unapologetically feel-good event, but it had several business purposes and benefits:

• It gave people examples to learn from. Each story showed a way someone had met a challenge, seized an opportunity, or improved how work got done. People could see possibilities for their own work in what their colleagues had accomplished.

• It set a target. People knew that Hang It on the Wall was coming at year’s end. As they went about their activities during the year, they looked for ways to rise above their norm.

• It encouraged managers to up their game. They also knew Hang It on the Wall was coming, and they wanted their employees to shine. So during the year, they were on the lookout for ways their employees could do something meaningful—for the employee, not just the manager. This was a nudge toward keeping managers conscious of enabling employees’ success rather than simply giving them work.

• It created awareness of and respect for others’ roles. Executive assistant Elaine opened everyone’s eyes to the logistical and political complexities of moving an entire floor of people to a differently configured space. This kind of work tends not to be noticed when it occurs without drama or surprises—which is exactly the outcome that should be most appreciated. Because of Hang It on the Wall, it was. More generally, people got a better sense of what others outside their immediate team actually did.

• It reinforced cultural values. As the meeting host, I commented briefly after each story, pointing out what I especially appreciated; where possible, I also made connections to other goals or efforts in the business. This was a chance to name what our organization’s culture valued, anchored to something everyone had just heard. Values stated in the abstract were easy to nod at and forget; values exemplified by a colleague’s actions were remembered and retold.

• It cultivated storytelling skills. There are many uses for being able to concisely and compellingly explain what you did and why it mattered. For most people, this did not come naturally. Needing to do it, and seeing others do it, cultivated the skill. It made people better communicators in their current and future roles.

Compared to traditional awards, which tend to recognize people who already stand out, Hang It on the Wall did something different. It provided a platform for elevating everyone’s game. Although not an either-or situation, I’d argue that elevating everyone is far more valuable to the business.

Benefits to the People

In surveys of people in my org, Hang It on the Wall was often cited as a highlight. People loved the opportunity to be seen and heard at their best, not just by a few immediate colleagues but by the larger org, including me.

That’s consistent with research about job satisfaction: most people want their work to matter. In my experience, they also want others to recognize that it matters. Hang It on the Wall was a way to turn those individual instincts into a shared benefit.

To be clear, people weren’t always pursuing Hang It on the Wall achievements—much of work is just stuff that needs to get done. Yet sometimes it can be more. The lesson of Hang It on the Wall is: if you create a culture that seeks and embraces opportunities for it to be more, people will rise to the occasion. And when you recognize each person’s accomplishment and why it was special to them, both the individual and the group feel it.

Ben Chuba, a VP in my DocuSign org, made a good observation to me about this:

The entire experience sent people home for the holidays on a high. During xmas and the new year, people inevitably reflect on their life as they talk with family. You ensured that our “hang it on the wall” project was top of mind. While other people were complaining about their jobs, we all had a great story to tell about how our SVP publicly recognized the impact we had at the organization.

Ben is among those who have carried forward Hang It on the Wall to their organizations in subsequent companies—in his case, Cloudflare and Asana. If you lead an organization or a team, I encourage you to try it. The world can always use more work worthy of being hung on the wall, as well as the human connection of people admiring a job well done.

For how-to specifics, see Notes on Implementing “Hang It on the Wall”.