Lessons in Leadership

I am continually amazed at the lessons I learn from being a CEO Chef trainer. Take last week for instance:

It’s a beautiful day and I arrive early because it’s better than being late. In this case, my arrival time worked in my favor. It didn’t take me very long to set up – 20 minutes – which meant I had an hour and a half to enjoy the day. I had already connected with the chef of the hotel where we were holding the program who was very meticulous and willing to do whatever it took to provide our group with the ingredients they’d need for their culinary team building program. He appeared to have everything under control, so I relaxed until the time the food was due to arrive (about 1 hour before “showtime”).

At T minus 45 minutes, I’m realizing the food still hadn’t made its appearance. No worries. My server, Miguel, was on the ball and went back to the kitchen to find out what what going on. He returned triumphant, escorting the rack of ingredients into the food preparation area. It looked a bit sparse, and, when I began to take inventory, I noticed Chef had inadvertently overlooked one full page of food items on the list I had given him.

How would you deal with this situation? Here’s how I handled it:

I reminded myself Chef had my best interests forefront of his mind. I also knew he was good at his job, as were his people. Then, I was confident in the skills of my team – my participant in the program – to produce a superior result, as was I confident in my own skills to manage a challenging situation.

So, Miguel, Chef and I first had a little laugh over the unintentional error. Then, with a positive and “can do” attitude existing between the three of us, we set out to solve the problem. There were some food items critical to the success of the program which were not present, and Chef needed to do some creative thinking to make sure these items would be available to us.

I started the program missing some of these items, knowing the wayward food would make its appearance when I needed it. It did. Hooray Chef and Miguel and the rest of the Hotel Team!

The lessons?

• Accept the situation completely for what it is, without judgment or blame placed on anyone (including myself)
• Trust in people to do their job well, willingly, and happily
• Keep a positive and cheerful frame of mind. It’s infectious and helps to get the job done quickly, successfully and efficiently
• Ask for what you want. People really do want to help you get it.