Recognition analytics in Slack
A Slack employee recognition leaderboard built for healthy team habits
Make appreciation visible without reducing culture to a score. Karl turns Slack kudos into a clear recognition rhythm, with leaderboards and analytics that help teams learn what is working.
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Set up and view your Slack leaderboard
- Start with a recorded kudos. Install Karl, invite it to your recognition channel, and send a kudos using
/kudos @teammate for …. Choose the teammate using Slack’s mention picker and complete the confirmation. - Ask Karl in Slack. Mention the app and type
@Karl leaderboardin the channel. The response lists recipients and their kudos counts for the current calendar month. - Choose the channel scope. In the dashboard’s Team Settings, use Separate kudos counts per channel when you want the Slack response to count only the channel where you requested it. With this setting off, the response uses workspace-wide counts. Requests in a DM use workspace-wide counts.
- Review this month or last month. Open Leaderboard in the Karl dashboard and choose This month or Last month. The dashboard view uses workspace-wide counts.
What the numbers mean
| Signal | Definition |
|---|---|
| Kudos count | The number of recorded kudos received by a person in the selected month and scope. Each recipient of a kudos receives one count. |
| Month | A calendar month, not a rolling 30-day window. Check the month printed with the leaderboard before comparing results. |
| Rank | Recipients ordered by kudos count. Equal counts are a tie in recognition volume, even if displayed on separate numbered rows. |
| Empty result | There may be no recorded kudos for that month or channel. Check the period, scope, and whether the kudos was submitted. |
Illustrative example: Sam receives three kudos and Priya receives two during September. A new kudos addressed to both adds one to each recipient: Sam has four and Priya has three. It does not measure hours worked, business impact, or job performance.
For a monthly review, read a few of the underlying messages and ask which contributions were less visible. Do not compare a small channel directly with the whole workspace. Use specific kudos examples to help people recognize a wider range of work.
Measure recognition, not popularity
A leaderboard can help a team notice momentum, but a raw ranking is not the goal. The useful question is whether more people are seeing and sharing specific examples of great work.
Karl keeps the context attached to each kudos and lets leaders look at participation, values, and trends together. That makes the leaderboard a prompt for better recognition—not a substitute for feedback or compensation decisions.
Use the leaderboard well
- • Review a clear calendar month and keep the channel scope consistent.
- • Celebrate both recipients and the people who recognize others.
- • Look for under-recognized teams, values, and contribution types.
- • Share the stories behind the numbers in a team ritual.
Recognition signals leaders can act on
Participation
See whether recognition is spreading beyond a small group of frequent contributors.
Values in practice
Learn which company values are showing up in day-to-day work and where examples are missing.
Team visibility
Compare recognition patterns thoughtfully across channels, teams, or time periods.
Recognition stories
Keep the original kudos close so a number always has a human example behind it.
TV stream mode
Share a live stream of wins in an office, all-hands, or team event without a new ritual to maintain.
Analytics over time
Use trends to guide manager coaching, onboarding, and the next recognition experiment.
A leaderboard is one part of the recognition loop
Notice: teammates share a specific contribution in Slack.
Reinforce: the kudos connects the contribution to a value or outcome.
Learn: leaders review trends and invite more people into the habit.
Repeat: the team uses a lightweight ritual to keep recognition timely.
For more ideas, read our guide to monthly workplace leaderboards and the practical employee incentive ideas that can complement recognition.
Frequently asked questions
What is an employee recognition leaderboard?+
It is a view of recognition activity that helps a team see contributions and participation over a set period. Karl connects leaderboard activity to kudos in Slack, with optional values and analytics for context.
How do we keep a leaderboard healthy?+
Use it as a conversation starter, not a performance score. Rotate recognition themes, celebrate different kinds of contributions, and pair numbers with the specific stories behind the kudos.
Can we use recognition without ranking people?+
Yes. Karl can keep kudos visible in channels and analytics without making a leaderboard the center of your program. Teams can choose the rhythm and level of visibility that fits their culture.
Make recognition part of the workday.
Start with the Slack workflow your team already uses, then measure the habits that grow from it.