Community Rituals — Wine & Wins
As we’ve mentioned before, rituals are a core tenet of any community. In reflecting on some of the rituals I’ve been involved in, there are some that really stick out.
A few years ago, I was really focusing on being a better people manager. I began reading loads of books on management techniques, enrolled in executive coaching sessions and spoke to the great people managers in my network about how they went about it. I explored many aspects of people-management from feedback and personal development to goals and incentives, and much in between. One of the big questions for me was, how do I cultivate a culture where we celebrate wins?
I love working in a powerful team. And often times that means tight deadlines, pushing boundaries and exploring our potential for how much we can get done. But all of this can be hard work, and really take it’s toll on the team’s ability to feel good about our achievements. And so, I began to explore how I can have my team celebrate and feel amazing about our successes. There was one technique in particular I rolled out which worked really well.
With this new frame of creating a culture where we celebrated wins, I wanted to create a formal ritual within the team where we would recognise and celebrate wins together. And what better time to schedule this ritual than last thing on a Friday, right before we’re about to head into the weekend. We’d come together as a team, bond over our collective achievements and step into the weekend feeling high as a kite. And so, every Friday before we kicked off Friday drinks I’d gather everyone in the team and we’d come together and share our respective wins. We even went so far as creating a Slackbot that would collect our wins ready for us to share.
After a while, Friday Wins was so successful I began to wonder why every team couldn’t do it. Looking around our coworking space, there were teams all over that would benefit from stepping into the weekend on a high. After all, how often do we make time to step back and reflect on our success? And why shouldn’t we do that 52 times a year, at least?
Soon enough, the weekly Friday Night Drinks event at our coworking space was kicked off with a new ritual: Wine and Wins. Everyone would gather with their first drink for the evening, and share in their wins for the week. It was so great to hear about all the challenges that were overcome, products that were shipped and milestones that were hit. We’d hear from teams within the space, but also individuals who normally wouldn’t have anyone to celebrate their wins with. It united our coworking members, flattened the team structures and gave everyone a chance to voice what they were proud of. They were recognised and celebrated for everything they achieved, and that happened every week!
I’ve joined many more coworking communities since then, and each one I always put forward the concept of a Friday Wine & Wins sessions to close out the working week. It’s an awesome way of recognising and celebrating achievements of members, cultivating a sharing and engagement community culture and sending everyone into the weekend on a high.
Do you have a similar ritual in your community? Or are you looking at implementing Wine & Wins? We’d love to hear how this has worked for you, and any challenges or comments. Tweet us with the hashtag #tribesapp.
