Harnessing FOMO: An unexpected tool for getting (and keeping) your team engaged

Kody Atkinson, Support Manager at YNAB

Last year, YNAB started doing “Cross Team Coffee Breaks” where a team member would randomly start a thirty minute video call with no agenda that anyone in the company could join. We averaged 3-4 attendees to start, but the random time meant a lot of folks missed out. So, we added it to the company calendar at set times, twice a week…and participation plummeted. Rigid structure killed the fun and people stopped caring. In an effort to get people back on board, the hosts started posting recaps of all the fun things that came up during the calls…and it worked! Now our coffee breaks average 5 or more participants because people want to be part of the fun. A tiny dose of FOMO improved attendance and is increasing cross team engagement! Could a little FOMO motivate your team as well? If you’re looking for a way to get more of your team involved in something, see if you can trigger some FOMO by sharing what they missed by not taking part.

Takeaways:
People want to be part of fun. Give them a glimpse and curiosity will get them engaged.
Team engagement can work like product development. Build an MVP and iterate.
Let the team take the lead. Help engagement happen naturally, don’t try to force it.