Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Top Mistakes Holding You Back in Your Culinary Career Ep. 103

Transcript

Top Mistakes Holding You Back in Your Culinary Career Ep. 103 · Chef's PSA Podcast

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Hello chefs, this is Chefs PSA podcast.
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I'm your host Andrea Tara. On today's episode we're going
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to talk about 10 things that you may be doing that are holding
0:07
you back in your career. Stay tuned.
0:21
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Now before we get started, just a brief update.
0:57
The new book Bad Cooks Everywhere is in Go get it.
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It's a fiction book. If you haven't been following
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I'm also working on two audiobooks right now.
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So for those of you that have been asking, that book within
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Also, the audio version of Bad Cooks Everywhere is being worked
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So if you're old school and you like to read with your eyes, go
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get it now. But if your new school and you
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like to read with your ears, you at about a month, it'll be
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ready. Other updates.
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I hope you all are enjoying the guest format of the podcast.
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The next one is going to have Top Chef 18 winner Gabe or
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Alice. Then we'll go back to solo
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podcast and then we'll have one focused on service with Alex
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Gonzalez. I really enjoyed recording these
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Link is in the show notes. I'm putting out the podcast a
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week, you go subscribe to my Sub Stack and get it now.
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Anyway, on with today's subject and really what peak this
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subject is. I get a lot of DMS asking
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questions and usually I get 1/2 of the story.
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You know, people ask me why they can't get promoted, what's
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holding them back in their career.
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And I hear this long story and based on everything that they're
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telling me, they should get promoted, but I'm only hearing
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1/2 of the story. I'm sure there's more to it.
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When I was a chef, I would often get people coming up to me
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saying why am I not getting promoted?
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And they would get frustrated and maybe they'd go complain
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behind my back and tell others that I was preventing them from
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moving up. When in reality, it wasn't me
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that was preventing them from moving up.
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And a lot of times in this industry, you may not be aware
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of what you're doing to sabotage yourself to prevent you from
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moving up, either at the place that you're at or in your own
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career. Today I want to talk about 10
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things that you may be doing that are preventing you from
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moving up in the kitchen. Maybe you're a cook right now
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and you want to move to sous chef and you may be doing
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something that's preventing you from moving up.
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Or maybe you're a sous chef and you want to go to exec chef or
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chef de cuisine and you're also being held back and you don't
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understand why and no one S telling you why.
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Some of these may apply to you. None of these may apply to you.
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I'm just going to share with you, in my experience in 27
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years of cooking and over 20 years of leading kitchens, these
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were the main attributed factors that prevented people from
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moving up, myself included. When I was doing these things, I
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was also not moving up. It takes a lot of self
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reflecting and introspection to understand what's holding you
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back. And the toughest thing, the most
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uncomfortable truth is what's really holding you back is
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typically, in most cases, you. So let's talk about the number
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one thing that's holding you back.
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Complaining about your boss. If you're the type of person in
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a kitchen that's complaining about your boss, and maybe your
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boss is the sous chef, or maybe you're the sous chef and your
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boss is the exact chef or the chef de cuisine, it doesn't
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matter. If you're complaining about your
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boss and your boss is the person who's making the decision to
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promote you, they are not going to promote you.
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As simple and as stupid as that sounds.
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You'd be surprised how many people constantly talk bad about
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their boss behind their back and think that they are unaware.
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And I promise you, there's always a sneaky person in the
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kitchen. When I was a chef, I always had
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spies in the kitchens that would tell me what was going on to
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say, who's saying this and who's saying what, This person saying
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this and that and then that one individual is always saying, oh,
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chef doesn't get it. They don't know what they're
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doing. If I was in position, I would do
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it better. And you're constantly talking
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bad about the chef behind their back, saying that they don't
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know what they're doing and how incompetent they are or how
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they're holding you back in your career.
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And then you wonder why you're not getting promoted.
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Like seriously think about that. Because if you are that dumb
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that you think you're going to talk badly about someone and
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then be upset that they're not promoting you.
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I mean, you basically have what's coming.
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You can't talk poorly about your boss and then think that they're
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going to get excited about promoting you.
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Put yourself in their shoes for a second.
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Someone does nothing but undermine what you say when
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you're not around. Talk poorly about you, your
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skills, and your leadership. Do you think to yourself, you
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know what, maybe I should promote that person?
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No, it's, it's a no brainer. Stop doing that.
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That's the number one thing that people do that's preventing them
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from moving up in their career #2 not willing to do more.
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Now I know this is a Gray area because a lot of people think I
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might be implying that you should be working off the clock
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or doing work, that you're not getting paid for it.
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And that's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is when the
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opportunity comes to step up, be the one that steps up.
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If someone needs to volunteer to pick up an extra shift, be that
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person that's willing to volunteer, there's an off side
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event, Be that person that's willing to go to the off side
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event. Be the person that says yes.
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Because when the time comes, there's going to be a choice
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between the person who always says yes and you know they're
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going to be there in a time of need.
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And there's going to be the person that always says no, I'll
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do it when you pay me more or that's not my job.
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And if you're the head chef, which one do you choose?
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The person who says I'll do it if you pay me more but hasn't
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proven that they will. Or the person who has done it
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even though they never had to. Well, it's a no brainer.
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You're going to promote the person who's willing to do it
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even before they got the title. It's about showing willingness
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to step up. It's about showing commitment to
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the team and wanting the entire team to to succeed in the
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kitchen. You might not agree with this,
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but I promise you, the person that's making the decision
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probably agrees with me. So if you're wondering what's
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holding you back, but you're the person that always says I'm not
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doing this and I'm not doing that, or that's not my job and
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someone else next to you is, is doing it.
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I promise you they're out hustling you and they're the
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primary candidate for promotion #3 Having a bad attitude at work
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in general, being that negative person that no one wants to be
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around. It's contagious.
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And you might not be talking badly about your boss and you
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may be volunteering to go to places, but just no one likes
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being around you because you're so negative.
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You always have something bad to say.
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The conversation always goes S you're the Debbie Downer.
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If no one wants to be around you, you have to understand that
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that sort of negative attitude becomes infectious in the
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kitchen and it spreads. And if you're in a position to
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promote people and you're thinking, do I want this
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negative person to be my right hand, you probably don't because
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they probably also don't like being around you when you're
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always complaining and being negative.
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So if you're that negative person, you might be a great
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cook, you might show up, but you just have a poor attitude and
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you have a dark cloud falling you everywhere.
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No one's going to want to be around you.
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Don't be that person. Be optimistic.
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Be the person that finds solutions versus the person who
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could only find problems. I say this often, the person who
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could find one solution is more valuable than the person that
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could find 10 problems. I could find 10 problems.
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I could find 100 problems. I don't need people coming up to
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me pointing out the same problems that I already know
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exist. If you could find solutions and
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you help me by solving problems, you bring more value than the
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person who could find all the problems.
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You got to reframe your approach.
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Be the person that is solutions based.
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Optimistic, positive people like being around you.
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More likely to get promoted #4 if you're the type of person
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that likes telling people what to do but doesn't like doing it.
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It's transparent. People see through it.
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No one wants to work for someone that loves giving orders but
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doesn't know how to do it themselves, or is afraid to do
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it themselves, or is too lazy to do it themselves.
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Sometimes you're placed in a position of leadership as a
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test. And what's the first thing you
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do? You think to yourself, I can't
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wait to be in charge so I can tell everyone what to do.
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Wrong approach. When you're placed in charge, be
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a part of the team, be a part of the solution, move things
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forward, be unafraid. But if you're the type of person
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that says, oh, you go do this and you go do that, and I'm
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going to chill over here with my feet in the office sipping an
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espresso, No one likes that person.
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That person's usually an asshole and they're all praying.
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I hope they don't get promoted. There you are sipping your
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espresso, feet on the desk, reading the chef's PSA book,
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chilling. And then you come out there
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like, oh, I think you forgot to clean the walk in.
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Did you make sure that you scrubbed your lowboy because
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your gaskets are dirty? And then you go back to chilling
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like you're an asshole. No one likes you.
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No one likes that person, especially when you're not in
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charge. So if you're the type of person
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that only likes giving orders, maybe that's why you're not
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getting promoted. You got to be willing to get in
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the grind and get dirty with the cooks #5 being resistant to
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change as a chef. Things are constantly changing
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in the industry. Menus got to change.
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You have to adjust quickly. Be nimble as a chef is a sign of
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success because you could adapt to problems before they become
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big problems. You can't just ignore problems
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and hope they go away. And if you work in kitchens long
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enough, you know you are changing things constantly.
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You're changing menus, you're changing the order of who's
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working what stations, you reorganizing the walk in.
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You're seeing something that's not working and you're adjusting
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on the fly. You're rapid prototyping.
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You're trying to get 1% better every day, but the person that's
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resistant to change and is fighting you on every single
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change that you need to make is the chef.
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They're impeding your progress and they're preventing you from
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succeeding. And if you're that person that
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complaints about every change and you're being resistant and
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you want to argue back and forth on why you shouldn't change,
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then someone's going to look at you as an obstacle to their
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success. You have to be willing to
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change. And I know change sometimes
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sucks because when things are constantly changing, it's hard
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to get rhythm. But the fact of the matter is,
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in this industry, things are always changing.
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So if you're inflexible to change, that might be why you're
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being held back. Number six, not being a team
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player, not willing to help out other people when they're in the
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shits. You might be a great cook and
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your station might be set on time, but the person next to you
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is going down in flames and you won't even lift a finger to help
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them. The only thing you care about is
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what's in front of you. Maybe you don't see it, or maybe
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you don't care to see it. Either way, you're not helping
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out the team. Someone else might be a team
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player willing to help everyone out on every station.
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Come in early, someone needs help coming on your day off
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because you were asked big event first one to volunteer.
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They're the team player. They might not be as good of a
11:08
cook as you, but if it comes down to the person that is a
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team player and maybe not as good of a cook, usually the team
11:13
player will get it regardless of culinary skill because your role
11:16
from cook to chef changes. Being a chef is about leading
11:19
and organizing and being able to make sure you have a successful
11:22
service. Sometimes being a cook is just
11:24
making sure everything's going well on your station.
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So you're looking at people that are seeing the bigger picture.
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The next one is over reliance on past success.
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I know a lot of chefs out there that have worked in great
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kitchens and you may have the best pedigree and have the
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greatest resume in the current kitchen that you're in, but you
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might be relying too much on what you did before on past
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success, things that you've done in other kitchens under other
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chefs and other cities. We're currently where you're at
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right now. You're not giving it your full
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effort because you think you've earned your stripes already.
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But as they say, it ain't where you're from.
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It's where you ask, what are you doing today to fix service?
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Nothing matters that you did yesterday.
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The only thing that counts is today's service.
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So if you're relying too much on what you've done in the past,
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yeah, you may have earned it, but you still got to earn it
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today. And what you got to understand
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about the kitchen is every single day that you're there,
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you have to push yourself and you have to earn it because it
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doesn't matter what you did yesterday because techniques are
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evolving, cuisine is evolving, management is evolving.
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If you're not evolving with it, you're going to be left behind.
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So just because you've done some incredible things in the past,
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don't think that means guaranteed success now.
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Next is ignoring the business side of things.
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As a chef, you have to understand that it's still a
12:32
business. It's not a playground.
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There is the creative aspect in the fun part of making sure it's
12:36
all good food. And I'm never going to sit here
12:37
and say that good food is not important.
12:39
It's the most important thing. But so is running good business.
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You could have good food with good business, but if you're so
12:45
focused on getting your way at the expense of the business and
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you don't see the bigger picture, that might prevent you
12:51
from moving up. You have to understand cost
12:53
management. You have to understand how to
12:55
manage the schedule. You have to understand how to
12:57
stop an argument, negotiate with vendors, deal with ownership.
13:01
You have to understand when to pivot the menu, even if those
13:03
are your dishes. If you don't understand the
13:05
business side, being a good cook won't save you.
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So if you're ignoring that and solely focused on the food, then
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that might be why you're not getting promoted.
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The next one is poor time management, missing deadlines,
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falling behind on your work, ignoring things that are
13:19
important to your job, not finishing everything on your
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prep list. Maybe you're in a position where
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you're supposed to respond to emails or make sure certain
13:26
reports are filled out or done and you're not doing that
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because, well, because you have the 1000 excuses as to why
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you're not getting it done. Your excuses do not affect the
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outcome. It doesn't change the fact that
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it was not done, especially if someone else on the team can get
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it done. Remember, you're competing with
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the other person, so if you have poor time management skills, you
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need to get on it. One thing I do is I write a list
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and I try and prioritize my list with what's most time consuming
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and also what's most important. Everything has to get done and
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there really is no excuses to the person that's waiting for
13:57
it. The person on the other end
13:58
that's waiting for it wants to know that you are responsible
14:01
and can manage your own time. Because if you can't manage your
14:04
own time, how are you going to hold other people accountable?
14:07
So make sure that you're focusing on time management as
14:09
well. And the last thing that may be
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holding you back from getting promoted is simply not telling
14:15
people you're interested in getting promoted.
14:17
I've seen a lot of people just afraid to say that they want to
14:20
get promoted, thinking that someone's going to let them know
14:23
or tap them on the shoulder. You have to beat the drum and
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let everyone know that you're interested in promotion, that
14:29
you want to move up, that you have the desire to go into the
14:31
next position and maybe the position above that.
14:33
A mistake that I made in my career.
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Sometimes I would only talk about my goal being the next
14:37
position up and I never spoke about what my ultimate goal was.
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And I noticed that people that talked about their goal being
14:44
three or four positions higher than the next one would
14:48
sometimes get promoted even though they weren't qualified
14:51
because people would view them as a potential candidate for
14:55
something bigger down the road due to their ambition.
14:57
Ambition sometimes can be to your advantage.
15:00
And I used to think to myself, they're not that good, why are
15:02
they getting promoted? But I also didn't want to be
15:04
four or five positions above where I was.
15:06
I wanted to stay in the kitchen. They wanted to be VP of
15:09
ownership or whatever. And they would move up quicker
15:11
because people are always looking for people to build
15:13
their team around the senior ranks.
15:16
So something you might want to consider is instead of saying,
15:18
if you're a cook right now, saying my goal is not to be sous
15:21
chef. My goal is to be corporate chef
15:24
for the company, for example, or to be regional vice president,
15:26
whatever the case may be. But think about three or four
15:29
moves ahead. And when you say that, people
15:30
say, ah, that person's ambitious.
15:32
Let's start mentoring them and grooming them to get ready for
15:34
the next position. And the one above that, make
15:37
sure you let people know you're interested in the job.
15:39
If not, don't be disappointed when no one taps you on the
15:42
shoulder. If you're doing any of these
15:43
things, now you know, correct it.
15:45
And if you were doing none of those things, well, then I'm not
15:48
sure why you're not getting promoted.
15:49
Maybe you just don't know how to cook, because I probably should
15:51
have said that. First and foremost, the
15:53
gatekeeper. Usually, if you're applying for
15:55
a cooking position, the gatekeeper usually is can you
15:58
cook? That's it.
16:00
Then they start looking at all those other things.
16:02
But if you can't even cook, usually it's not even in the
16:05
conversation anyway. If you want to support the show,
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