Rituals—even seemingly silly ones—help employees bond and add meaning to their work, says research by Michael Norton, Francesca Gino, and colleagues. After two years of pandemic disruption, who wouldn't welcome a workday pick-me-up?
Love them or hate them, team-building rituals can fortify bonds among coworkers and create the shared sense that work is more meaningful, which may be especially critical now as managers look to reconnect colleagues re-adjusting to work life after two years of Covid-19 upheaval.
Performing a group bonding activity—regular rituals like doing the Walmart Cheer or firing a Nerf toy gun to conclude a project—led to a 16 percent increase in how meaningful employees judged their work to be, according to research by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Norton. Employees who engage in these rituals also tend to go the extra mile for the company, showing better “organizational citizenship” by doing things like staying late at work to help a colleague.
This article was provided with permission from Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.