This week marks the celebration of the Lunar New Year! Celebrated in many Asian countries, it is a time to pause, create space for good luck in the new year and gather with friends and relatives over grand feasts. Each Lunar Year is represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals and 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. The tiger represents bravery, courage and strength. Tigers are natural leaders who are adventurous, ambitious and uplifting animals that can provide hope to others.

At Footers, we use the acronym “FAB TIGERS” to remember our nine core values (Fun, Awesomeness, Balance, Teamwork, Innovation, Growth, Ethics, Respect and Service). So I used the Year of the Tiger as yet another tie into our values this week with our team. There are no shortage of tiger references and connections at Footers. We have a “Fab Tiger Den” at our facility, we just celebrated our Core Value Awards by giving out tiger trophies to the winners, and I was appropriately wearing my new teal tiger shirt for the celebration. Someone once asked me if I thought we were going a little overboard with the “whole tiger thing”. My response was to ask: “Well does everyone know what it means and our Core Values?” When the answer was: “I guess so”, I responded with: “Well then we haven’t gone overboard at all, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do!”.

Traditions are important in organizations, families and cultures. They bring people closer together. They provide a sense of belonging and create opportunities for fun. They provide perspective on the big picture. Traditions allow us to connect with the people who have come before us, while providing an opportunity to create memories in the present. I stumbled upon this excerpt from a psychologist named Donna Rockwell in an article she wrote called The Importance of Tradition and found it fitting for this week’s message:

Our traditions act as a compass for all of our human relationships and person interactions, the quantitative experiences of our family life, and ultimately, the development of civilized societies themselves. As we honor traditions, so we learn to honor ourselves, and in the final analysis, each other.

We have a number of traditions at Footers. There are big traditions like the Core Value awards that I mentioned above, and our annual year in review video which we just debuted. There are smaller traditions that we keep alive throughout the year like reading testimonials from clients aloud at lunch every Tuesday and our monthly Lunch ‘n Learns. As you see the Lunar New Year celebrations, I hope you’ll take a moment to think about the traditions within your organization. How do those traditions shape your company and the people you work with? Are you intentional about keeping those traditions alive? Are there some traditions that have fallen by the wayside and need to be revived?