Team Rituals

1---2name: team-rituals3description: Help users design effective team rituals. Use when someone is building team culture, creating recurring team practices, trying to improve team communication, or establishing operational rhythms for their organization.4---5 6# Designing Team Rituals7 8Help the user design effective team rituals using frameworks and insights from 2 product leaders.9 10## How to Help11 12When the user asks for help with team rituals:13 141. **Understand the goal** - Ask what behavior or outcome they want the ritual to drive152. **Apply the golden rituals framework** - Ensure rituals are named, templated, and known by every employee's first Friday163. **Design for specificity** - Help create rituals that go beyond generic meetings to drive specific outcomes174. **Plan for adoption** - Discuss how the ritual will be introduced and maintained over time18 19## Core Principles20 21### Great companies have a small list of golden rituals22Shishir Mehrotra: "Great companies have a very small list of golden rituals. And there are three rules: they're named, every employee knows them by their first Friday, and they're templated." Rituals are the primary vehicle for culture and operational efficiency.23 24### Rituals are the engine of a great team25Lane Shackleton: "The rituals that I've been writing down are very personal. They're my take on how to do this." Go beyond simple meeting management to create rituals like Catalyst sessions, Dory Q&A, Tag-ups, and Flash Tags that serve specific purposes.26 27### Name your rituals28A named ritual becomes a shared concept that can be referenced and improved. "Let's do a Catalyst" is more powerful than "let's brainstorm" because it carries specific expectations.29 30### Template your rituals31Provide structure so anyone can run the ritual consistently. Templates reduce friction and ensure quality even when the ritual creator isn't present.32 33### Teach rituals early34If a new employee doesn't learn your golden rituals in their first week, they'll develop their own habits that may not align with team culture.35 36## Questions to Help Users37 38- "What outcome are you trying to drive with this ritual?"39- "What will you call this ritual - what's its name?"40- "Can someone run this ritual with just a template, without you being present?"41- "How will new team members learn this ritual in their first week?"42- "Is this ritual solving a real problem, or is it just another meeting?"43- "What existing rituals could this replace or enhance?"44 45## Common Mistakes to Flag46 47- **Too many rituals** - Great companies have a small list of golden rituals, not dozens of meetings48- **Unnamed rituals** - Without a name, a ritual can't become part of the culture's vocabulary49- **No template** - Rituals without structure degrade in quality over time50- **Late introduction** - Rituals learned after someone's first week are much harder to adopt51- **Generic meetings disguised as rituals** - A ritual should have a specific purpose beyond "staying aligned"52 53## Deep Dive54 55For all 2 insights from 2 guests, see `references/guest-insights.md`56 57## Related Skills58 59- Running Effective Meetings60- Building Team Culture61- Written Communication62- Onboarding New Hires