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- Rituals: Why They’re Crucial to Disruptive Change
I love rituals—those specific actions, big or small, that are always performed at a particular time.
Anyone dedicated to their morning routine of hot coffee and mindful meditation before logging into their email knows the power of a ritual.
And as memorable as rituals feel, they are also everywhere.
Families have them, as do schools. You certainly see them in sports.
Fans of the University of Alabama football team greet each other with a simple “Roll Tide!” The New Zealand rugby team performs the haka, a Maori posture dance, before matches.
New Zealand National Rugby Team
The Benefits of a Team Ritual
Some rituals that fascinate me most are those that exist within organizations.
A division starts every quarterly meeting by inviting employees to share what they’re most excited about at work. A company organizes a happy hour whenever they meet a product delivery date. A CEO hosts a one-on-one coffee meeting with each employee on their work anniversary. Team members get an extra day of PTO when they meet a crucial benchmark.
Seems easy enough to establish workplace rituals, right?
Only sometimes. One organization had a ritual of giving an employee-of-the-month award to motivate team members. But backstabbing and gossip became more frequent as employees tried to eliminate the competition. Another executive I worked with was horrified to learn that one team had an initiation ritual for new hires that bordered on hazing.
The trick to quality rituals is to ensure they are inclusive, not isolating. Good rituals foster a shared identity and a sense of belonging. When treated as a collective benefit, rituals can reduce participants' stress and anxiety while stimulating their energy levels when treated as a collective benefit.
It’s no wonder rituals are vital to thriving businesses with enviable corporate cultures.
Although it might seem counterintuitive, rituals are also crucial in those organizations making disruptive changes. Their regular cadence alleviates some of the unpredictability that comes from transformative growth.
How to Create a Team Ritual
If your organization doesn’t have rituals that connect you to your teammates and your shared purpose, it’s possible to create them.
The more unique, insider, and—frankly—bizarre, the better. Think of it like the power of the secret handshake to create a bond and sustain a sense of belonging. But if that feels too lofty, it can be as simple as bringing in coffee and doughnuts once a week and setting aside a short time to sit and connect.
The key is that everyone participates, and it’s done with consistency. It’s the experience of the ritual that creates meaning.
I’d love to hear from you: What kind of workplace rituals do you love? Which ones do you want to bring to your organization?
— Charlene
My Latest:
AI can be empathetic and hold knowledge, but can it indeed be wise? Read about the possibilities and implications in the latest issue of my newsletter, Leading Disruption: Can AI Be Wise?
What’s your relationship with failure? In my article, Three Ways to Shift Our Failure Mindset, I share how to overcome a fear of failure, which is especially important in the era of AI.
Do you run successful postmortems? In my next livestream, I’ll explain the most crucial aspect of this meeting. Join me on Tuesday, June 20,, at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET on LinkedIn and Facebook Live.
I’ll be a judge at Generative AI Hackathon: Revolutionize the Future of Work & Biz on Fri-Sun, June 23-25th at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, CA. On the off-chance that you’ll be in town and can join us us for the final presentations on Sunday, I hope to see you there!
Good Things:
The Ultimate AI Event List: Cerebral Valley. If you’re looking for AI-related events in San Francisco or New York, check out the great resources at Cerebral Valley. Last week there were 20 events. Want even more? Join their Slack community to engage and find even more events like co-founder matching. Warning: may induce serious FOMO.
Ritual expert to follow and engage: Ezra Bookman at Ritualist. I met Ezra recently when we were both presenting at an event. He helps organizations identify and build rituals and community, using excellent frameworks centered around science and proven methods. So if you want to reboot your culture or simply create more meaningful experiences, get in touch with Ezra!
Game to try: Mahjong. As a child, I spent many weekend nights watching my parents and their friends engage in lively rounds of mahjong. As an adult, I’ve rediscovered the joy of playing mahjong with my parents (who still lovingly trash-talk each other throughout the game) and with my adult kids at mahjong nights run by Boba Guys co-founder Andrew Chau. While I play Hong Kong-style mahjong, check out the American mahjong version and find a local group.
Thank you for subscribing to the Disruption Dispatch, which goes out to thousands of disruptors every other week to help you on your disruption journey—plus a curated recommendation list of a few Good Things I’m enjoying.
Want more? Check out my weekly publication, Leading Disruption, on LinkedIn.
Charlene Li
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