Traditions....do you follow them?

And, if you do follow them, do you know where they started and why? Are they still relevant to you?

There are so many UK traditions out there from maypole and morris dancing to fireworks and festivals!

At this time of year, it is traditional to bring in all the harvest and to celebrate in some way to give thanks for the bounty. But with our 21st century food miles, it means so much less to us now as a tradition.

How about some other traditions in the calendar..,. anyone for International Talk Like a Pirate day on 19th September? Or, maybe National Dogs in Politics day on 23rd September? There are other commemorative days falling this month that have more obvious reasons for them such as International Literacy day or World Car Free day. But what do these really mean and how relevant are they?

As a fairly drastic extreme example of revisiting a tradition, in 1752 Britain changed from using the lunar based Julian calendar to the more accurate Gregorian calendar we still use today. To align the calendars correctly, 3rd September 1752 instantly became 14th September 1752 and in doing this, nothing at all happened in British history between 3rd and 13th September 1752!! Also, many people believed their lives would be shortened by this change demanding back their missing 11 days!

Now, I’m not suggesting that you need to lose any days but what do you have in your organisation that needs revisiting? Are there any processes or “traditions” that you continue with which, on reflection, are really no longer relevant? Are there some traditions that you don’t even know why they are there or why they were started?

Do you want someone to help you revisit these traditions and help you to make any changes needed? If so, get in touch with me for a FREE initial consultation.