ministry of silly rituals

The fastest way to energise your culture … is to look a bit silly together.

Anthropologists define a ritual as an action that seems irrational to an outsider.
For the past 12 months at COOK this has been my go-to ritual at the start of big events.

Why T’ai Chi?
It can be translated as “the martial art of head and heart”.
And our cultural theme for the year has been:
head + heart = high performance.
But here's why it's such a great ritual:

It’s a surprise and few people have done it before.
Novelty = dopamine hit.
Everybody pays attention in a new way.

T’ai Chi slows movement and breathing.
The start of any big event can be stressful.
But the T’ai Chi reduces cortisol and creates a calmer state.

Synchronised movement (or any activity) activates our social bonding chemistry.
Doing something in unison = oxytocin and endorphins.
Everybody feels safer with each other, faster.

Oh yeah, and it’s fun and a bit silly.
Hold it lightly.
Give everybody a story to take home …
… What did you do at work today?

And importantly, it links back to our head + heart theme.
The ritual has meaning.
Not just words but actions.
The group looks, feels, does … distinctive, strengthening our social identity.
This is Us.

What’s your go-to work ritual right now?