A Slack kudos bot for fast, visible recognition

How to give kudos in Slack with Karl

1. Install and choose a channel. Add Karl to your Slack workspace, review the permissions, and invite Karl to the channel where your team will share recognition. Ask your Slack admin if app approval is required.
2. Write the command and choose a person. Type /kudos, select a real teammate from Slack’s mention picker, and describe the contribution and its impact.
3. Review before sending. Karl opens a confirmation with your message. Choose an appropriate company value and an optional GIF; select None if you do not want a GIF.
4. Submit and check the channel. Submit the confirmation to share the kudos. The recipient is included in the monthly recognition count; the message gives the team the context behind it.

/kudos @Sam for documenting the release checklist. The support team could pick up the launch without another meeting.

This is example text. Replace @Sam with a Slack mention and describe work you observed. For more wording, use our 24 Slack kudos message examples.

If your first kudos does not work

• The command is unavailable: check that you are in the workspace where Karl was installed and that the app installation was approved.
• You see help instead of a confirmation: include a teammate mention and the reason after /kudos. Select the person in Slack rather than pasting a plain-text name.
• You are in a direct message: move to your recognition channel. Karl’s kudos command is intended for channel recognition and rejects direct-message use.
• A company value is missing: review the values configured in the Karl dashboard. The available choices come from your workspace’s values.

Review Karl’s Slack permissions before installation, or contact support if setup is still blocked.

Review your first week of kudos

Count the people giving and receiving recognition as well as the messages. Four kudos from one person tell a different story from four kudos shared across the team.

1. Choose the group and dates. Write down who is taking part and use seven consecutive dates for the first review. Keep setup tests separate from recognition of real work.
2. Open the Karl dashboard. Set the start and end dates. In Stats, review Kudos Given, Givers, and Receivers; open Kudos to read the messages behind the counts.
3. Keep the scope consistent. Dashboard totals cover the workspace. If your pilot is one team or channel within a larger workspace, review the relevant kudos records before comparing them with your pilot group.

A six-person workspace, four kudos

Fictional worked example: Alex, Sam, Priya, Lee, Jordan, and Morgan take part in a one-week pilot.

4 kudos messages

Each message counts once. Sam received two of them.

3 of 6 people gave kudos

Alex, Priya, and Sam each count once as a giver.

3 of 6 people received kudos

Sam, Lee, and Jordan each count once as a receiver.

5 of 6 people gave or received

Sam appears in both lists, so count Sam once in the combined group.

Calculate these fractions manually using the size of your agreed pilot group.

Decide what to try in week two

This example shows recognition beyond the launch owner, but it does not tell us why Morgan is absent. Check whether the workflow is clear and whether quieter work is being noticed. Ask the team whether the messages feel useful before expanding; kudos counts do not measure job performance.

If one person gives nearly all the kudos, share a relevant message example and invite voluntary participation. If messages are vague, connect them to a concrete behavior using the company values walkthrough. Use the same group and date length for the next review.

Review your workspace in Karl, or follow the 14-day Slack recognition launch plan if you are preparing your first rollout.