Business and ritual

I have been watching a team recently who are spinning up a new project. Of course, they must have a daily stand-up meeting, even though they are in 4 time-zones and client demands often mean leading team members cannot attend. The rhythm of development on their project means that some days there is almost nothing to report, but on other days the issues raised are too complex to cover effectively in the 15-minute time slot . But still they must have a daily stand-up meeting: it’s a ritual.

In the course of a single day, how many of your business activities - and especially our business meetings - are repetitive and formulaic? Too many. You could dismiss them as merely rituals, but that’s unfair, not least to the human need for ritual. Observance and practice enable us to bring more consistent attention and care to matters beyond our daily life or embedded in it. The ritual elements of business are important to keeping us working together. Observing a daily stand-up may be as consequential to making progress as any decisions or insights which come out of the meeting.

If the ritual is stale and unrewarding, the answer is not to abandon the need for ritual, but to reimagine and restore the elements of practice which make rituals work for us.

Rituals are foundational to both social and company cultures. In society, rituals such as holidays, religious or civil ceremonies, and even daily routines like mealtimes or bedtime habits give a sense of order, belonging, and identity. Similarly, in companies, rituals like all-hands meetings, annual reviews, or the dreaded brainstorming sessions can encourage a sense of continuity. At their best they can reinforce company values. However, just as in social culture, business rituals can also become stagnant and lose their original intent over time, becoming more about the form than the content.

In both contexts, rituals also serve as a form of communication. They transmit cultural or organizational values across generations or groups. However, without regular adaptation and renewal, rituals lose their effectiveness and relevance. Every generation in society, every new team or new intake of staff need to relearn rituals for themselves.

So, the parallels between social and business rituals lie not only in their purposes but also in the challenges they present. One of these challenges is the contrast between ritual and sincerity.

For instance, traditional brainstorming sessions are often considered a symbol of collective problem-solving and innovative thinking, a benchmark of inclusion and engagement between management and staff. I don’t think much of brainstorming: in fact I have a full chapter titled Against brainstorming in my book.

Aside from being ineffective, brainstorming, like many business rituals, may be seen as unproductive and insincere when overused or called up as a default response to problem-solving. Rituals like this become more about the act of gathering and talking, rather than generating real ideas. Similarly, rigid adherence to certain meetings or procedures may stifle adaptability and innovation, much as how rigid social rituals can impede progress in society or personal growth.

Rituals and sincerity

Sincerity is lacking in business rituals just as authenticity may be lacking in social rituals, performed without true intent or understanding: they becoming become empty gestures, leading to cynicism and disengagement.

Therefore, the challenge lies not in maintaining business rituals, but in continually re-evaluating and reinventing them to ensure they work for us.

What can we do?

To be clear I am not suggesting that either social or business rituals are redundant. Rituals serve as a symbolic framework and give structure and cohesion to life and work. But they should also align with the authentic goals and values of the organization. This requires a shift from thinking of rituals as fixed and unchanging towards seeing them as dynamic, evolving processes that can be adapted and reinvented.

Moreover, especially in business, we could recognize the potential of rituals as tools for enabling change. Rituals that encourage open-minded thinking and cross-functional collaboration (such boring terms, but very necessary functions) can act as catalysts for creativity. Therefore …

rather than shying away from rituals, businesses should embrace them as key components of their culture, strategy, and innovation efforts, provided they are sincerely designed and implemented.

To enact this shift, companies could take the following, possibly surprising, steps:

Identify existing rituals within the organization. These could range from formal procedures to more informal, day-to-day practices. Don’t assume you know what the rituals are. For example, you may think some meetings are highly functional, but staff may think that monthly sales meeting that always has the same slides in the same order with, more or less, the same messages is just going through the motions. So ask people - survey your teams - to help you identify the hidden rituals in your culture.

• Assess the effectiveness and relevance of these rituals. Do they actually promote your organization’s cultural values and support your processes effectively? Again, surveys, interviews, and observation can be useful tools here.

• Examine the what and how of the ritual. What are the steps involved? How is it conducted, and who participates? How much time does it take, and what resources are used? How frequently does it occur?

• Also analyze the why and who of the ritual. Why was this ritual originally instituted, and who does it serve? What values or objectives is it meant to uphold? How well is it achieving those aims? It is very unlikely that it was ever conceived as a ritual in the first place, so how did it become one?

• Redesign ineffective or outdated rituals and experiment with new ones. This could involve altering the format, participants, frequency, or content of meetings, introducing new ceremonies or recognition systems, or transforming daily routines. We’ll look at effective ritual structures later.

• Regularly review and adjust new or altered rituals to ensure they remain relevant . This should be an ongoing process of evolution, not a one-off task.

Sometimes our rituals change themselves for us. One startup I know, had a ritual of celebrating each major software release with an in-office party. But in lockdown, the parties were impossible. And anyway, the team had grown worldwide and someone always missed out. So they instituted a virtual release toast, where team members would gather on a video call to celebrate and share a drink (whether coffee, tea, or something stronger). This retained the spirit of the original ritual—celebrating team success—but adapted its form to the new circumstances.

Designing business rituals

Here’s a framework for developing meaningful rituals, even in a business context.

• If redesigning a ritual, start with the intended function. If it’s not serving its purpose or upholding your values, consider if those should be updated or if the ritual itself needs to be reoriented.

• Once you’re clear on the purpose, experiment with the form. Could changing the participants, frequency, or format of the ritual make it more effective? For example, if your all-hands meetings have become a monologue from the CEO (as so often happens), try restructuring them, perhaps rotating the speaker role among different team leaders or even more junior staff to get a different perspective.

• Be sure to gather feedback from participants about the redesigned rituals. This can be done formally, through surveys or feedback forms, or informally through conversations and observation.

• Craft the space and atmosphere that will help enhance the experience. This could involve arranging the best and most appropriate meeting room, not just the most convenient one, ensuring the technology setup is seamless, or creating a calm and quiet environment for deep work sessions.

• Clearly articulate the purpose of the ritual - what it aims to achieve and how participants should behave. This helps set the tone and direction.

• Encourage both thoughtfulness and active participation during the ritual. For instance, during meetings, employees could be encouraged to fully engage, avoiding distractions like smartphones or multitasking. One company I know, TimeXtender, have a long-standing practice of starting meetings with a minute of silence. Anne Krog Iversen, Chief DNA & Culture Officer and Co-Founder, has little hour glasses in each meeting room. If you are not used to it, a minute can seem like a very long time. I have seen the CEO, Heine, start a conference presentation with a minute of silence - it was almost uncomfortable. But you know what? When you know how long a minute can feel, you are less likely to waste one.

• Of course, use rituals to celebrate successes and acknowledge effort. You probably do this already, perhaps as part of sales reviews or project debriefs, where the team takes time to appreciate the work done and the results achieved. But also incorporate time for reflection during rituals. This could mean setting aside time in meetings for thoughtful discussion not just the usual, any questions?

• Align the ritual with the larger goals of the company. This ensures that rituals are not just performative, but are deeply connected to the company's mission and vision. So, find ways to add significance to everyday tasks. This could mean, for example, highlighting the importance of daily tasks in contributing to the company's larger objectives.

• End rituals deliberately, not dismissively. Acknowledge contributions with a simple thank you.

New, or strengthened and refreshed rituals reinforce the company's values and culture, strengthening the sense of collective identity and commitment among employees. Rituals that are meaningful and participatory increase employee engagement. Engaged employees are typically more productive, innovative, and likely to stay with the company. It’s that simple.

Rituals can also provide structured opportunities for communication across levels and teams and yes, by encouraging rituals that genuinely promote free thinking and problem-solving, companies can be more innovative. I give several examples in my book Innovating of how this could be done.