High Performance Ritual #3-Focus Rituals (Part 4 of 4)

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.

High Performance Ritual #2- Identity Rituals (Part 3 of 4)

Who am I is the age long question… and will remain a part of your personality throughout the ebbs and flows of your life.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is my life for?

These questions are part of a life long developmental loop that circles our experience… fueling our innate need to develop and grow.   

Existential crisis are seldom discussed but are actually quite powerful at directing the experience and behavior of your staff.  Existentialism is a philosophical/psychological set of theories where fundamentally our existence is a struggle of self-perception… Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world - and defines himself afterwards.  In order for us to “distinguish self” within our own minds, we must first have an experience that gives us a mental construct of self.  This is a life long process and why building a corporate culture can be so dramatic in creating a behavior change in your labor force.

Culture is the “container” or mental construct upon which we build our perception of self, our sense of identity. To glimpse inside how our identity is influenced, let’s look at the teams (sub-cultures) in our lives that direct our beliefs and values and ultimately our identity.

           WHAT ARE THE TEAMS OF YOUR LIFE?

 

Advanced marketing techniques, are designed to not only create an identity for the company, but to use very powerful hypnotic, subliminal and persuasive techniques that inspire others to adopt your company’s identity as part of their own.  “I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper, she’s a pepper… wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too. Be a pepper, drink Dr. pepper”

Logo Tee Shirts and Hats that people wear illustrate a sociological playground where millions shout their individuality by communicating their identity; Nike, Harley Davidson, Coke, Miller Beer. Ritual Builders, etc.

People communicate their identity in this way because they are constantly searching to further define who they are… inside.  You or I or some dude down the street has an experience with some type of organization (team) and says inside their mind… this is me.  They then take this persona out into the world and look for the reactions of others to either further integrate this identity or to slip out of it like a snake does its old skin.

Identity Rituals are a simple yet extremely powerful way for you to take advantage of this social phenomenon.  Your current labor force is starved for constructs that will help them develop their identity and if they are not finding it in your team… they are searching for it else where.

With Identity Rituals, you can easily provide your labor force with a sense of who you are and how you give them a sense of identity by being “included in your culture”.

Examples of Identity Rituals

·       Any verbal variation of your company/department name said in unison; “sales rocks”, “nike”

·       Any shared movement, song, chant, or affirmation said or executed in unison

In working with organizations, I find the most meaningful and beneficial Identity Rituals occur when one doesn’t explain in-depth what you want a group to do.  People naturally want to create a sense of identity within moments of forming a group. Simply asking your Executive Team to create an Identity Ritual with their individual department will result in instant corporate change.  Not only are Identity Rituals useful, they are fun and infuse real energy throughout your organization. This is  a topic worthy of this entire blog website so realize that building rituals requires significant design work in advance.

Like anything with real power, there is also the possibility of self-distruction. Identity Rituals require street cred w/ your staff, or you could very easily be seen as "off your rocker".  Identity Rituals must be authentic, not contrived or they will simply not be adopted by anyone as the identity level of personality.  But hey... if TV and radio commercials can do... so can you!

High Performance Ritual #1-Celebration Rituals(Part 2 of 4)

Seldom in life do we find anything that carries the energy of success.  Celebration rituals allow us an opportunity to powerfully embrace this energy and use it to direct meaning and performance.  Because of the “time deprivation” of business and life, the other side of this coin is unfortunately the case for a large percentage of organizations.  They are so busy achieving, that successes, big and small go relatively or even completely unacknowledged. Fueled by the socialized belief that achieving market share projections and other mandates are more important than taking the time and energy to celebrate, organizations are depleting the energy levels of their players… leaving them empty of everything valuable… especially creative energy.

As a performance consultant, the best piece of advance I can offer any person or organization is to focus on your strengths, talents, and successes… no matter how small or insignificant they might seem.  I have worked with several organizations that are so focused on fixing what is wrong, that they forget to acknowledge, much less celebrate what is right.

Simple celebration rituals inspirationally force your entire team to rally around behavior and momentum that move you in the direction of accomplishment. 

Examples of Celebration Rituals:

• Sales Reps ring a bell with each signed contract; team members respond with “Good job”, “You Rock”, “Way to go”, etc.

• Executive Team Meetings are ended with each department taking 20 seconds to communicate what their team has accomplished in the past week and then everyone making their way around the room with high 5s and supportive rhetoric.

• Formal acknowledgment of individuals to include: work term anniversaries, high performance, industry certifications and/or credentials, marriage anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, etc.

• Yearly ceremonies, 90 day initiation ceremonies, and formal acknowledgement of company, location, department, and division accomplishments or milestones

• A series of forearm bashes from team mates signifying appreciation for the generation of results

High Performance Teams Consistently Celebrate Even the Smallest Successes.

Right now many of you are saying, “I do that”… and deep down you know I am talking about a deeper process than one of simply acknowledging success.  I am talking about a specific behavior set, of celebration protocol that is precisely and consistently executed to create a sustainable system.

This means on-going training, orientation and consistent attention that teaches and reinforces your staff on a “system” of celebration and why it is an important element of your company culture.

If your executive team personally and consistently engages in Celebration Rituals, you will have a dynamic labor force that feels recognized, involved and appreciated.  You will have the beginnings of a High Performance Culture.

The 3 Rituals of High Performance

High Fives, forearm bashes, and testosterone oriented grunts are a part of every game we play and fill me and my teammates with energy.  For the last 15 years I have been a weekend warrior softball player.  Softball is in my blood… I truly love the sport. 

With a little introspection, one can recognize that being part of any type of sports team has real significance and meaning.  Not only is there joy in executing the game itself, but there is an abundance of rituals that you naturally participate in… usually without even thinking about it.

By choosing to deliberately observe these rituals and their impact on performance and meaning you can start to use rituals as a results generating tool.

Rituals are about managing energy and as highly respected Sales Communication Specialist Blair Singer of Sales Dogs says,“Highest Energy Wins!”

Highest Energy does win. 

In a game this past season my team and I were down by 3 runs in the 5th inning of a 7 inning game.  The opposing team consisted of pompous smartasses with obnoxious attitudes.  This obnoxious attitude fueled our energy… and with this surge of energy… things started to happen.

You could feel the momentum shift as batter after batter hit the ball low and hard.  A deep ball hit to the fence resulted in several runs and a dramatic play at the plate… “He’s out!” shouts the ump.  Then the ball rolls out of the catcher’s mitt…”No…he’s safe!”

The team explodes with energy… running out to the plate with high fives and forearm bashes.  We are fired up! 

At this very moment, every single player on the team is focused, engaged, and ready to perform.  We score 17 runs in three innings crushing our opponents 21-9.

We managed our energy and rode the wave of momentum to victory… and you can do the same thing with your team.

Whether it is a sales team, a marketing team, executive team, venture capital team or softball team, the dynamics of team synergy and energy management remain the same.

Energy management for a performance oriented team starts with the use of 3 distinctive types of High Performance Success Rituals;(1) Celebration Rituals (2) Identity Rituals (3) Focus Rituals

In my next post we will be discussing Celebration Rituals

The Next Generation of Excellence

Everything in business and in life has become so damned complicated.

Even washing your car requires sophisticated loops of technology that simply take my time and energy. With all of the advantages that come with technology, we seemed to have lost our sense of simplicity.

No wonder people don't take your sales calls or want to do business with you... just to comprehend the value you offer takes a significant amount of time and energy... of which people have very little of.

             The Next Generation Of Excellence Is Among Us

The Next Generation Of Excellence consists of those who have developed styles, systems, and protocols of communication with the ability to capture and hold the busy professional's attention. Business has become complex, yet we must remember to keep it simple.

People have a need, problem or desire that they need attended to... the secret is to meet the need, solve the problem, or fullfill the desire quickly and effectively.  Often we get so caught up in our pursuit to strategize and theorize that we forget the very reason people will do business with us.

We meet their needs.

Sometimes beating the competition requires complex strategies and solutions, but let's remember for our customer's sake to keep it simple.