Company Thanksgiving - Reinforcing the Culture of Your Company

I'm making plans for Thanksgiving this week.  It's an unusual one for me personally, and based on some of the unemployment figures - an unusual one for many Americans.  This year, there will be quite a few people who will sit down to give thanks while their resumes sit in the editing folder in their home office and forms from the unemployment office await their signature.  And it will be tough to give thanks.  I will also have a tough time this year - but I know I will still give thanks.

While I usually try to keep this blog out of the personal realm, a lot is (has) gone on in my life recently and Thanksgiving is going to take on a very different spin this year - and in the future.  And that is coloring my post today.  Call it "thera-blogging."

For the past 15 years or so, my family (wife, 2 kids, dog) have made an 8 -12 hour drive to my in-laws house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It's normally about 8 hours, but as the kids went from diapers to expensive jeans - the time increased with all the bathroom stops.  We're back to 8 hours due to MP3 players, movies, text messaging and larger bladders. 

We picked Thanksgiving as the holiday to share with family because it is the last big holiday where I don't have to worry about traveling on potentially snowy Smokey Mountain roads.  We always met at my wife's parents' house and did a big dinner - 4 kids+spouses, 12 grand kids, and the matriarch and patriarch watching over us all.  The grand kids loved it and it was a real highlight of the year.  My own immediate family was spread out a little too thin to get together for Thanksgiving (6 kids from San Francisco to South Carolina - Cleveland to Dallas - we had the compass covered) so we focused on my wife's side.

Situations Change - The Stories Don't

However, we lost my mother-in-law last year in February, and my father-in law passed away August 9th.  We were planning on Thanksgiving at our own home this year.  But, as I write this post I am getting ready to visit my mother and father this week - Thanksgiving week - to say goodbye to my father.  My father was diagnosed with cancer at the end of August, and will be leaving us very, very soon.  Thanksgiving will never be exactly the same as it was - for me or my family.

Thanksgiving was always the opportunity for each attendee to connect and relive memories and stories that informed and defined the values they held individually, and as a family, shared.  As the stories are told, the adults get to relive the "glory days" and the children hear and experience examples of what it means to be part of THAT family. We learn from stories - they stick with you and they create the threads that are used to weave together the personal tapestry of culture and values that is your family.  It is important for people to remind themselves of those stories - and pass them on to the next generation for them to embellish, and use as raw material as they create their own, new stories.

While I don't think we'll celebrate Thanksgiving the same way we have in the past - we still have a lot to be thankful for.  And that is important.  We will still tell the stories.

Your Company Needs To Share Its Stories

So what does this have to do with your company?  I think you're seeing where I'm taking this.

How do you pass on the values and driving principles that make up your company?  When do you celebrate Thanksgiving at your company?  When do you sit around and say..."remember when so-and-so did..." and everyone gets why that story defined them and defined the family?

Whether in good times or in bad, you need a company Thanksgiving.   You need a celebration, either at a corporate or at a division/group level, where you share the stories that define your business.

I urge you as a leader in your company to find a day that has meaning to your company and celebrate Thanksgiving.  And I mean celebrate "Thanksgiving."  Rent a hall, serve turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce from the can - where you can see the rings - and pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie... all the fixin's.  Do it right.

And tell stories... relive the moments that got you here - and will get you there.  Pass on to the new employees the things that they need to internalize to be part of the family.  Reinforce the good and downplay the bad.  Remember those that have retired or moved on - and their contribution. 

Be thankful, be real, be part of the story that is your company. 

I will probably take a few days off from posting this week to focus my energy on building new stories for my family, so from me to you - have a wonderful Thanksgiving - both personally and professionally.