A Concise Guide to Corporate Rituals

Rituals are also a big part of corporate life. There’s nothing to match the coronation’s level of weirdness, as much as some CEOs might like the idea of ​​robes and thrones. But firms have their own ceremonies and rituals. Some are internal: The repetitive rhythm of performance reviews and weekly meetings, budget procedures and farewell cards are all ritualistic. Others are more public, ranging from investor days to conference calls with analysts. The pandemic gave rise to a host of new customs, from regular schedules for focused work to dedicated times of the week designed to lure people into the office.

Business rituals can arise spontaneously – those informal games of office bingo when the boss uses his favorite jargon. They can also be completely private. No rule exists to say that, upon entering a hotel room, business travelers must check the minibar; that he should feel absurdly happy if the hotel manager had written him a letter welcoming him; That if there is a plate of fruits, he should immediately eat all the fruits. Yet all these things seem to be canonical.

A prime example of a set-piece ceremony is the annual shareholders’ meeting. As a way of getting the job done, this format is terrible. Any information that shareholders actually need is available to them elsewhere. Many people delegate their voting rights to others. Many come just for the sandwich.

But as a ritual it matters. The Board of Directors enters and sits on a podium; Some of them may say nothing at all. The bosses make presentations to show that shareholders could not wish for a better set of managers. A succession of small shareholders then take the microphone and argue the company’s management for being completely worthless. It’s demonstrative, to be sure, but for something as bloodless as corporate governance, a little demonstrativeness ain’t amiss. The annual meeting provides a useful physical reminder of who is accountable to whom.

These types of standard rites can develop into company-specific ones. Amazon has attached a copy of its first letters to shareholders, each one it has published since 1997, as a way of demonstrating that an underlying ethos endures even when the world around it changes.

Rituals are also used as a way of building culture and team spirit. There is a long-established custom in the financial industry of giving “tombstones” to customers and bankers when a transaction is concluded. The original tombstones were advertisements in newspapers, so called because they were placed in such a way that they resembled gravestone inscriptions. Modern versions are sometimes known as “bargain toys”. Lucite may not have had much intrinsic value, but the ritual survives as part-award, part-commemoration, part-brag. Many firms have little celebratory rituals, such as the ringing of bells or the sounding of gongs when they reach certain sales milestones.

Even simple rituals can encourage a sense of community and purpose among employees. A paper published in 2021 by Tammy Kim of the University of Virginia and her co-authors asked volunteers to participate in a set of physical activities before starting a brainstorming exercise. Some saw each other during this warm-up and others did not. Those who maintained eye contact rated the subsequent brainstorming as more meaningful.

But turning everything into a ritual also runs the risk of becoming tiresome. The only thing worse than an unnecessary meeting is an unnecessary meeting that already has to drag on. Hosting colleagues over a regular meal and calling it a “Fantastic Friday” is going to make the most of what would otherwise be a “Friendless Friday.” And one person’s ritual is another person’s ordeal. Ms. Kim’s paper mentions a digital agency that holds regular sessions in which employees share personal stories about moments that changed their lives. It is indeed a ritual, but so is hanging, drawing and quartering. If there’s one golden rule of corporate ritual, it’s that it should make people feel like they belong.

Read more from our columnist, Bartleby, on management and work:

If Lots of People Think You’re a Bad Boss, You Are (April 23)

What Makes A Good Office Perquisite? (20 April)

How To Be A Superstar On Zoom (13 April)

Also: How Bartleby Column got its name

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