Strategy #25: Develop and promote rituals

In his books on spirituality in the workplace, Matthew Fox comments that one of the most important things we can do is restore a sense of purpose and meaning in the work we do is through the practice of rituals. In earlier cultures, he said, people had rituals for everything.  Today, instead of rituals, we have meetings and we send memos. As Fox says, though, rituals can be an important way of helping people connect with, and find meaning through, their work.

At the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, they have a ritual called Alley Rallies. The alley is the space between the kitchen and the serving area. Once a shift, everyone – cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, servers, and managers – gathers in the alley and they have a two-minute pep rally. Than the manager tells everyone to go out and have fun. He or she does not tell people to go out and serve the customer, because they know that if their servers are having fun, then customers will as well (I’ve spoken with many Texas Roadhouse customers, and they always tell me that they had fun; not coincidentally, they almost always add that they went back again).

Whatever you think of Wal-Mart and its labor practices today, one of the key rituals that helped Sam Walton build the company in its early days was the early morning pep rallies where they all jumped up and down doing the Wal-Mart Cheer. It sounds (really and truly!!) corny now, but in its time it was a great way of creating a sense of teamwork and solidarity. Likewise, although Tom Watson, Sr. required IBM salesman (back then, they were all men) to wear blue suits and starched white shirts, he also had them sing the IBM Fight Song. Likewise corny, likewise powerfully effective.

A great idea: bring together a group of people from within your organization who are known to be caring and fun-loving souls and ask them to brainstorm ideas for rituals that can help you reinforce the qualities that you wish to see in your organization.  At Texas Roadhouse, the server staff will periodically do a line dance around the restaurant, encouraging diners to join in. If you were a fun-loving young person looking for a job as a waiter or waitress, wouldn’t that make you want to apply at the local Texas Roadhouse?

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