Rituals at Work - Book Thoughts

This book one was fun for big picture thinking around culture and process. It’s something I’m always up for, so I might be overly sweet on this book… but there’s also some fluff, and it’s fully aimed at groups of people who are not remote workers.

Rituals at Work by Kursat Ozenc and Margaret Hagan

The sections that meant the most to me were the opening chapters on the importance of rituals. It’s a bunch of small notes on rituals that all feel true in different ways:

• Rituals give order and meaning
• Rituals provide a safe space to experiment
• Rituals increase performance by decreasing anxiety
• Rituals help people deal with negative transitions
• Rituals ensure performance by motivating and bonding people
• Rituals improve the quality of an experience
• Rituals enhance the feeling of control

A ritual might not do any of those things, but it, done right, can be all that and more. It reminded me of a lot of the things I did in sports to help with all those little issues. So why not convert them to the office?

Well, because office work is different than sports. And I say that as someone who relies deeply on my sports experience when managing. It’s much easier to have a ritual around a physical activity than a mental one. Particularly one that is shared among a team. ¹

The book breaks up rituals into categories for individuals, teams, and organizations. The one that’s stuck with me is the:

The Daily Drawing (Individual & Team)

start each day by taking 1 minute to draw out what’s on your mind, what’s blocking you, or anything

This really helps with clarity on challenges. I don’t draw a lot, so sketching something abstract really forces me to think about the nature of the issue. I don’t focus so much on the skill of the sketch, but try to get clarity on the issue itself or as a guide that I can refer to throughout the coming weeks.