When was the last time your executive team breathed as one? Yes, I’m getting a little Zen on you but to proclaim my expertise on rituals and energy management and not discuss processes of breath, visualization, and mindfulness would be a disservice.
Is Corporate America ready for the “mystical” aspects of human nature? Society is… but society doesn’t base its direction on profit… it bases its direction on trends… which is based on needs. Although there is a trend for Zen like products and services, Corporate America is ready to profit from them, but not actually benefit from them. Give it another 10-15 years and then you’ll see Yoga in the conference room.
This is too bad, because we are talking about the power of focus. Internal experiences have real power and this goes against the hierarchy of traditional command and control business models but plays to the very essence of a Core Values Based model of sense and respond.
Focus Rituals can be a little delicate to explain or even execute because they are extremely spiritual in nature… thus the mysticism. On the fray of these rituals are more acceptable applications.
On the softball field, my team and I have a rally cry where we gather in a circle, give each other reinforcement statements, and focus as a group. When we need to score, make something happen, generate results or sustain our energy, its time to get focused.
We don’t ohm in a circle or clear our minds and become one with the bat, but we engage in essentially the same process.
Peering inside our huddle you’d hear a variety of voices, “keep your energy up”, “hit the ball low and hard”, “we need hits”, “let’s score some runs”… … “one, two, three” and the team shouts, “HITS!”
If you try to establish Focus Rituals on their own without using a Company Culture model of change like that of Ritual Builders©, your staff will see these applications as cheesy and in-authentic.
Although delicate in application, Identity Rituals are extremely powerful and are a fertile seed in the pursuit of high performance.
Example of Focus Rituals
- A moment of group silence where each individual reflects on the positive experiences and feelings that are created by your products/services
- The weekly sales/executive meeting ends with each individual declaring what they will accomplish over the next week
- What’s Good/What’s New… an exercise to start each team meeting where members toss a small ball or hacky sack. If it is tossed to you, you quickly state what is good and what is new then toss to another
- Any kind of activity or process that inspires individual performance
- Any kind of activity or process that manifests “collective thought” or “group mind”
Focus Rituals are a very effective performance tool that your team can use to maximize performance. Successful sales executives have a pre-appointment ritual or closing ritual. When performance counts… focus rituals bring clarity to your efforts.
Mark McGuire was fascinating to watch as he prepared for his “at bat”. His eyes would gloss over as he created a stack of thought particles across the screen of his imagination. Immersing and engaging himself among the distinctions that gets results. This is focus... and it creates champions.
Celebration Rituals, Identity Rituals, and Focus Rituals give you an arsenal of power that directly effect teamwork and give you a competitive advantage. When you improve the human experience of your company culture, your labor force will respond with immediate and positive action.
