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Creating Meaning At Work Through Rituals Forbes

Leo Migdal
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creating meaning at work through rituals forbes

Jessica Kriegel, Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture, Culture Partners. Rituals are an important part of who we are as humans. When people attend religious ceremonies, celebrate a birthday or cook Thanksgiving dinner, we are engaged in rituals. These gatherings are opportunities to pause the day-to-day hustle and bustle of life and be present for a moment as we engage in something special. A ritual is a marker of appreciation, contemplation and presence. In the workplace, rituals are especially important to company culture because they help everyone in the organization feel that sense of belonging.

When leaders ritualize certain experiences, they diminish the likelihood that work feels like a constant grind. A Harvard Business School study indicated that ritualized group bonding activities “led to a 16 percent increase in how meaningful employees judged their work to be.” Interestingly enough, these employees were found to be... When leaders promote—and employees participate in—rituals in the workplace, they create connections that help each find meaning in their roles. HBR outlines the three major benefits that workplace rituals have: psychological safety, purpose and performance. When I was a kid, my grandma—my “babaanne” in Turkish—always brought me milk chocolate bars with pistachios. They were my favorite.

I’d eat them slowly, one nibble at a time, peeling back the golden wrapper bit by bit. It made my treat last longer—and I would have sworn it tasted better, too. As it turns out, rituals do make things taste better—at least that’s what researchers found when people created a ritual for eating a chocolate bar. Participants reported it was more flavorful and more valuable, as explained in Rituals for Work. Authors Kursat Ozenc and Margaret Hagan, who teach Ritual Design at Stanford’s d.school, describe the many benefits of rituals: increasing creativity, boosting performance by reducing anxiety, motivating and bonding people, and improving the quality... But recent research reveals a more nuanced picture of how rituals affect work performance.

In the hilarious video series Subway Takes, where interviewees share their “hot takes,” one guest declared that company parties are a setup—a “forced, fun party with Susan from HR,” who’s waiting to catch employees... It made me think about my own company’s social events, and whether employees truly enjoy them. According to new research published in the Journal of Management, complex rituals (like parties—longer than a morning chant and involving more social interaction) can boost employee engagement or be completely negligible. It all depends on whether attendees walk away feeling positive or negative about the experience. If they report a positive experience (for example, having meaningful conversations or receiving recognition from higher-ups), engagement improves. Employees also tend to be more helpful with coworkers and less likely to search for a new job.

On the other hand, if they have a negative experience—say, feeling excluded or forced to attend at the expense of personal obligations—those benefits disappear. With that in mind, the researchers shared strategies for making more complex rituals more positive. That’s a sentiment I hear every single day in my career coaching practice. Many clients talk about their jobs as “fine enough” but say that they end work days feeling flat and empty. They describe their energy sinking as the week goes on, even when there doesn’t happen to be excessive stress or a particularly intense workload at hand. “Is there something wrong with me?” is the common follow up question.

“No,” I say. “It’s human nature to want and need something deeper in our lives. ‘Fine enough’ isn’t actually enough. That state of being drains us.” Usually that’s when I see relief unfurl. Knowing that our need for “something more” at work - i.e., meaning - is normal can be helpful.

But how do we get that “something more”? And can we create it for ourselves? When it comes to finding an easy way to boost productivity, many people turn to the latest and greatest. New hacks, how-tos, and habits are always in demand—and while some are certainly effective—there’s also a tried-and-true method of increasing productivity that many utilize without realizing it: incorporating rituals into your work routine. So how does it work? Many of us are familiar with the concept of “the habit loop” as explained by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, which explains that habits consist of three parts: the cue, the routine,...

The cue serves as a trigger—launching your brain into the habitual behavior or routine—and the reward reinforces the entire process. The more we repeat the process, the easier the habit becomes. Done right, rituals can help you take advantage of this system. Not only does research suggest that rituals can be effective at improving performance, but rituals can also serve as clearly defined cues to trigger desired behaviors—like transitioning into a state of flow at work—allowing... So how does this work? Here’s what you need to know about how to use rituals to boost your productivity.

We all use rituals, whether we’re aware of them or not, and one of the most common work-related rituals is the morning commute. When you head into the office each day, you’re performing a ritual. You put on shoes, grab your keys or bag, and head into work—probably taking the same route each time—which serves as a cue, signaling to your brain that it’s time to switch into work... About a year ago, my wife and I started a tradition called Movie Monday. It’s exactly what it sounds like. We watch a movie every Monday with friends.

But there’s more to our little tradition than just that. Every week we try to pick the movie based on something that’s relevant to whatever’s going on: Here's what's interesting about Movie Monday, though. When the world shut down over the Covid-19 pandemic, we could no longer have people over for it. So we started watching Movie Monday films in our own homes at the same time. Which may sound ridiculous.

We don't even see each other anymore. But at this point our group ritual is so natural—and I’d dare say important to us—that we've transitioned to remote movie watching without a hitch. So now, every Monday at 8pm we get in a chat thread, make sure everybody has the movie queued up, and count down: 3, 2, 1, PLAY! And then we each watch the movie at our own houses. Watching a movie at the same time as someone who’s somewhere else in the world might sound pointless. But we love it.

A new study reveals that when employees actively inject "play" into their work tasks, this playful mindset extends to their leisure time, leading to healthier eating and improved self-care. This "playful work design" acts as a powerful health intervention, amplifying well-being, especially for those already motivated by health. Leaders should legitimize and model play as a skill to foster a healthier, more engaged workforce. Managers love wellness programs. They sign contracts for mindfulness apps, launch step challenges, and subsidize salads in the cafeteria. Yet many still overlook one of the simplest levers for health and performance hiding in plain sight: play.

Not toys in the office or forced fun on a Friday afternoon, but the deliberate choice to add fun and challenge into the way people work and spend their free time. A new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology by Siqi Wang, Yasin Rofcanin, Mireia Las Heras, and Zeynep Yalabik offers a striking insight. When employees consciously make their work more playful, that playful mindset spills into their evenings. They start to design their leisure differently. On those days, they are more likely to eat healthily and take better care of themselves. Play at work is not only about engagement.

It turns out to be a health behavior intervention in disguise. From weekly lunch dates with colleagues to bedtime stories with children, we often rely on rituals to relax and bond with others. While it may feel awkward to introduce teambuilding rituals in the workplace, the truth is, the practices improve performance, says Michael Norton in his book The Ritual Effect. Featuring Michael I. Norton. By Michael Blanding on April 9, 2024.

Think about all the routines you follow on a regular basis: When you’re getting ready for work, you brush your teeth, go for a 20-minute walk, then take a shower. Before giving a big presentation in the office, you might repeat a mantra to mentally prepare. And at the end of a long workweek, you gather with your spouse and kids to enjoy pizza and a movie on Friday nights. These routines are actually rituals—and though we may not think much about them, they can play a meaningful role in our personal and professional lives, says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Norton. “Social scientists have traditionally approached rituals from a cultural or religious perspective, but we all have our own idiosyncratic rituals we conduct throughout our days,” says Norton, author of the new book The Ritual... Intentionally creating positive experiences—workplace rituals in this case—benefits the entire organization through connectedness.

It helps companies and employees reach their full potential. Read more: https://hubs.li/Q01zKKt50 Post written by Jessica Kriegel, Forbes Councils Member.

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Jessica Kriegel, Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture, Culture Partners. Rituals are an important part of who we are as humans. When people attend religious ceremonies, celebrate a birthday or cook Thanksgiving dinner, we are engaged in rituals. These gatherings are opportunities to pause the day-to-day hustle and bustle of life and be present for a moment as we engage in something special. A ritu...

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When leaders ritualize certain experiences, they diminish the likelihood that work feels like a constant grind. A Harvard Business School study indicated that ritualized group bonding activities “led to a 16 percent increase in how meaningful employees judged their work to be.” Interestingly enough, these employees were found to be... When leaders promote—and employees participate in—rituals in th...

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On the other hand, if they have a negative experience—say, feeling excluded or forced to attend at the expense of personal obligations—those benefits disappear. With that in mind, the researchers shared strategies for making more complex rituals more positive. That’s a sentiment I hear every single day in my career coaching practice. Many clients talk about their jobs as “fine enough” but say that...