We recently celebrated the 4th of July, Independence Day, which is one of America’s most significant traditions. It helps unify the people of this country behind one purpose.
Purposeful Leadership Rituals
Could you develop purposeful rituals as a leader in your small business? It’s a bold idea that as a leader, you could create some popular activities in your organization that could bring people together and could be realized year after year.
Maintaining good communications and trust is paramount in your organization. Team building couldn’t be more critical in today’s hybrid work environments; you can’t just leave it to just an annual event. Team building efforts need to be ongoing to keep your people connected.
What leadership practices could inspire your team, department, or organization to a higher level of performance?
Underlying Motivations
A leader asks questions in these three essential areas when developing rituals.
Purpose – Are we clear about where we are going?
Process – What is the plan moving forward?
People – Do we have the right people in the right seats?
Leadership rituals are most effective when they are tied to an organization’s core values which become reinforced every time a practice happens.
Ways to implement purposeful leadership rituals in your small business
Here are some ideas and some ways purposeful team-building practices can create a powerful impact on your business. Remember, rituals work best when developed internally.
- Consider getting feedback from team leaders as to the type of rituals that would be effective. Explore the underlying motivations and anticipated benefits.
The impact: You have more certainty that you are creating practices that really mean something to the team. - Setup connection rounds. At the beginning of meetings, before moving into the agenda, take a few minutes to ask a question and get responses from each team member. In 2 sentences, i.e., What is the best thing that happened to you this week?
The impact: Teams start to understand more about each other’s lives, leading to better empathy and communication. - Eating lunch together. You could start a practice of taking a team member out for lunch on their birthday and not discussing work. Just the two of you.
The impact: Increase loyalty, respect, and connection to your team. - Create a yearly summer picnic for your team and their families. Everyone gets better acquainted with each other.
The impact: This is another way to increase connection with your team. - Have pizza once a month delivered to your lunch room. Who doesn’t love pizza?
The impact: Minimal cost and a way for employees to feel cared about and appreciated. I’ve seen this in action. Your people will like this idea. - Give a turkey for Thanksgiving. Their families love it, and it helps them out.
The impact: When you create a practice, you must be consistent so people can set their expectations and anticipate the tradition.
Let me know how some of these ideas work in your organization.
Be sure to check out my blog on “Ten Ways Leaders Motivate Others”.