These words from management guru Peter Senge sum up what the Christmas season felt like to me as a chef:
When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It becomes quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit.
– taken from his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation
Would you agree with me that it’s during these few weeks of the year that we actually bond with our teammates like no other time? We’re so much more forgiving of failures because the goal is simply to get a whole lot of stuff simply done and we all rally together to fix those mistakes.
What keeps kitchens from working together collectively towards a shared vision the rest of the year? I’ve never lead a whole team of chefs, but I could see how much energy it takes from those in charge to hold everything together. But during Christmas there’s a slight self-organising spirit that comes forth. And we support each other a lot more.
This is a big theme that we’ll no doubt visit together here at Love Letters to Chefs. In the meantime, celebrate the people you’re going to spend more time with than your loved ones for the next few weeks!