LiftUp is a Microsoft Teams application designed to enhance appreciation within organizations through praise, with the goal of strengthening team culture.
This help page covers the core principles and demonstrates how to give praise. For installation and configuration details, please refer to the installation guidelines.
LiftUp is founded on the idea that praise is most impactful when shared publicly. Public praise allows the entire team to celebrate achievements together. Team members can join in by adding emoji reactions to the praise.
Public praise also makes work visible, a key principle of the working out loud movement. Visible work fosters conversation, collaboration, and networking, thereby increasing its value.
Another key principle of LiftUp is that positive feedback should be given frequently by as many users as possible. An organization can benefit greatly by focusing on the many good things that happen daily.
LiftUp has several “touchpoints” for the user:
Personal Mode can be accessed from the left sidebar. It provides:
When LiftUp is installed in a team or chat, it automatically sets up the team tab in the chosen channel during installation. The LiftUp tab can be installed in any channel of a team as desired (it is not required for LiftUp to work).
The Team Tab displays:
In every team where LiftUp is installed, LiftUp can be opened below the message box. It is also possible for admins to permanently place the LiftUp icon in this bar. See our admin guide for this.
There are two ways to give praise:
The easiest way is to use the icon below the message box to open a LiftUp dialog for entering praise. This editor is tailored to support with composing and editing of praise.
A simpler method that allows adding an image or video alongside the praise message. Just write a plain message in your Teams channel and mention the LiftUp bot like this:
@LiftUp @SomeUser Absolutely stunning presentation #outstanding
Mention the LiftUp bot and use the praise command to include other mentioned users in the praise. You can also include tags starting with a hash.
@LiftUp @AnotherUser @AndaThird For fixing the Kubernetes login in no time #caretaker #infrastructure
Here is an example of giving praise to multiple people with multiple tags:
@LiftUp @SomeUser Helping me solve the installation problem #techwizard
This method is best if you want to include an image or video in your praise, as you can do it in the same message.
Praise becomes more enjoyable when other team members add reactions. This can be done via the normal Microsoft Teams reaction or the “Add” button, which offers access to all available emojis, adding a new level of expression and fun to every praise.
Organizations upload custom icons for praise reactions, representing departments, teams, or technical frameworks, increasing the expressiveness of reactions.
Praise lasts forever—until it doesn’t. Common reasons for editing a praise message include correcting spelling mistakes or adding a forgotten team member.
The author of a praise can edit an existing praise by selecting the ”…” button on the praise message. This is also the way to delete a praise. Deleting a praise removes all reactions, updates the statistics, and deducts the related points. However, badges granted based on those points will not be removed.
The author and the administrators of LiftUp can delete a praise message.
Each praise and reaction awards points to the sender, receiver, and participants. The standard point schema is:
| Event | Praise Sender | Praise Receiver(s) | Praise Reactor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Praise given | 10 | 15 | - |
| Per emoji reaction | 2 | 3 | 3 |
LiftUp supports organization and team-specific ratings. If you prefer to emphasize the giving of praise more, you can configure a custom “rater” that awards more points to the author. Currently, there is no UI for this feature. If you would like to use it, please email us (contact info below).
Points are visible in the LiftUp Team tab if configured.
Challenges encourage giving praise over a longer period. A typical challenge spans several weeks, starting Monday UTC at 00:00 and ending Sunday UTC at 23:59.
Users can join a challenge in the first week by giving the number of praises defined in the challenge. Participants are visible in the LiftUp Team Tab user listing, where challenges are also advertised. They carry a grayed-out badge until they accomplish the challenge. If a user drops out, the badge is removed.
To stay in a challenge, users must give the required number of praises each week. LiftUp will remind participants who haven’t given the required praises by the end of the week.
If a user doesn’t give praise for a week, they drop out of the challenge unless they have “skipweeks” left. Skipweeks account for vacations, sickness, or temporary busyness, allowing users to remain in the challenge without giving praise for a certain number of weeks.
In Personal Mode -> Settings -> Privacy, users can opt-out, removing themselves from all statistics and reports generated by LiftUp.
We would love to hear from you! Whether you have a question, feature request, or problem, we are eager to help. You can find various ways to contact us on our website or send a direct email to info@liftup-teams.com.