A Niko-Niko Calendar is a simple yet powerful tool used by teams to track mood and boost morale over time.
This guide will provide an overview of a Niko-Niko Calendar, how it works, its key benefits, and examples of how it can be used in corporate settings.
What is a Niko-Niko Calendar?
A Niko-Niko Calendar is a large calendar or chart displayed in a shared team space where team members can quickly indicate their daily mood or morale.
The name comes from the Japanese term “niko-niko” which means “smile”.
Each day on the calendar has a space for team members to mark a smiley face that represents how they are feeling that day.
The smiley faces typically range from very positive to very negative.
For example:
- Big smile 😁 for feeling great.
- Neutral face 😐 for feeling okay.
- Frown 😟 for feeling bad.
How to Use a Niko-Niko Calendar
A Niko-Niko Calendar is designed to be simple to use. At the start or end of each work day, team members walk up to the calendar and mark the smiley face that represents their current mood. No additional tracking, metrics, or comments are needed.
The calendar provides an easy, visual way to track team morale trends over time. Managers can quickly glance at the calendar and sense any ongoing issues or patterns.
Benefits of a Niko-Niko Calendar
Some key benefits of using a Niko-Niko Calendar include:
- Provides a daily emotional pulse check on the team.
- Surfaces trends and patterns in team morale.
- Allows managers to address issues early before they escalate.
- Fosters transparency and openness on the team.
- Easy to implement (need a calendar and stickers).
- Fun and engaging for team members.
Examples of Using a Niko-Niko Calendar
Here are 10 examples of how corporate teams can use a Niko-Niko Calendar:
- In a shared team workspace to track daily stand-up moods.
- At company all-hands meetings to capture employee sentiment.
- In remote teams to enable virtual water cooler conversations and energizer activities.
- During a new product launch, monitor team energy levels.
- Across locations to compare regional office morale.
- To measure the impact of process changes over time.
- During periods of organizational change, monitor engagement.
- To celebrate periods of high morale and productivity.
- To identify recurring low morale days like Mondays.
- To gather data to improve culture and engagement.
Summary
A Niko-Niko Calendar provides a lightweight, engaging way for teams to track morale and boost productivity using apps over time. The simple daily input required makes it easy to implement.
The visual nature of the calendar makes trends easy to spot.
Overall, it is a powerful tool for managers to measure the “emotional pulse” of their teams.
With 30+ years of experience, Catherine Fitzgerald, B.A., M.A., PGDip, founded Oak Innovation in 1995. Catherine received her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s from University College Cork. She holds qualifications in Professional Development And Training from University College Galway. She is completing a second Master’s from University College Cork. Since 1995, clients include Apple, Time Warner, and Harvard University.
