Rituals for Work

2How to Bring Rituals into Your Work, Team, and Org

You may have a hunch that rituals could make a difference in your work life—that you could have better ways of working day to day, or that you could improve how your team functions, or inspire a better sense of community.

As you think about which specific ritual might work best for your situation, there are some key mindsets to adopt—those of a anthropologist, and those of a designer.

Anthropologist

Adopt an open mind when you look at your own work life and your organization. Be a keen observer of the situations as they exist. Spot where there are sparks of “meaning” that already occur. Tune into when people are talking about their values, beliefs, and goals. And articulate people's everyday routines and aspirations.

Designer

“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones,” writes Herbert Simon, the Nobel Laureate, in The Sciences of the Artificial.²¹ Embrace the designer role, by trying new experiments to see what works—and by using your existing materials, like routines, spaces, and goals.

We have identified several strategies to help you in deploying ...