On the Squishy Work of Becoming a Better Team

“Tradition” has historically been a bystander on my list of values. Probably not top 10, maybe not even top 20. Who’d ever have suspected though, it’s been on a slow climb up the ranks as I age. It’s crept in on the small stuff. Waving goodbye to family until they are out of sight like Grandpa did. Tossing the wipe-down rag across the kitchen to my son at the end of dinner clean-up because that’s how he and I have always done it.

Among those things that have quietly sidled into traditionhood are a few recurring events at TPI. Most notable among them is our annual pumpkin carving event, recently completed for the 17th time in as many years. It’s part contest, part hands-on creative challenge, a fair portion food indulgence, but mostly a slightly slimy break from routine to appreciate each other’s company, knife skills, and the fresh fall weather.

There’s been some variety of format. On occasion it has involved a trip to the pumpkin patch, or a picnic, or a chili cook-off on the side. In 2020 we did it remotely, but we still did it. Over the years, our finished jack-o-lanterns have ranged from inspired to unable to stand upright (sometimes both at the same time), but it’s always nice to get some validation, so we’ve consistently posted pictures of them on Facebook (both light and dark mode) and invited folks to vote for their favorite. We each usually collect a handful of ‘likes’, most reliably from my mother.

Certainly, there’s some team-building value to doing things like this. We work together and appreciate each other daily, but without some intentional effort, it’s easy to overlook our colleagues as whole people. So we have events like this now and then, and take the opportunity to share stories, learn about backgrounds, hobbies, travels, and families. I suspect there’s also a productivity benefit: the short offline break that allows for a fast battery recharge.

What I find most valuable, however, is the growing sense that traditions serve as anchors in time, provoking reflection, introspection, and gratitude. I remember the pumpkin I brought to my not-yet-wife’s apartment, impressing and slightly scaring her then two-year-old, now my 16-year-old son. I remember the pumpkin that sagged off the porch in late November despair, only to spawn a vine the next summer which deposited its next-generation gourd directly on the same front step. And I’m reminded how fortunate I am to make my living interacting daily with friends I enjoy and respect.

Looking through our galleries of pumpkins past reveals a changing roster of faces, but as a group, we’ve maintained a vibe that is creative, funny, tenacious, meticulous, and human. These may not be the first characteristics you go looking for in a team whose work is mostly technical, but they are the traits that have kept us strong for 25+ years. One of our guiding principles states “It’s about relationships.” That’s not a strategy so much as a lesson learned. Our work is better, in every sense, when we relate well to the people we’re working with, and for. Some of you reading this may have been doing business with TPI for as long as our pumpkin carving tradition has been around. Working with you, when we’re doing it right, has the same vibe: relaxed but focused, experimental yet competent, pleasant and productive. We hope your experience is the same as ours: that work built on strong relationships is rewarding in ways that extend well beyond business success. For myself, it’s part of what motivates me to do work well, not just get work done. It’s what inspires me to flex my fingers and bring my skills to bear. To do something different and better than last year. To surprise, or impress, or just generate a laugh.

Or at least to do a better job of priming my socials for this event next year, because Stevie’s pumpkin won again this year, dangit.

TPI’s Pumpkins of the Past

TPI Pumpkin Carving FAQs