Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic

by Erica Keswin

#2 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller

From the Wall Street Journa l bestselling author of Bring Your Human to Work comes an indispensable guide to taking your employee engagement to the next level.

In Bring Your Human to Work , Erica Keswin laid down the rules and protocols of a human workplace. Now, in Rituals Roadmap , she shows us how to further employee engagement, explaining that workplace rituals foster a sense of belonging and help workers connect with one another and their work.

From our morning cup of coffee to the standing Wednesday morning meeting with our team, our lives are steeped in rituals. Rituals Roadmap combines cutting-edge scientific research with examples from the most human companies, like Starbucks, Microsoft, Chipotle and LinkedIn, showing how they establish rituals during meetings, employee onboarding procedures, and daily interactions among coworkers.

Whether you choose to pass around a stuffed penguin at your weekly meeting to express gratitude like Aria Finger of DoSomething, or decide to make lunchtime a daily ritual with your team in the same way one top performing team at Douglas Elliman does, rituals create community and change us in a way that conjures lifelong commitments. If you’re serious about employee engagement, Rituals Roadmap is your blueprint for creating a workplace full of engaged, connected employees who drive revenue and stay at their jobs long term.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Cultural, Professional Development, Audiobook, Leadership

224 pages, Hardcover

Published January 26, 2021

Reviews

[Brittany Viklund · Rating 5 out of 5]

My gears are spinning, thank you Erica Keswin for recognizing the importance of rituals & for providing a plethora of inspiration to adopt. This has given me so much food for thought to support my work & teammates!

[Jess M. Samuels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot because it was just what I think we need to be considering in our work place right now. It got my brain considering what rituals we could put in place - esp. online. I would love another book focused directly on rituals and company culture building while (almost) all remote. I can see myself listening to this again to refresh my memory of all of the great examples given.

[Alyssa Foll · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read about why rituals matter at work. Lots of great examples.

[Natalie Silverstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erica Keswin's first book, Bring Your Human to Work, reminded us all that workers are people who need connection, opportunities for growth, fulfilling personal lives and the ability to give back to their communities. While researching her first book, Keswin quickly realized the importance of rituals in successful workplaces and cultures, and the concept for her fantastic follow-up book, Rituals Roadmap, was born. Rituals Roadmap adds nuanced background on the power of rituals, which are habits that have been intentionally and meaningfully elevated by people, mission and corporate culture, to create a more productive, happier workplace. Rituals turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, creating "magical" moments for individuals and greater satisfaction for the collective group. Her exhaustive research uncovers best practices, and she highlights "Rituals Rockstars" - leaders who understand and harness the power of rituals - across every industry. Her story-telling is approachable and interesting, the tips she presents are totally do-able and inspiring and the graphics are super fun (as a Northwestern University parent, I particularly loved the "March Through The Arch" graphic and story of the important ritual that marks the beginning and end of a students' journey through NU). She smartly included an important postscript about Rituals Through Turbulent Times to help us all deal with the ongoing challenge of the pandemic in our lives. This is a great book for anyone who is just starting a career, who is pivoting, or who is looking for ways to make their work (and home) life more intentional and meaningful. Maybe a habit that you elevate to the standard of honored ritual will bring a little magic to your life during these difficult days - Erica's book will inspire you be mindful of the possibility, and to give it a shot.

[Ashley Schmeltzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am constantly scanning the shelves for more books about community and bringing people together around meaning and purpose. When I saw the title of this book it fit in nicely. Unfortunately I have to say that a lot of it was a slimmed down version of other books I’ve read and did not fully grab my attention as much as others. There were interesting bits and I will keep the book for referencing as I enjoyed some of the ideas that came out of it. But books like “The Power of Moments”, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath are much stronger and thorough in discussing contents found in this book of rituals. If you haven’t read much around this topic it may be a good starter book for you.

[Codi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a 3.5 for me. It was a leadership read for my PaperPie business and while I enjoyed it, and definitely gleaned some gems from it, it wasn’t my favorite leadership read.

I do agree rituals play a big role in company healthiness and employee satisfaction, and did highlight several things that stuck with me, one especially being, “Start as you mean to go on.” Because how you start plays such a role in retention, especially in direct sales, and can make or break whether someone sticks around.

[Krista W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it and I wouldn’t recommend it. It was vaguely interesting, but didn’t offer what I hoped for. A lot of stories from corporations, but not the insights I was hoping for based on the description. It was written for C-suite/bosses/decision makers to implement company-wide rituals and didn’t really have anything useful for people like myself who are at the receiving end of “company culture,” and are solitary remote workers to use day to day. Womp womp. Bit of a let down.

[Tsinoy Foodies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Routine + purpose, presence or sentimental value = Rituals
ritual is performed without a specific goal of preparation in mind

Shared rituals -> Communal bond and culture

Rituals in the workplace help provide the “three p's”: psychological safety + purpose = performance.

Soft stuff or human factor that contributes to work success.

[Mary Louise Sanchez]

Rituals are important in our lives and the author proposes bringing rituals to the workplace. Rituals bring people together and we all can be creative in designing them for all areas of our lives!

[Kayce McGehee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Such a great read to inspire personal connection at work and beyond. Excited to uncover more rituals to add to my days in 2021!

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely transformed my way of thinking around rituals and how to improve them.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m going to have to reread this book. The examples were useful and I’m looking forward to figuring out which rituals at work are helping and which are holding us back.

[Torrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for leaders!

[JW · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5+ not a 4, but enough nuggets to not get a 3

[Julie Kreun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for work. However, I feel it can be applied to any situation: church, family, volunteer organization, etc. I'll highlight a few chapters/topics that spoke to me. Rituals are important for getting a new hire on board. It sets the stage for ensuring the employee gets off to a strong start and develops relationships. Meetings need to have a purpose, we've all heard this. But how do you make them into "I don't want to miss this one"? This book has some creative ideas to share. Keeping an employee happy is hard but rituals can help. Not only can they be used for encouragement and team building, but they can improve performance. Losing an employee is costly. It's important to implement rituals throughout the work day. Everyone can implement rituals. You just need to start. To summarize, she emphasizes three P's of rituals: Psychological Safety + Purpose = Performance.

[Adair Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Erica's newest book! With everything going on it's so nice to find little ways to gain back control of your life with the help of rituals. Handy in both my personal and professional life.