Since I came to the UK, more than 8 years ago, every Christmas I wait for the release of Christmas ad campaigns, just as many people do, from all the retailers but primarily from John Lewis.
This year, the John Lewis ad really spoke to my heart. Grow your traditions, it said.
Now, being Greek, married to an English man, with my closest friends being from Greece and Bulgaria, our traditions are always resembling a mix-tape from the 90s. Sometimes a successful one, sometimes one where the radio presenter couldn't stop interrupting the song and messing up our recording.
Christmas means pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce but it also means honey-cookies (melomakarona) and powder sugar shortbread with almonds (kourampiedes). No wonder then why listening to John Lewis' message about growing our traditions meant a lot to me.
But let's bring that in the workplace for a moment. What does "grow your traditions" mean at work? It means not only accepting diversity but embracing it. It means respecting and understanding other cultures and having a healthy appetite, a curiosity, for learning more about this international, interconnected world we live in.
And if you do it right, then you have a very engaged workforce where people feel they belong to this wider group with all these different traditions. If you do it right, you grow your traditions and become stronger for it.
And in my case you also become heavier as every tradition in Greece comes with delicious food.
Take today for example...today is my name day. "What is that", I hear you saying. Name days are important in Greece. In older times they were more important than people's birthdays believe it or not. It's the day we celebrate the Saint who gave us our name; for me that's Saint Nicholaos and today is the day we celebrate him in Greece. Saint Nicholaos is the Saint protecting the sea travellers, the children and the poor. And, although I'm not religious, for different reasons, St Nicholaos has always had a place in my heart.
As we're growing our traditions, I hope you all feel a bit more comfortable this year incorporating, including, more traditions in your lives.
Name days is a good one. Comes with free chocolate and loads of celebrations! #growyourtraditions #nameday #engagementanddiversity
