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How Remote Team Rituals Can Improve Your Company Culture
Rituals are symbolic shared experiences that strengthen connections, communication, and a sense of belonging. Through repetition, they help reinforce desired beliefs and behaviors.
Frequently asked questions about team rituals – virtual and not
Successful organizations have been using team rituals to bring people together for many years. However, it took a global pandemic for most companies to discover the power of well-designed rituals.
There's a lot of confusion about rituals. Many people use the terms icebreakers, team building activities, and rituals interchangeably. Although these are connected, they are not the same.
In this article, I will share exactly what a team ritual is, their benefits, and when to use them. I'll also provide answers to the most frequent questions I get from participants of our Culture Design Masterclass (yes, we teach people how to design rituals, too).
What Is a Team Ritual?
A ritual is a symbolic act that enables identity transformation, resulting in a change of behavior.
Frederick Pferdt, Chief Innovation Evangelist at Google, defines rituals as "tangible acts done routinely that carry value and meaning."
A ritual is a patterned, repetitive, and symbolic enactment of cultural belief or core values. Rituals increase social cohesion, aligning the belief system of the individual with that of the group. The more a belief system is enacted through ritual, the stronger it becomes.
According to IDEO's CEO Tim Brown, "Rituals create a constant nudging so that, over time, a culture learns to do something naturally and intuitively."
That's why a ritual requires repetition to create a real impact. The more the beliefs are enacted, the more natural and organic they become. It's for this reason that religious leaders encourage their members to participate regularly—for example, by coming to church every Sunday.
What Are the Key Characteristics of a Ritual?
Five characteristics define a team ritual, as I explained in a previous piece on how to design successful team rituals:
1. Rituals require a trigger
Different elements can trigger a ritual. For example, a specific date or moment: every Monday at 8 am or at the beginning of our weekly action meeting. Internal events (when a new hire joins our team or when we finish a project) or external events (when clients congratulate the team or our product receives an award) can also act as a trigger.
2. Rituals have a clear flow: beginning, middle, and end
In cultural anthropology, a ritual is a journey in which one individual leaves one group or state to join another. Each rite of passage involves three clear steps: beginning, middle, and end.
The first part of the journey is the separation phase – for something to start, something else must first end. The second part is the transitional stage, called "liminal," where transformation and growth happen. Finally, the "incorporation" stage closes the cycle, welcoming the person or group to a new state.
An example is Airbnb's human tunnel. New employees start their journey at the end of a tunnel made by all employees. The middle, crossing the tunnel, represents the transition from one state to another. Finally, they come out the other side. The passage makes them feel welcome while they transform from being a "new hire" to "one of us."
Rituals are short stories that bring our culture to life through small acts. Consider the beginning, middle, and end as the three parts of the storytelling arc: Exposition, Climax, and Denouement.
3. Rituals transform people for the better
From creating a sense of belonging and increasing appreciation of small victories to reminding us of why we joined an organization, rituals change not only how we feel, but also our mindsets and behaviors.
When designing a ritual, it's crucial to outline the emotional reward: how do you want the team to feel after completing the ritual?
For example, at our Build a Fearless Culture program, we facilitate a ritual that's called "Why are you awesome?" Each participant gets their turn to humbly brag about themselves. After completing the ritual, everyone feels super positive and excited because they had their moment of glory. This ritual breaks through our perfectionist society. It gives people a space to reflect on their goodness and stop worrying about others' expectations.
4. Rituals occur with a particular frequency
Culture is what we repeatedly do. Team rituals help bring your company culture to life over and over by continually enacting a behavior that reminds your team members who they are, how they play, and why they want to work together.
The frequency of a ritual depends on its nature and trigger. Atlassian holds regularly scheduled weekly Slack Stand-Ups, but then their Brown Bag Sessions – informal learning meetings over lunch – occur whenever there's a need.
5. Rituals play a symbolic, transformational role
Unlike a Friday happy hour with our colleagues (a routine), rituals create deeper connections.
Not all rituals are as symbolic as others. However, most are very meaningful for the team members that are part of this collective experience.
For example, new employees at Google ("Nooglers") wear beanie hats with propellers on top. This ritual, which might feel ridiculous for outsiders, makes new hires feel part of an exclusive tribe.
What's The Difference Between Habits, Routines, and Rituals?
The three have something in common: repetition. They all include behaviors that we do on a regular basis. However, we practice habits and routines more often than rituals.
Two variables help explain the key difference between the three: Effort and Consciousness. As you can see in the chart below, rituals require the most of both.
Habits are small acts that we perform on a regular basis without thinking. Brushing your teeth is a perfect example. You probably do it at least twice a day, at the same time, without being aware. It's something that you learned when you were a kid and incorporated into your daily life.
Routines require more effort and awareness. For example, an exercise routine that involves changing your clothes, warming-up, exercising, stretching, taking a shower, etc. It involves more steps and elements, thus requiring more effort and consciousness.
Rituals require even more effort and consciousness. The devil is in the details. Rituals are not just about doing something, but about how you do it. It involves aligning a team, focusing more on the task at hand, and paying attention to others, among other things.
What Separates Team Rituals from Team Bonding Activities?
It's easy to confuse the terms "team building" and "teamwork." While both are vital to success, they are two distinct concepts. Team building focuses on the formation of groups, while teamwork concentrates on the function of groups.
Teambuilding activities increase connection, belonging, and cohesion. Teamwork goes to a deeper level. It includes promoting psychological safety, collaboration, and productivity. Actively building and developing teams is important to deal with changing dynamics – teams are flexible and members rotate continually. Amy Edmondson believes that teaming is essential to organizational learning – the effort requires developing both affective (feeling) and cognitive (thinking) skills.
While most people think of rituals as a way to create bonding and emotional connection, they're also very effective in developing teaming, not just team building.
Most icebreakers, like sharing what a colleague ate last night or a picture of their dog, are great to connect team members but are not rituals – they usually lack depth and are not performed frequently enough to become part of the culture. During the pandemic, many people started calling icebreakers rituals – although they feel similar, this undermines the power of well-designed team rituals.
For a client that was suffering from analysis-paralysis, we created a ritual called "On Air." When anyone notices that the team is spiraling and failing to 'land' on a decision, any member could turn on the "on-air" sign. Similar to what happens in a podcast or radio program, people must stop discussing things and run the show.
Are Agile Practices Rituals?
I've been getting this question a lot lately. Many agile coaches refer to check-in rounds, retrospectives, and other Agile practices as rituals.
There is a thin line that separates one from the other. Some team practices start as a ritual and, after some time, become part of the normal way of operating and lose their symbolism. What was originally a ritual ends up being a routine.
More than asking if one thing is a ritual or not, reflect on how the activity is practiced and connected to the culture. Is it something emotionally meaningful or practical, even if the team appreciates it? Is it a ritual or a routine?
Another important element to differentiate team practices from rituals is if they play a functional or emotional role. Team rituals are emotional by nature, while most methods focus on the cognitive side of culture – they are more functional.
When consulting with clients or running training programs, I use the following question as a rule of thumb: Is the nature of the act emotional or functional? When I created the Culture Design Canvas, I purposefully assigned team rituals to the right side – the emotional culture. If an activity or method that your team applies is mainly functional, then it's not a ritual.
Are Virtual Rituals Only Meant to Create Belonging?
Connecting people who were forced to work from home encouraged many teams to start using team rituals. However, creating emotional connections is just the tip of the iceberg.
Rituals are powerful because they create awareness of the mindsets and behaviors that we want to change. They do much more than creating belonging.
At Heiligenfeld, the "Who will ring the bell today?" ritual creates a pause when a meeting is going off track. When ground rules are not respected, the sound of the bell invites participants to reflect on their own behaviors. "Am I in service of the topic we are discussing? Am I adding value or being a distraction?" The meeting restarts with a more effective mindset.
Similarly, this basketball coach wants his team to always end practice on a positive note – with a shot made, not a shot missed. His "Slam Dunk" ritual makes players leave practice looking forward to winning the next match.
Rituals are perfect to call out bad behaviors in a non-threatening way. In our online workshops, we start playing with a pair of scissors when someone is stealing too much airtime from the rest. It's a friendly way to create awareness by leveraging a metaphor instead of having to tell people to "cut it out."
As anthropologist Clifford Geertz said, "The world as lived and the world as imagined, turn out to be the same world." Ritual gives team a sandbox to play and experiment.
When Can I Use Rituals for Remote or Hybrid Teams?
Multiple team occasions are perfect for leveraging the power of team rituals.
We use different frameworks to help organizations identify opportunities and define when to use rituals for remote or hybrid teams.
Identify key moments along the employee life-cycle, like welcoming a new hire. The different stages of a project also offer great opportunities for rituals. You can celebrate the kick-off or the completion of any project – and everything in between.
Cultural tensions (specific emotions, mindsets, and behaviors that get in the way) can be addressed with team rituals. Most of the challenges of any cultural transformation could get some help from effective team rituals.
"The Small Moments Jar" is a simple way to recognize contributions of all sizes. It's excellent for cultures who suffer from perfectionism and forget to value daily accomplishments. When a teammate does something extraordinary – whether it's helping out on a deadline, learning a new skill, or bringing in fancy cupcakes – another teammate writes it down on a small piece of paper and puts it in a jar.
Companies need to leverage opportunities to keep culture alive despite the physical distance.
Hotjar holds weekly virtual bonfires that get employees together in an intimate and casual environment. People use this moment to catch up, discuss interesting topics, and share new ideas. Sometimes special guests join, and people can ask them anything while enjoying the warmth of a virtual fire.
Check out this article to leverage different frameworks and design good rituals. One word of caution, though. The fact that you can create a ritual for each of these moments doesn't mean that you have to. Be mindful and use rituals with moderation.
How to Use Rituals in Virtual Meetings?
You can begin or end a meeting more engaged, create transitions between topics, increase focus and participation, or build stronger human connections. Most importantly, virtual team rituals help create a shared culture despite the physical distance.
The Perspective Pause ritual is a great way to empathize before a meeting where conflicting views can affect team dynamics. Set up the right scenario and invite people to reflect in silence so that they can ask better questions and overcome prejudice.
Use the following questions as prompts:
-	What would you guess are your colleagues' perspectives on this topic?
-	Try to understand why people think the way they do – always assume good intent.
-	What's your take on this topic? Why is yours different from others? What if you're not right?
-	Treat each perspective – including yours – as a hypothesis. Write down questions to challenge or validate the different POVs.
Recreate in-person rituals into the virtual space. Zappos sent a herb garden kit to its employees to recreate an in-person ritual that people were missing. At the HQ, Zappos employees grew vegetables at the company garden and ate the produce together. The virtual kit recreates the collective experience – employees share their herb gardens and the food they cook with them, keeping the sense of community alive.
What Defines an Effective Team Ritual?
"When designing a ritual: don't overthink it, just build the first thing you can, then move to more sophisticated versions later." - Tim Brown
Focus on human-centered problems. Team rituals should be designed to solve actual cultural tensions or issues affecting your team. Rather than creating a ritual out of the blue, connect it with something that will make it valuable to your team.
As a reminder that OXO products must fit in hands of every shape and size, employees collect lost gloves that they find around the world and showcase them on a wall in their office.
Keep them short and sweet. The best rituals are simple. They don't need too many elements or explanations – the simpler, the merrier.
When you visit HR software company Gusto's office, you'll immediately notice that no one is wearing shoes. You'll actually be asked to remove yours, too. Gusto's founders were raised in no-shoes homes. Taking yours off is a sign of respect to the company's traditions. Most importantly, it's Gusto's way of making you feel at home.
Involving teammates in the design process is vital. On the one hand, having ownership will increase their openness to practice the ritual. On the other hand, successful rituals need to be authentic – employees don't want to adopt practices created by their boss in a vacuum.
Measure the effectiveness of rituals. Test different ritual ideas at an early stage and use feedback to improve them. Monitor whether rituals are helping drive the change you are looking for.
Only a few rituals are timeless. If a ritual helped cure one of your organization's cultural neurosis (such as perfectionism, procrastination, or lack of accountability), then it's time to let go of the ritual. Also, a ritual can quickly become repetitive and lose meaning, turning into a habit. If that's the case, try evolving certain aspects of it – or simply kill it.
Be ready to acknowledge when a ritual's time has passed.
What Tool Can I Use to Design Rituals?
The Team Ritual Canvas is the framework we apply to design effective team rituals. It's free to use. Download the template and review the facilitation guide here.
Wrapping Up – The Power of Team Rituals
Team rituals are unique to each company or team culture – they only make sense to those who are part of the experience. Use the above examples as inspiration. Create your own rather than copy what worked for other organizations.
There are many opportunities to use well-designed team rituals. Use them mindfully and in moderation.
5 Shifts to Build a Strong Hybrid Work Culture
Why CEOs Resist Remote Work (Hint: They Feel Powerless)
Your Company Culture Is a Wicked Problem


Matthew intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane within 24 hours and remained a major storm (at or above Category 3) for seven and a quarter days. Since satellite observations began four Atlantic hurricanes have remained at this intensity for longer (in order of longevity)—Ivan (2004), Luis (1995), Isabel (2003), and Edouard (1996).
Having become a powerful hurricane shortly after entering the southern Caribbean, Matthew abruptly turned north. Its track took it between Haiti and Cuba—clipping both—then over the Bahamas, and along the warm Gulf Stream up the east coast of Florida. Very few hurricanes follow such an ideal track for maintaining intensity—one that is lengthy, neatly avoids major landmasses that would disrupt them, and remains over warm waters that sustain them.


For Chicago in 1893, the Columbian Exposition was the right world's fair, in the right place, at the right time. Occurring only two decades after the Great Fire that ravaged the city's center, it was an opportunity to show off to the world Chicago's recovery and exponential growth.
This was done, mind you, in little more than two years, into the teeth of a widening recession that was particularly gripping our nation's agricultural regions and silver-mining centers such as the young state of Colorado. In this light, fifty cents' admission was steep for many visitors, but in its six months of public existence the fair counted twenty-seven million admissions.
There were fourteen major buildings clustered around the park's central lagoon. The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was so large that during dedication ceremonies it sheltered more than 140,000 people, with room to spare. Besides scientific exhibits from around the United States and the world, one could marvel at the successful logistics deployed to host many thousands each day, including water treatment, waste disposal and the ability to feed 60,000 people at one time.
While St. Louis has long claimed to be the "Gateway to the West," the participation of former "frontier" states like Colorado helped underline Chicago's historic and continuing role in the development of the West. Harsh economics at first seemed to undermine Colorado's ambitious plans for its own displays, but the last-minute contributions of wealthy citizens rescued them at the eleventh hour, a special case of many similar efforts on behalf of other exhibitors. There had also been some skepticism about charging an additional twenty-five cents admission to Colorado's Cliff Dwellers exhibit, a constructed "mountain" housing a representative canyon, paintings of stunning ruins and a museum featuring relics of long-gone Indians. It turned out to be one of the fair's most popular exhibits.
Interestingly, the otherwise ambitious fair authorities declined to partner up with legendary scout William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody for an incarnation of his famous Wild West Show. So he contracted for fifteen adjoining acres and as a result earned one-million dollars in profits.
At the same time, they offer a highly readable overview of the fair, including a well-selected collection of photographs. Many of these are panoramic views of awesome architecture in designed settings. But one image I keeping turning to is a photograph of the famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley at the entrance to her dressing tent. The tent flaps are open, displaying for all to see personal possessions such as her dressing table, banjo, rifle and even a bicycle.


A mathematician, guitarist or a film producer. It didn't quite work out, did it?
Oxygen. It's essential for human life but, if we get too much of it, we die. In fact, if we never got ill and never had an accident, oxygen would kill us in old age. Oxygen makes �free radicals� and they attack almost everything they come across in our bodies. Each breath doesn't amount to much damage but, over a lifetime, free radicals cause ageing. That's a powerful chemical! And, when playing Scrabble, it uses up some tricky letters as well.
I keep cacti and collect stamps that feature fish. I also do a lot of walking - and thinking - in the Peak District.
I listen to very loud music whenever I write. Some of my favourites are post-punk instrumental groups like Mogwai, Jakob (from New Zealand), Mono (from Japan), The Workhouse, This Will Destroy You, Loss of a Child, and Explosions in the Sky. I also like vocal bands such as Sigur Ros, Chumbawamba, Editors and - the best of the lot - Kitchens of Distinction.
Pomegranates, crispy duck pancakes and peppermint creams, but not all at the same time.
Younger. But when I act young, my old body reminds me I'm fooling myself.
The scientist in me wants to meet Charles Darwin. The money-maker in me would persuade Steven Spielberg over for a cup of tea and chat about turning my books into films. The campaigner in me would love to speak to Martin Luther King. But I�ll settle for Chris Coleman (manager of Coventry City FC).
I wish I could play a musical instrument, particularly guitar.
A bit of a handful, I think. Still, I was good at maths, science, and daydreaming during the boring bits.
People who are inconsiderate to others. People who ignore facts when they don't fit with their precious opinions (like creationists).
I'm a novelist. That makes me a full-time professional daydreamer. I daydream about characters, plots and everything. I can become anyone, go anywhere, do anything in my head. If I want to commit a crime or communicate with an alien, I can and I will!
Since the 1980s. Back then, I was also a lecturer in chemistry. I put aside my test-tubes and became a full-time writer in 1994.
Best things: (a) the freedom to tackle any topic and the assembling of an interesting cast of characters to populate a new story; and (b) the sudden realization at some point in the writing that a story is really taking shape � and probably not the shape I had planned at the outset. Worst things: (a) having to redraft a story again and again when it is much more exciting to get stuck into the next one; and (b) leaving behind my imaginary friends at the end of the process.
The news (there is so much weird, wonderful and bad news to chose from) and my own interests, particularly advances in science. Frequently, I am motivated by outrage.
The Owl Service by Alan Garner. It has mystery, a claustrophobic atmosphere and a menace that I envy. It also has some great sentences and a beautiful, strange ending.
The Bible. Just think of the royalties!
Visit my website and click on the Writing Tips link.
When, for the first time, someone complimented one of my stories, written for fun rather than for publication.
In a study that was once a bedroom. It has a computer, reference books, and a good hi-fi system.


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Дънкан Айдахо () е измислен герой във вселената на Дюн, създадена от Франк Хърбърт. Той е единственият герой, който се появява във всичките шест романа за Дюн и е един от главните герои.

По време на Дюн, Айдахо е учителят по фехтовка на Пол Атреидски. Той е на служба при династия Атреиди и дясната ръка на дук Лито (заедно с Гърни Халик и Туфир Хауът). Когато атреидите поемат управлението на Аракис по заповед на императора, Айдахо става посланик на дук Лито Атреидски при свободните, пустинните жители на Дюн, с които Лито се надява да се съюзи в наближаващата война срещу императора и харконите; Айдахо отива да живее при свободните, като служи както на Стилгар, така и на дука.

Когато императорът напада Дюн, Айдахо е убит от имперски сардукар. Неговата смърт спасява Пол и майка му, Лейди Джесика.

Литературни герои
Дюн

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Follow-up care and the risk of recurrence
Melissa would have appreciated a more structured plan for moving forward.
I didn't feel there was a plan, I just felt kind of left to my own devices on how to move forward. What's the next steps were going to be. I felt that for 4 to 6 months, I had this handholding and I had these schedules. I had everything kind of mapped out for me, with respect to my treatment, and then they just kind of release you into the wilds. It's almost like, I don't know, I guess I would equate it to when you leave the hospital with your child for the first time. You're comforted and you have a nursing staff and you have physicians by you, for that period of time that you're in the hospital and all of a sudden, there you go... just go.
Not that there weren't resources and things like that available but I just felt there wasn't a concrete plan. It wasn't spelled out for me, okay every 6 months you're going to have a check-up for this. Every year you're going to check up for this. This is how we recommend moving forward with health, exercise and other wellness. There wasn't any kind of structure and I know that it's very individual for people but just to have something kind of... to work with somebody before you're kind of discharged. Not from the Cancer Clinic as a whole, but just from when you're discharged from that constant care system.
2 years since diagnosis
Alternative and complementary therapies
Melissa's naturopath advised her to follow the medical treatment and naturopathy as a complement to the treatment.
At Melissa's first oncology appointment she felt that the decisions were already made for her, she took some time to reflect on her options.
Coping strategies
Melissa explained how she used visualization when undergoing chemotherapy.
Melissa offered a reminder that sometimes you need to let go of that expectation and look after yourself.
How it affects family and friends
Using some humor helped Melissa to tell people for the first time that she had breast cancer.
Perspectives on treatment pathways
Melissa thinks it is important to give patients choices where preferences might matter.
'I am their patient but it's my treatment' – this approach helped Melissa to communicate her treatment preferences to the professionals.
Preserving fertility
Melissa had not yet decided whether she wanted more children, having the decision taken away from her was traumatic.
Melissa found it hard to be motivated for her daily radiation sessions.
Relating to health care professionals
Melissa talks about how involvement in even the smallest choices can make a big difference.
Sexuality, femininity and intimacy
Melissa described the difficulties she and her husband encountered and explained how they worked through them.
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Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is enrolling new landowners in Region 7 who are interested in participating in the Block Management Program.
The special Roundup urban deer hunt that ended Feb. 15 has succeeded in reducing vehicle collisions and complaints about aggressive animals in and around town.
The Block Management Program, which provides public hunting access to more than two million acres of land throughout Region 7, is still going strong.
The 2019 Deer/Elk/Antelope Regulations are available on the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov/hunting/regulations/.
For those hunters interested in applying for elk or deer permits for the 2019 season a critical deadline is approaching, March 15.


Dr. James Mill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended Slippery Rock University and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education. Dr. Mill then accepted a graduate assistantship and moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University for his master's degree in Therapeutic Physical Education. In addition, he worked at Drexel University for two years, where he served as an assistant football coach.
It was in 1970 that he was appointed to the Health and Physical Education faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. From 1970 to 1980, Dr. Mill also kept busy as defensive coordinator/assistant football coach for IUP's football team. He was also teaching a plethora of health, physical education, and sport management courses at the undergraduate level. In 1981, Dr. Mill completed his doctorate degree at the University of Pittsburgh in Higher Education/Administration/Physical Education.
From 1980 to 1983, Dr. Mill served as the associate director of IUP Athletics. Dr. Mill held the position of chairman of the HPE Department from 1983 to 2002 and provided leadership and inspiration to his faculty and students in their professional endeavors. He received many noteworthy accomplishments benefiting the department, university, and Indiana community. But, it is his professional and personal commitment to physical fitness that is most relevant.
Dr. Mill has belonged or currently belongs to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation; Pennsylvania State Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance; National Association for Physical Education in Higher Education; Phi Epsilon Kappa; and Phi Kappa Phi.
Dr. Mill retired in July 2002 after more than 30 years of service. During his retirement, his goals are to stay active, exercise as much as he can, visit his children and grandchildren, and of course . . . improve his golf game. He was honored by the university and received professor/emeritus standing in 2002. He is still actively involved in the Department of Health and Physical Education, and we are pleased to have a fabulous fitness facility named after such a wonderful man.


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Highrise organizes contacts, manages workflow database
Highrise is contact-management software. Features include the ability to save and organize notes and email conversations for up to 30,000 contacts, share information with teams, schedule tasks related to contacts, and more.
by Tanya Lewis / December 17, 2012
Price ranges from $24 per month for up to 6 users (includes 5 GB storage and 5,000 contacts) to $99 per month for up to 40 users (includes 30 GB of storage and 30,000 contacts).
37 Signals.
Nicole Yelland, director of marketing and communications at Livio, has been using Highrise for about two and a half years.
You log on to a page that shows all information related to the latest activity you have had with contacts.
When you are building your contact list, there are fields to enter a reporter's contact information including their address so you know their time zone, their social media links, and a notes field. If you BCC Highrise when you email a reporter, those emails are included within the contact information for that reporter.
There's also section where you can assign tasks to yourself or other people in your company. For example, I can assign my CEO a task for a media interview so he knows when the call is scheduled and has access to all of that reporter's information. Highrise also sends email alerts to people who are assigned tasks.
If there's a problem, the Highrise team is really responsive when I reach out on Twitter and Facebook. They also post updates on the social networks if the system is down for some reason. They're really fast at posting and at fixing any sort of problem.
How does it serve your business needs?
Livio is a second-phase startup with 20 people. We work with car manufacturers and app developers to get apps into cars with Livio Connect.
I use Highrise for PR but we also use it for business development and for engineering. Everyone in the company has a to-do list that they assign themselves in Highrise. Our CEO is a list guy and it gives him peace of mind because he can go in and see what we are all doing.
We don't use a PR agency, so I manage everything and Highrise really helps me stay on top of what is happening. It is a lifesaver for any small PR and marketing department.
When I started at Livio, I was trying to build my media contacts and relationships. I started with zero contacts in the database. Today I have more than 3,400 and I have a relationship with each one.
Highrise shows me all the tasks I have assigned to myself for the day. It also lets me know if a task is overdue – for myself or for my staff or interns. It's great to know what everyone is doing and what is overdue. It gives everyone a sense of urgency and it makes us accountable.
Reporters change jobs so often and it's important to keep up with them. Highrise helps me keep contact information fresh. For example, it helped me keep track of a reporter who moved from PCWorld to Mashable. This guy is really smart and he's given me great tips on things he's seen in the tech industry that I've provided as industry trends when pitching other people and that makes me more valuable as a PR person.
If there is a photo online associated with a reporter, Highrise crawls the Web, finds the picture, and automatically includes it as an icon in the reporter's contact information. It's so helpful to know what a reporter looks like if you are set to meet them in person or if you happen to run into them. Last spring, while on vacation I ran into a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Even though I'd never met him in person, I knew who he was because his picture is in Highrise. So we chatted and later met up when we did a media tour in New York. It was a nice offline intersection that wouldn't have happened without Highrise.
When I go to trade shows, I'll meet new contacts or run into current contacts. I jot down a note about our interaction, input that information into Highrise and assign myself a related task if necessary.
There's also a free app for android and iPhone, and that's really a lifesaver on media tours. If I'm stuck in traffic and running late for a desk side in New York, I can go to the app, find the reporter's information, and call them. All of their information is right at my fingertips.
How does it integrate with your existing infrastructure from and IT standpoint?
It's Web-based.
What are the main benefits?
Having context for each of my contacts, including their personal interests, what they write about, what they used to write about, where I met them, and more helps me be the type of PR person I want to be.
For example, a reporter I work with told me Hurricane Sandy wiped out his employer's servers and he was working from home from his own email. I put a reminder in Highrise of which email I can use and to check in periodically and see how things are going with the storm recovery. I really do like interacting with reporters and I hate treating them like faceless, nameless strangers.
Being able to assign tasks to colleagues. We have summer PR interns, who we treat like entry level staff. I don't have to brief them much on reporter outreach because they can click on a reporter's name in Highrise and see every pitch I've sent and the history of all my conversations with that reporter. Maybe they can repurpose a pitch that's right there or use stats I've sent in previous pitches.
What are the main drawbacks?
As with any CRM system, you have to put in some data entry work to get it going.
You have to have a good Internet signal or phone signal to access it.
What would you like to see improved / added?
I love it the way it is and recommend it to all my PR friends.
Vocus, Salesforce.com, Thomson Reuters, and Cision offer contact management tools.
Excel: spreadsheet software