The Five Powers of Leadership Rituals
Innovative leaders wrongly resist patterns. They fear repetition constricts and bores. “Don’t fence me in.”
However, rituals set leaders free.
Think of rituals as tiny behaviors that yield disproportionate benefits. One of mine is rising early and placing my fingers on the keyboard. It’s 3:44 a.m. as I type this. I wasn’t sure what would come out until I touched the keys.
Rituals express conscious intentions not unconscious habit.
Doug Conant’s chief of staff told me he thanks his office staff at the end of each day. I’m certain she looks forward to his personal visit at days end.
Gratitude is an intentional ritual not an unconscious habit for Doug. It’s a leadership ritual he’s sincerely performed for years. He wrote over 30,000 thank you notes to Campbell’s Soup employees during his 10 year stint as CEO. By the way, Campbell’s employee roster was fewer than 30,000.
Rituals:
- Open doors to more.
- Clear minds for what’s next.
- Establish safe platforms.
- Provide predictability.
- Unleash creativity.
Habits become boring but rituals add vitality.
Opportunity:
Where can you adopt rituals?
- Greetings when days begin.
- End of day farewells.
- Project kick-offs.
- Debriefing sessions.
- Feedback conversations.
- Responding to interruptions.
- ???
Power:
Intention breathes life into ritual. How do you want people to feel after you greet them in the morning? Use your intention to create a tiny ritual. Perhaps it’s a pause after saying good morning that expresses receptivity.
Create a ritual for interruptions. Maybe it’s removing your hands from the keyboard when someone pops their head in your office door.
What rituals might enhance your leadership effectiveness?
Where might rituals fit your office or organization?
I picked my son up early from his School on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I was surprised to know that before they leave each day, his teacher leads them in a sweet goodbye benediction song. The kid’s loved it… they did not rush through it. That leader gives them closure each day.
Thanks for a wonderful illustration. A good ending makes for a better beginning.
Hi Dan, I can almost relate to your 3:44 AM, being raised on a dairy farm, it’s 4 AM for me each day – weekkends included much to my chagrin!! Number 4 – predictability resonates with me. For several years I’ve been sending a leadership article to our Leadersship Team every Friday along with my thoughts about the topic. If I miss a Friday, I would get lots of emails wanting to know where the article was, which I found very satisfying as I never knew how many folks, if anyone, were reading them. So, if I’m not arround on Friday, I get one out before that or send an email advising no article this week. Predictability can be rewarding to the giver as well as the receiver.
Don
Hi Don, I’m a farm boy too. It’s been years since I lived on the farm but hard work and rising early are part of life.
Thanks for sharing your story…It’s great to do things that matter and also be affirmed by others. Cheers
Dear Dan,
I appreciate the statement- Rituals express conscious intentions not unconscious habit. I believe that ritual generally focus on enhancing respect, relation and trust. Rituals are others centic and it does not have any hidden agenda. It does not demand, it encourages. Habits on the other hands on passive in nature, They block our questioning and thinking ability. We tend to do what we think is right. So, unconscious habits are very natural to follow. But it takes effort and willingness to follow rituals,
I think when I interact and express my feelings and opinons to others enhance my leadership effectiveness. When othes are curious ,interested and share their opinions candidly, that becomes more effective. Such interactions and commnunication enhances relationship.
I think in my workplace the simple ritual that will work is open interactions, sharing thoughts and views and appreciating others for their actions and efforts.
Hi Ajay, I was thinking about others centered rituals as I wrote. We can adopt personal rituals but in the case of leaders and today’s post…it’s about others. Thanks for mentioning this important point.
I never thought of it as a ritual until now, but it is:
Thank You Thursdays – writing at least one, sometimes two or three thank you notes to anyone I can think of for anything they did. I have to force it sometimes.
I suppose even our daily 3 minute stand up meeting is a ritual.
Thanks for sharing your Thursday ritual… it’s a good one! Cheers
A ritual that can change your life and change your organization is a daily reading of each day’s promise from The Self-Empowerment Pledge. Notice in this video that half of the employees at Tri Valley Health System are not reading the promise – they are reciting it from memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS4IqA5U_Ek
Thanks for the suggestion Joe… always a pleasure.
Nuts, bout all I got. I used to teach folks how to ski! First thing I said in every lesson was I asked a question. What is the most important thing in life? The answer was balance and still is but part of the idea was to get these folks thinking about something else than the terror they were feeling trying to do something new when it is all slippery and cold. What it takes to actually ski is so very simple, I could teach a monkey to do it. Terrified stiff humans, little more of lets say a challenge.
Being in the human condition, you know, a human being having a spirtiual experience is quite befuddling, hence my NUTS comment. Skiing at an expert level is nothing more than using the identical technique over and over and over and over. The terror at first that comes about till folks figure it out is the difficult part. It is really cool to watch a person get it figured out. Kids do it much quicker cause they are closer to the perfection they were born with and not all messed up with fear and what they can’t do like big people tend to get.
The interesting part though is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result is WHAT? We all know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insane. What is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the result to always remain the same? Genius?
I have no clue and that is why paradigm shifting is such an interesting hobby, ya’ll all ought to try it a little bit. Awesome stuff.
Ok so if a person learns to ski and then they try the same thing in the summer time when there is no snow what happens? Not much!
So see the dilemna? I got no answers just a lot of questions, sorry!
Now that I am aging I assumed more clarity of the human condition would have become apparent by now. Sadly not really the case.
I do know balance and becoming flexible have helped me a great deal. Other than that I really got nothing!
The DUDE ABIDES!
Shifterp OUT!
Greeting Dan,
I have enjoyed your Twitter feed for quite sometime, and now I am starting to read your blog. The lines:
“Innovative leaders wrongly resist patterns. They fear repetition constricts and bores.
Rituals express conscious intentions not unconscious habit.”
spoke out to me. As a consultant, I am always trying to stay motivated while following a routine to welcome new success while getting through my current ventures. I tend to stay on track for a while and then get bored of my routine. To know that my routines or rituals can keep me on a steady path to where my conscious intentions take me is refreshing. Instead of being bored, I need to embrace the habits that alert me to stay focused on the bigger picture than what is in front of me.
-@IamRachalT
Thanks Rachal… I appreciate your kind words and first comment.
Here’s to the vitality of rituals… cheers
Hi Dan,
I am in the process of trying to create a daily ritual that includes exercise. At my age (43) it is important to do the things that get/keep me healthy.
I started getting up at 5:30 to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I just completed my first week. There is nothing easy about it (I am not a morning person.) But I am already feeling the benefits.
It is true — rituals are intentional.
Best wishes David. My ritual in regards to the elliptical machine is just put my feet on the machine and hands on the handles and see what happens. Just like typing. 🙂
Great post Dan. We all have our personal little rituals I guess. I am not a farm boy (my grandfather was) but do still get up each day at 4am. (no alarm mind you) and find that time( before 7am when I am usually at the office) to be the most productive part of my day. It includes exercise, meditation, and setting daily goals. There is a neat little prayer I came across and actually say every morning before I walk out the door. “God thank you for today. Please bless my work and play.” Everyday has some elements of work and yes some elements of play and interestingly enough sometimes the “play” piece creates more satisfying outcomes than what most would consider the “actual work.” The truth is we all have different definitions of what work is and what “play” is. For me if it involves connecting with others it is most definitely “play” and if it is “working” alone at my desk it is always in anticipation of sharing with others wherein once more we get to “play.” Have fun, enjoy the day, give and share, smile a lot, and for sure success will find you.
When I’m ACCIDENTALLY up at 4AM, I’ll think of you all who do this thing regularly!
My ritual? Don’t just leave work – go and say goodbye to whoever is still there (small office…) so they know that they were an important part of my day.
How could I apply this to my personal training? what rituals do yo have when you approach a bar? Can a ritual be a bad thing?
So nice to know that there are others with an early morning ritual. All of my most focused thinking and planning happens between 2:30 and 5:30 in the morning!! I know it works for me as I have been doing this since returning to work after having my first child…and that was nearly 21 years ago.