Every company talks about company culture and employee engagement. But walking the talk is not easy.
“Ice cream socials aren’t cutting it anymore,” said Collin Caneva, founder of Lincoln startup AMPT. “It’s what we hear time and again. People want to be recognized for moments of greatness.”
AMPT is a real-time, social recognition platform designed to connect teams, motivate people and build culture around an organization’s core values.
“You can’t put a price tag on someone’s moment of greatness,” Caneva said. “There is no greater motivation than appreciation. If you miss those opportunities, you could wreck someone.”
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Game dev meets team dev
The AMPT interface has a social media feel, with an entire roster of employee pictures, personal interests and other information.
“There are many different ways people can engage,” said VP of Business Development Craig Spilker. “There are archetypes that game developers realized, and they are used in the platform to engage different people in different ways.”
Applying game development skills and principles to the AMPT platform is nothing new for Caneva. His earlier startup, Green Bein’ Productions, specialized in game dev.
“The concept of gamification applies here, weighting or scoring algorithms,” he said. “The AMPT platform is 100% different coding and back end, but the skills can be transferred to the new platform.”
How AMPT works
When a user logs into the AMPT dashboard, they have an instant opportunity to “nudge” or give someone recognition, which stays with them permanently. A nudge can be aligned with one or more of the company’s core beliefs, and gifts can be added.
“When we start with a client, probably 20 to 30 percent of employees know their core values,” Spilker said. “Within 6 months of using AMPT, it jumps to 60%.”
Points are assigned based on nudges given or received, and there is a leaderboard.
“Scoring is based on participation, nudges given, nudges received,” said VP of Operations Shannon Wooten. “Competitive people want their score to be at the top.”
Redefining recognition
APMT delivers a turn-key operation, with team photos and other features pre-loaded. For larger companies, simply having a place to see pictures of other team members adds value.
“A client told us that one of their employees had been in a cube next to another person for a long time but was too embarrassed to ask their name,” Spilker said. “Putting a name to a face is a first step toward recognition.”
What are some of the obstacles you’ve run into?
“We fight the notion that tenure is the best recognition, and that leaders know what culture is,” Spilker said. “We see that saying thanks is powerful enough.”
Caneva agrees.
“Tenure doesn’t push performance, and you can’t scale handwritten notes or email,” he said. “We came up with a real simple way to recognize people for behavior that supports core values.”
Actually fun enterprise software
Simplicity is one of AMPT’s core values. It is something that resonates with the health care industry, the company’s primary market.
“Everyone’s inundated with tech, specifically in health care, making massive purchases and implementations,” Caneva said. “We’re told this is the easiest and most fun platform to implement and utilize.”
What about other markets besides health care?
“We’re in staffing, manufacturing, construction, fast food,” Caneva said. “We also work with schools where teachers can recognize students, and they can recognize each other.”
It might be expected that incidents of inappropriate use of the system occur.
“We’ve not had anything super offensive,” Wooten said. “It’s not a tool for bullying. If there’s something offensive or questionable, someone can flag it and an admin will be notified.”
The capability to integrate with common management software like Slack or Yammer adds to the platform’s simplicity.
“That’s what’s expected out of a next-gen platform,” Caneva said. “There’s no better answer than AMPT. One hundred percent.”
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Rod Armstrong is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for AIM in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a regular contributor to Silicon Prairie News.
