Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Avoid Leadership Self-Sabotage in the Kitchen | Chef's PSA Podcast ep. 117

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Avoid Leadership Self-Sabotage in the Kitchen | Chef's PSA Podcast ep. 117 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello Chefs, this is Chefs PSA Podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host Andre Natera. On today's episode, we're going
• 0:04
  to talk about leadership self sabotage.
• 0:07
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  wanted to write that one anyway. That's available for free.
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  The audio book you can get as well.
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  And all the books are available in Spanish.
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  So get free ebooks. You get audiobooks, everything
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  at chefs psa.com, brand new, hot off the press.
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  Look at that. Beautiful and nice.
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  Just cook white chef's hat. It's also available in pink and
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  light blue for those of you that like those lighter colors, but I
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  like the white one. Go get it.
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  Also available at chefs psa.com. Anyway, yeah, go get this
• 2:32
  beautiful and nice Listen to the chef.
• 2:35
  People don't get that reference. There's a, a chef on Instagram,
• 2:39
  fancy chef 2013, I think, who is who it is and it's this guy.
• 2:44
  And I'm I'm trying to figure out if he's controlling us all,
• 2:48
  which I think he is. I secretly think he's a genius
• 2:51
  from a marketing perspective. This guy is brilliant and he's
• 2:55
  putting on a master class in marketing and getting attention.
• 2:58
  So whether you like him or whether you don't, you can't
• 3:02
  dismiss this guy's being creative and getting attention.
• 3:06
  So anyway that that's where the beautiful and nice comes from.
• 3:09
  For those of you that might be confused on the reference, what
• 3:12
  prompted this episode? A lot of chefs sabotage
• 3:15
  themselves a lot more than you think, and some of it's just
• 3:19
  stupid self sabotage. I was thinking about something
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  that happened when I was a chef the other day, so I'm going to
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  share a story with you. I used to work with this chef
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  and when there were hard things to do on the prep list, they
• 3:31
  would always delegate the extremely hard, very detailed,
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  highly skilled work to the inexperienced cooks.
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  And when things would go wrong, they had a reason to blame them
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  because they said, well, I delegated it to so and so, and
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  they didn't know how to do it well.
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  So it's their fault. They always thought that that
• 3:47
  was an excuse to get out of jail, but it wasn't.
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  It was like, well, you're the leader.
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  You're the one that told them to do it.
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  You clearly are not a good leader if you are delegating
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  complicated work to people who it's not within their grasp yet
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  of skill. They don't understand how to use
• 4:04
  their knife yet, much less this extremely complicated task.
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  Not only that, but you didn't train them on it.
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  You just assumed that they knew. And then when service goes
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  poorly, you blame it on that person.
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  Now what's interesting about this is the people that do this,
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  they think they're fooling everybody because they think
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  that they're poor leadership decisions are going to be
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  noticed as the other person's fault, not their fault.
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  I did what I was supposed to do, I delegated and they didn't do
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  it right. Therefore it's their fault.
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  But no one views it that way. They just view it as you're
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  being a bad leader. It's transparent to everyone
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  else but the individual. Some people are completely
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  oblivious to how they're perceived by their team, and
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  they think they fooled everyone when no one's fooled.
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  And there's a lot of self sabotage in leadership.
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  Sometimes as chefs, we're our own worst enemies.
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  Now, maybe there's a chef on your team that's doing this.
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  Maybe you're the one doing it. Typically self sabotage is
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  caused by like poor delegation, micromanaging, inability to
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  trust team members, poor communication.
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  Poor communication is one of the worst, right?
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  You expect everyone to know how to do it, and you haven't
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  trained anyone how to do it. There's that self sabotage if
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  you haven't given anyone in the kitchen recipes on how to do
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  anything but you expect them all how to do it.
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  I did a podcast a few back with Robert Suladecki and he talks
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  about using recipes and how he's a big believer in consistent
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  down to the gram recipes. Now I am too.
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  Earlier on in my career I was much the same where sometimes I
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  would have recipes and sometimes I wouldn't.
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  As long as you knew how to cook and make it taste good, that's
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  OK. And I prided myself on making
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  sure I trained people how to cook.
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  But the reality is there needs to be a starting point.
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  I mean really think about this. You have two cooks in the same
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  room. Both of them don't know you and
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  it's their first day on the job. Regardless of how skilled they
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  are, you tell them to do something.
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  One person you just say make this, the other person you say
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  make this, and here's a recipe. Who do you think's going to get
• 6:04
  closer to the desired result? I mean, it's obvious the person
• 6:08
  with the recipe will get closer to what you want.
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  Whether it's a loosely written recipe or a very precise to the
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  gram recipe. Starting out with something is
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  better than starting out with nothing.
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  The lack of communication just doesn't go with recipes.
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  It goes with schedules. It goes with not knowing how
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  many reservations you have on when the menu changes.
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  I mean, I, this drives me crazy. I, I sometimes consult with
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  places and like, they're changing the menu and no one
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  else knows that the menu is changing.
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  Hey, the new menu goes live tonight.
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  Does anyone know? No, we haven't told.
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  It was like we're flipping the menu tonight and no one knows.
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  They're walking in blind with completely new dishes.
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  There's no recipes, no one knows what they're doing.
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  It blows my mind. Some restaurants operate like
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  that, flying by the seat of their pants.
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  Drives me crazy. I can't do that.
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  Think about your staff. They're walking in thinking that
• 6:54
  they're prepping for yesterday's menu and then they walk in and
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  then they get handed a menu. Sometimes it's just a menu.
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  Like I've seen this. It drives me crazy.
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  It's not even a recipe book or how the dish is done.
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  It's a menu and say here's the new dish and they're just
• 7:08
  supposed to figure it out, right?
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  You can't operate like that and think you're setting yourself up
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  and your team for success. And then when it goes bad,
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  you're going to blame the line cook as the chef, the person who
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  handed them the new menu the day that it's changing and telling
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  them we have a new menu today and they don't know anything
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  about it. They've never seen the dish,
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  they've never tasted it, they've never cooked it.
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  But it's their fault, not yours. It's their fault, not you who
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  didn't plan it correctly, didn't tell anybody.
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  It's the person who's supposed to cook it and know how to
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  execute it to your vision's fault.
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  Got it. Like that is the best example of
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  self sabotage. And then it goes wrong and you
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  blame them, right? Then you get pulled into the
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  office, the owner's mad at you, and what do you say?
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  Oh, it was their fault. You have no system in place.
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  Systems and processes are going to prevent this from happening.
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  Good communication. Is it a group chat?
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  Are you working off of Trello? Right.
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  Do you guys have e-mail? However it is that you
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  communicate, you need to communicate information.
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  One of the things that I used to do is whenever I would change a
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  recipe, I would always put the date next to it, revised On this
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  date, just in case there was ever any confusion.
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  If multiple recipes were out there floating, you have the
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  revised date so you know when the latest update is.
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  So if there was ever any doubt, it's written down.
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  There's also self sabotage and hiring the wrong people, hiring
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  someone with no experience, putting them in a position
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  that's complicated. They've never worked in a
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  kitchen before. It's their first job ever.
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  And you put them on the grill on a Friday night and then they
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  fail. You say, well, you never cooked
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  a steak before. I mean, what do you think?
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  Well, I mean like really, what do you think?
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  Do you think a zero day line cook is going to be able to
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  handle Friday night service on the busiest station?
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  But then they shouldn't have applied here.
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  No, maybe you shouldn't have hired them.
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  Maybe you should have trained them properly.
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  That is self sabotage leadership.
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  It's everyone else's fault. It's never your fault.
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  It's always their fault. But the reality is everyone
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  knows. You think you fooled people.
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  No one's fooled. Setting unrealistic expectations
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  is tough for everybody. Is the menu too complicated?
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  Are there too many menu items? Right.
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  You give them a prep list that is unrealistic for anybody to
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  finish, even a competent chef. And then you get upset why
• 9:20
  things are not done on time. And then you say, well, I could
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  do it. Well, could you really could?
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  Could you do it when you were a Year 1 cook?
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  Maybe you could do it now, but could you do it when you had no
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  experience? Or sometimes you'll even write
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  things and say, well, I could do it.
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  Well, really. Could you, though?
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  Ask yourself that question. Prove it.
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  Because sometimes when you've been a chef too long, you do get
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  a little bit detached from reality.
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  You live in the glory days of how good you used to be when you
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  were a line cook. And then you jump on the line
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  and you realize maybe you weren't that good as you
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  remembered. I mean, how many chefs do you
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  know out there? Like, like, all joking aside,
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  how many chefs do you know out there?
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  And every cook that's listening to be like, yeah, yeah, that's
• 9:57
  my chef. Like, they haven't jumped on the
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  line. The line gets busy, they jump in
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  and then the cooks are like, we got it, Get out of the way.
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  Because they're like, the fish is stuck and they're like
• 10:06
  scraping. And they're scraping the pan
• 10:09
  with their Peltec spatula and ripping up the skin.
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  They're testing the steak. And it's way overdone.
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  Say no, no, that's perfect medium.
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  And they slice it and they put it up and they're like, no, no,
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  no, it's perfect. And they know it's wrong and you
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  know it's wrong, but you can't say nothing.
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  And the chef's looking at you like no, no, no, this is true
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  medium. And you know they're full of
• 10:28
  shit. Have you ever seen that happen?
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  I've seen it happen. I probably did it.
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  Then there's the micromanaging chef, the one who tries to
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  manage every single detail, stifles creativity, doesn't
• 10:39
  listen to anybody, refuses to get input from the other chefs
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  in the kitchen, will continue going down the wrong Rd. even at
• 10:48
  the team begging, don't do that, it's bad for all of us.
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  Nope. We're going down this road.
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  And then it goes poorly. And everyone's like, the whole
• 10:57
  team saw it, right? They all knew.
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  It's like the Pied Piper leading everyone off a Cliff.
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  They all knew it was going to happen, but you let them.
• 11:05
  And then it's like, oh, it's not my fault, I didn't know.
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  Whatever. Yeah, you did know because
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  everyone was telling you not to do that, but you didn't listen.
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  Then there's the leaders that just don't embrace anything new.
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  They're afraid to change. They don't want to adapt.
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  This is the way I've always done it this way.
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  My chef showed me and their chef showed me.
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  This is the way it's always been done.
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  We're not going to adapt to the new way.
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  I'm not going to turn on the computer.
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  I'm not going to use AI. I'm not going to use YouTube.
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  I refuse to use this tool versus that tool.
• 11:34
  And the old days, we whisked our hollandaise.
• 11:37
  We don't put it in the blender or deli cup.
• 11:40
  We don't make mayonnaise that way.
• 11:41
  We always make it this way. You don't sous video meat, you
• 11:45
  do sous video meat. Like whatever the case may be,
• 11:46
  whatever your particular kitchen says is the right way to do it.
• 11:50
  There might be a more efficient way to do it.
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  I'd challenge you to look at that like, is there a more
• 11:54
  efficient way to do what you've been doing in your kitchen
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  already? Think about it.
• 11:58
  Maybe there's someone in your kitchen that knows a better way.
• 12:00
  Now I, I know I often say like chef's PSA one O 1.
• 12:03
  No one cares how you did at the last job.
• 12:05
  I get that there's a time and place for that, but occasionally
• 12:09
  you should step back and you should look at your operation
• 12:12
  because you may have micromanaged yourself into a
• 12:14
  position of it being very inefficient.
• 12:17
  And you need to ask your team, is there a better way to do
• 12:20
  this? Because someone on your team
• 12:23
  might know a different method that just doesn't want to speak
• 12:25
  up, right? Just because it's the way
• 12:28
  something has always been done, or that's the way you've always
• 12:32
  done it doesn't mean it's the most efficient way.
• 12:35
  I like to say strong opinions held together very loosely.
• 12:38
  So I have a strong opinion about something, but it's held
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  together loosely. If you show me a better way, I'm
• 12:43
  willing to change my mind and I think people should adopt that
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  mentality. There's also self sabotage.
• 12:49
  Psychologically, your fear of failure might be preventing you
• 12:53
  to try new things because you're paralyzed with fear that you
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  don't want to fail. So you play it really safe
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  versus taking risks when you need to take risks or creating
• 13:03
  action when things aren't going well.
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  The fear is paralyzing you to act and sometimes you just have
• 13:09
  to act to get results. There's a lot of talk these days
• 13:11
  about imposter syndrome and people ask me like, hey, have
• 13:14
  you ever had imposter syndrome? And I kind of laughed because I
• 13:17
  said jokingly, and I know this sounds really bad, but I'll say
• 13:20
  I think I have the opposite because I don't ever look at
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  anything say and say I can't do that.
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  I look at things that might be very complicated that I know I
• 13:28
  shouldn't try and do it. But like that looks easy.
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  I could do it. I mean, like starting a podcast,
• 13:32
  how hard could it be? Writing a book, how hard could
• 13:34
  it be that that's kind of the way I look at things.
• 13:36
  Like how hard could it be? If they could do it, I could do
• 13:38
  it. They're human.
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  I'm human, right? We both got, we both got a
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  brain. I'm sure I could figure it out
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  anyway. But I know a lot of people do
• 13:45
  have it. And sometimes with imposter
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  syndrome, you overcompensate because you want to prove that
• 13:52
  you're the right person for the job or that you have the
• 13:54
  culinary ability to do it. So you overcompensate and you
• 13:57
  punch above your weight when you're not ready.
• 13:59
  And you take your team down this journey as the leader and you're
• 14:02
  setting them up for failure because if you're not ready,
• 14:05
  they're not ready. So how do you overcome some self
• 14:07
  sabotage? First and foremost, know
• 14:09
  yourself. Know your team, know your
• 14:11
  strengths, know your weaknesses, know theirs as well.
• 14:14
  Really analyze what you do. Look at what works and what
• 14:17
  doesn't. Don't be afraid to look at other
• 14:19
  operations and see what they're doing well and how you can
• 14:21
  incorporate some good best practices into your own culinary
• 14:25
  operation. Ask for feedback like you have
• 14:28
  cooks in your kitchen. Ask for feedback.
• 14:30
  Is there a better way to do this?
• 14:31
  Do you know another way to do this?
• 14:33
  I like to say what's the most efficient, shortest way to get
• 14:37
  the most delicious result? The shortest path to get the
• 14:41
  most delicious result is probably what you need to be
• 14:44
  looking at and you need to be finding those things in your
• 14:47
  kitchen, those operational efficiencies.
• 14:49
  If we do this, we can get there faster and more precisely,
• 14:53
  right? The shortest path to get to the
• 14:56
  most efficient, delicious result.
• 14:58
  That should be your mantra. Obviously, leadership training,
• 15:02
  mentoring, coaching, read books, open your mind, think
• 15:05
  differently. No one knows it all.
• 15:07
  As I like to say when I was in the kitchen, one of us is not
• 15:10
  better than all of us. It's not my saying I stole it
• 15:12
  from one of my chefs, but I thought it was pretty good.
• 15:13
  One of us is not better than all of us, right?
• 15:16
  The collective. There's greater intelligence in
• 15:19
  the collective. Build your team up.
• 15:21
  Build their skills up. Build their confidence up.
• 15:24
  The better they are, the better you are.
• 15:27
  Don't give the green line cooks assignments and tasks that
• 15:31
  they're not ready for. Gradually increase the
• 15:34
  difficulty setting with them. Help them grow, right, If you're
• 15:38
  in a position to do that. And I get it, some kitchens are
• 15:40
  like, Nope, we got to be ready day one, I get it.
• 15:43
  But spend some time with them. Don't just throw them into the
• 15:47
  lion's den and expect them to survive.
• 15:50
  I always say get a mentor, Strengthen your network of
• 15:53
  chefs, your chef circle, invite them in, let them see what
• 15:56
  you're doing. Be open to criticism, be open to
• 16:00
  being wrong. I think that like if you could
• 16:02
  take one big lesson from this, be open to being wrong and that
• 16:07
  maybe what you're doing might not be the right way, Find the
• 16:11
  most efficient way. Be humble enough to know that
• 16:14
  you don't know everything anyway.
• 16:17
  If you want to support the show, you know what to do.
• 16:18
  Make sure you leave five stars, nothing less than five stars.
• 16:21
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• 16:25
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  If you want exclusive content, subscribe to my sub stack.
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  I'm going to link them in the show notes.
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  We have early access to episodes, plus exclusive
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  episodes and a whole lot more. We'll see you next week.
• 16:39
  Go get this hat. Beautiful and nice.
• 16:41
  See you next week. Hit the porno music.
• 16:44
  In the kitchen, no fiction. Listen close classes and.