A greater commitment to the purpose of the team, greater satisfaction with the work and lower possibilities of giving up the position, are some of the positive impacts than the Labor ritualsunderstood as those collective activities in which the members of a team regularly participate and those that attribute a meaning.

This is indicated by an investigation by the Organizational Development and Leadership consultancy Cosmic Centauurs, whose results and conclusions have been collected in Harvard Business Review. The analysis took place during the last three years and has included surveys to 929 people from 60 countries and a field study in an advertising company with 50 employees distributed in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Rituals at work have an anchor point with rituals that people perform in their day to day. WARC analyzed the issue recently by focusing on consumers and pointed out that the practices of these activities are finally achieved by aspects such as safety, maintenance, celebration, identity, beginning, connection, improvement and calm.

The research of Cosmic Centauurs has focused on 11 different common rituals that usually put into practice. Classify them into two types: on the one hand, those of Exchange of personal knowledge, that focus on strengthening interpersonal ties and creating a sense of community within the teams; And on the other, those of Exchange of professional knowledgewhich aim to improve collaboration, alignment and operational efficiency within the equipment.

The power of corporate rituals

Among the former are some such as personal milestone celebrations (birthdays, weddings, achievements, etc.), the exchange of cultural traditions, casual conversations about the personal situation or the realization of events (dinners, parties, or distended virtual meetings) . Among the seconds, on the other hand, periodic status meetings, onboarding processes or the creation of knowledge exchange spaces.

In the analysis it has been considered both the amount of rituals and their frequency, And it is concluded that the more rituals a team makes regularly, the greater the commitment of its members. Thus, for the teams that are in the upper part of the scale, that is, they perform several rituals and often the results are as follows:

• It feels 23% more compromised with the purpose of your team
• They experience a 20% increase in their levels of Psychological security
• They reach 28% more Interpersonal knowledge
• They declare one job satisfaction 22% higher compared to those who had low levels of rituals

However, the report indicates that most leaders and their teams do not adopt rituals or keep them faithfully, which shows that implementing and maintaining rituals effectively It is a challenge for organizations. Only 24% of respondents said the rituals are adopted in a generalized way and often in their equipment.

Moreover, there are only three rituals that stand out in their application: the welcome to new team members, onboarding processes and the celebration of personal milestones.
Between The barriers For the successful adoption of rituals are the challenges of time availability and their corresponding programming, the lack of alignment with the needs of the team, the low coincidence with the personality or style preferences of the team members, and the lack of a Corporate culture that provides support.

Keys to the success of rituals at work

However, from the consultant they point out that the implementation of corporate rituals effectively is possible. To do this, they recommend business leaders to focus on five key points. Are the following:

• Believe in the power of rituals

It must be trusted that the rituals will help the personal and professional development of the team, and from the consultant they remember that without eThe address commitment It is unlikely that these activities are adopted and maintained in the long term.
It is also important to involve team members in the identification, selection and alignment of rituals, since otherwise, they will not respond to their needs and interests.

• Establish meaning rituals

As they expose from the consultant, the best rituals have a transcendent quality that elevates the daily work of the team. This is achieved if the activities are aligned with specific objectives (What), the culture of the team (how) and the organizational purpose (why).
For this it is important to create some Processes for realization of those rituals to provide them with structure and not only focus on progress, but also in the development process itself.

• Ritual

Selecting, designing and planning rituals is probably the simplest aspect. The complex part is Establish a discipline Around communication, organization and participation in them. The rituals will only be effective if they become an integral part of the way of working of the team in order to develop its maximum potential.

This implies that all team members must perceive participation in rituals as a central aspect of his work and not as an optional extracurricular activity. It is convenient to schedule activities in the calendar and treat them with the same importance as business meetings. Leaders must also be an active part of the process and participation.

It is also advisable to introduce the rituals of one by one, and try them for several months, as well as establish a person responsible for each execute each activity. Similarly, it may be convenient to collect results and conclusions, as well as improvement points.

• Evolve the ritual

In the same way that the organization is constantly evolving, rituals must also do so. In this sense, it is convenient Review the activities periodically To analyze its implementation, its adaptation to the equipment or the achievement of the objective.
It is advisable to cancel those rituals that are not working, and instead, launch others that may be more appropriate.

• Share the value of rituals

As information and knowledge are shared within an organization, you must also Share the value of the rituals. Thus, preaching the value of an activity that is being effective can serve for another team to adopt it, or the organization as a whole, and also drive its personal and professional development.