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HR PRACTICES AND PROCESSES THAT MAKE SUSTAINABLE VALUES STICK 55

design built around values, a collectively articulated company vision, leaders who
devote considerable time and energy to engaging empathetically with all others in the
company, and decision-making that engages most everyone at the company. These
aspects of governance add up to an organization designed from the get-go to leverage
everyone’s leadership skills.
Perhaps the best example of this shared leadership is the large number of task forces
one finds at the company—ridiculously large from an outsider’s perspective. There
seem to be almost as many task forces as there are employees: real estate, investment,
personnel, philanthropy, communications, and cross-divisional are all standing com-
mittees at the company. And then there are the task forces that are created ad hoc. The
proliferation of these task forces sometimes gives rise to disgruntlement, as a few feel
the entrepreneurial spirit of the company is stifled by such team-oriented behavior.
Beyond the sheer number of these task forces, however, is the more germane fact
that each group is cross-functional in its makeup. Operations, finance, brokerage, and
senior management are represented on each task force. These cross-functional teams
enhance the sense that there are no silos within the company, that everything the com-
pany does is integrated with everything else. Such integration improves communica-
tion and facilitates understanding among staff members who, because of their specific
job functions, tend to speak different languages and analyze projects differently. As
such, these cross-functional teams also help ensure that issues and projects are ana-
lyzed from multiple perspectives. Fundamentally, shared leadership is the means by
which Melaver’s governance structure shapes all the various rituals at the company, to
which we now turn.

Rituals

All cultures engage in rituals in the form of ceremonies, customs, and regular prac-
tices that provide a sense of continuity and stability and order and even certitude. We
tend to place our faith in these activities to ground us and keep us from drifting. I par-
ticularly like a specialized, psychological definition of ritual, cited in the Oxford
English Dictionary as “a series of actions compulsively performed under certain cir-
cumstances, the non-performance of which results in tension and anxiety.” This defi-
nition—compulsively performed actions that reduce stress—may sound a bit strong.
Sometimes these rituals evolve naturally, such as the company’s annual potluck
Thanksgiving celebration and the practice of ringing a ship captain’s brass bell when
the company has cause for celebration.
Part of my role entails deliberately shaping rituals that bring everyone together in a
fusion of work and play. The most prominent example of this is the company’s annual
retreat. Occurring each spring (the time of renewal!) over the course of two days and
involving everyone at the company, the annual retreat is a time for team building,
strategy development, and focusing on core values. Each year a different theme, usu-
ally based on the core values, is adopted. The retreat committee plans the activities of
the event. I assist with the facilitation of process.