What are Private kudos?

What it is

Private kudos are a form of employee recognition sent directly to one person — no channel broadcast, no public post, no audience. Unlike the open shoutout in #general, a private kudos lands in a one-on-one message, making the appreciation feel personal rather than performative. It's the digital equivalent of pulling someone aside after a meeting to say, "That was genuinely great work."

Why it matters

Not everyone wants the spotlight. Some people get more value from a quiet, sincere note than from applause in front of the whole company. If your recognition culture only rewards extroversion — the people who love a #kudos channel moment — you're quietly signaling to introverts, newer hires, and anyone who's conflict-averse that they matter a little less. That gap erodes belonging faster than most managers realize, and it shows up eventually in disengagement and attrition.

How to put it into practice

• Match the message to the person. Before you hit send, ask: does this person love public praise, or does it make them uncomfortable? When in doubt, private is the safer default.
• Be specific. "Great job this week" is forgettable. "The way you restructured that client brief on Tuesday saved us at least two rounds of revision" is not.
• Use it for sensitive wins. When someone overcomes a personal struggle — a rough onboarding stretch, a confidence dip, a quiet comeback — a private moment is almost always more powerful than a public one.
• Don't rely on it exclusively. Private kudos complement public recognition; they don't replace it. A healthy team has both. If you're only sending private kudos, check whether a fear of judgment is driving that habit.
• Build it into your Slack workflow. Asante lets you send recognition directly in a DM, so there's no friction — you don't need a separate tool or a workaround to make private appreciation feel real.

Watch out for

The biggest failure mode is using private kudos as a workaround for avoiding accountability — for example, praising someone privately while ignoring a bigger performance conversation that needs to happen publicly or at least directly. Private kudos are not a substitute for honest feedback. If recognition is always quiet and criticism is always loud, you've created an imbalance that people will notice and resent.