What Are Your Team Rituals?
The team we are on at work, the type of work we do, form different sizes of communities.

Your team is a small community with its own values, desires, goals, and rituals. The values and rituals the team expresses through its actions are what define the team and defines the people attracted to the team.

If the team states they are about collaboration and inclusion, but their actions are about self-gain and exclusion, then those actions define the team values, and who is attracted to the team. As team members or leaders of teams, we need to keep an eye on the values we implicitly broadcast and validate the broadcasted values align with the values of the team.

Not only do we need to mind the team values, we need to mind the rituals defining the team, like birthday celebrations, yearly team member anniversaries, initiation rituals, farewell rituals, and so on. Initiation rituals are significant. They define the team member as a member and provide a sense of belonging.

Storytime: I was a contractor, who converted to a full-time employee. When my conversion day happened, there was nothing. No congrats, no welcome to the team…nothing. Everyone on my new team acted as nothing changed. I felt like I didn’t join the team, and wasn’t acknowledged as a member.

That feeling never left.

I was constantly trying to be acknowledged as a member. The farewell ritual was as non-existent as the initiation.

How are your team’s rituals building team belonging?

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