Would you wear a ‘gratitude poncho’? NHS adviser and business school professor faces online ridicule for suggesting colleagues wear flipchart paper bibs and write messages of appreciation on each other

An NHS adviser has been mocked for suggesting staff sign ‘gratitude ponchos’ on each other’s backs as part of a team-building exercise critics called ‘a special kind of hell’. 

A photo shows a group of people writing what they ‘most appreciate’ about their colleagues on each others’ paper bibs.

Helen Bevan, who shared the image on Twitter, is a strategic adviser to NHS Horizons, a training unit in the health service, and a Professor of Practice in Health & Care Improvement at Warwick Business School. 

A photo shows a group of employee wearing flipchart paper bibs while writing messages on them about what they ‘most appreciate’ about their colleagues

She tweeted: ‘As a facilitator, I’m always looking out for activities to energise groups in workshops or team away days. 

An easy guide to making your own gratitude ponchos 

1 – Tear of a sheet from a flipchart and fold it lengthwise and then crosswise so it resembles a book. 

2 – Cut a hole in the corner to create a hole for your head. 

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3 – Put on the poncho at the same time as your colleagues. 

4 – Write empowering and appreciative notes about your colleagues on their ponchos. 

5 – Take off the poncho and enjoy all the nice things your colleagues have written about you. 

Credit: Bootcamp, Medium. 

‘Here’s one that’s new to me called ”gratitude poncho”. 

‘It enables team members to find out what their colleagues most appreciate about them. 

‘I think this would be most effective with a mature team where most people know each other.’ 

Professor Bevan got the photo from a blog by Mehdi En-Naizi, a Belgium-based designer at an engineering company who writes about employee workshops on the website Medium.  

It is not clear where the workshop was being held or which organisation the employees belonged to.  

But her post received short shrift on Twitter, with users branding the idea ‘infantilising’ and one saying it would cause him to ‘quit on the spot’. 

‘Everything wrong with HR in one tweet,’ another user wrote.  

In his post, Mr En-Naizi provides a five-point guide on how to make gratitude ponchos, which he calls ‘the perfect energiser’ for an employee workshop. 

He writes: ‘The true essence of this activity is to bring teams together, foster positive thinking and appreciation for one another. 

‘It’s a powerful moment that sets the tone for your workshop session in a fantastic way.’

After staff have finished writing on each others’ ponchos they should go back to their seats and take them off at the same time, Mr En-Naizi says. 

He adds: ‘Now comes the magical part: give them two minutes to silently read what their team mates wrote about them. 

‘You’ll see genuine smiles, and sometimes even a tear or two.’    

But Twitter users remained unconvinced, with one commenting: ‘I think everywhere I’ve worked about 3/4 of those gratitude ponchos would be covered in drawings of c***s.’

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Helen Bevan, who shared the image, is a strategic adviser to NHS Horizons, a training unit within the health service, and a Professor of Practice in Health & Care Improvement at Warwick Business School