Traditions build Community

Traditions build a sense of community and the start of the year is the time to start building traditions. As you start to lay out the year for your team, now is the time to start thinking about ways to create shared experiences that can create connection and make the team feel cohesive. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, just being thoughtful and intentional.

- Are you planning a standing meeting? Consider building a connection activity into the agenda

- Are you planning an offsite activity? Reflect on things from the past and figure out how to build on them to make them feel connected?

- Are you planning training and development? Look for ways to learn together to leverage a common language/toolbox

- Are you trying to build team culture? Learn about your team and what will fit their interests and desires.

As for my picture, this is the score (in extra innings) of our annual New Year’s family sandlot baseball game. This is parents vs kids game we started almost a decade ago when my son and his friends were very small. In the early years, the dads batted wrong-handed using plastic bats, we intentionally dropped balls and overthrew the bag, and stumbled around in the outfield to keep the score close. In recent years, as the boys moved into their teenage years, the parents have consistently lost, even with our best attempts (and a little cheating) but this year, was redemption. Everyone came to play. Everyone laughed. Everyone is looking for forward to next year!