Sports rituals go beyond superstition to instill a sense of unity and cohesion, which can elevate performance. Rituals practiced in the workplace can likewise deepen commitment to corporate employers and make teams feel connected to fellow employees.
While rituals tend to develop organically, employers can encourage them as a tool to reinforce morale. The goal is to create a wider sense of belonging across the organization. Remember the synchronized clapping for health workers during COVID-19? That communal expression of support helped make the entire public feel involved.
Intentional customs that animate
Rituals manifest as repeated acts, usually performed with others in groups. They often (like the COVID-19 clapping) express mindfulness and gratitude. What matters is that they are imbued with meaning.
Rituals tend to be episodic, like celebration dinners. But they still follow a certain cadence, acknowledging some significant event has occurred and there has been a transition to a new stage. That explicit and communal recognition of milestones goes beyond the meaning of social get-togethers like cocktail party “mixers.”
Even when workers resist or scoff at rituals, the significance permeates the culture subliminally. Gen Z graduates, who went directly from college to remote jobs during the pandemic, lacked interaction and acculturation with peers. Many of that cohort still need rebooting.
According to Professor Michal Norton, rituals provide emotional significance on three levels: the physical, the communal and the psychological. They may also play a part in healing loss.
Do not confuse them, though, with habits or routines. Routines are simple tasks that need to be done; you unthinkingly make your bed or brush your teeth. Rituals, by contrast, are rich with an assigned meaning and intentionality. They carry added weight because they embody a particular relevance, as opposed to an item to cross off a list. As Norton explains, “Habits automate us, rituals animate us.”
Tribal benefits
Rituals work on many levels.
When Sam Walton visited a Korean
tennis ball factory in 1975, he was famously impressed by watching the gathered workers reciting their daily company cheer. He took the idea home with him, so that to this day 2.3 million
associates still perform their version across 12,000 Walmart stores worldwide. They jointly spell out WALMART while doing rhythmic clapping and a squiggly dance. The final lyrics encourage
teamwork, customer service and accountability. The magic is that workers who engage in such chants consider their work 16% more meaningful on average, per Norton. Could it be that the shouting,
clapping and dancing release feel-good endorphins? A feeling of connection can boost the oxytocin hormone and depress its cortisol
counterpart.
It is notable, too, that firefighters who bond over firehouse meals deliver higher performance and thereby save more lives.
Rituals serve to increase and maintain group cooperation and cohesion. Best of all, they may cost little or nothing. Workers who feel more included and socially supported are more productive. Their rituals may help remind them of the links between individuals' sense of purpose and their company's overall values.
Creating rituals
Consider initiating and promoting some rituals among your workforce. Pay attention to any events they may already be celebrating and observe which activities they seem to enjoy doing together. Beginnings and endings (such as onboarding or retirement) could be ideal occasions to punctuate, but there are plenty of other possibilities.
- Reaching milestones
- Employee of the month
- Achieving targets
- Completing major projects
- Employee contests
- Successful deadlines — marking appreciation of work done and encouragement for future efforts
- Personal moments in a worker's life, like a new baby or an engagement
What are appropriate ways to honor the occasions?
- Department-wide happy hours, lunches and dinners
- Outings like bowling or movies
- Holiday parties
- Gifts for departing employees
- Ringing a bell to mark a target achieved
Don't overdo ritual events. You want to keep them special. Weigh your budget against the potential impact. It may be a cliché, but in this case, it is the thought that counts.