Chefs and Recipes
Adapting to the reality of what's in the kitchen
David Snowden puts it well. Where we have order and certainty a recipe works well, we take the ingredients, following the instructions and we get great results. When we tackle complex problems we find a few ingredients missing, perhaps a splodge of gravy over the cooking time. What we need is a chef. Someone who can have a look around the kitchen and come up with the best meal they can make with what is available. Someone who has taken years to build a mastery that can be applied to many situations.
It’s about using the human superpower of abstraction - being able to take an idea/object from one setting and use it in another. We are in danger of weakening this muscle if we don’t exercise it in our work. It’s one skill where AI will not outcompete us for the foreseeable future so a place to invest time and attention.
Meeting with a couple of amazing clients in Cardiff this week. They really know how to develop artisan chefs in their businesses and are thriving as a consequence. The best way to learn is by doing.
That said, in many work settings the rule book of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is the recipe we must follow to avoid legal action and dismissal. That makes sense in highly engineered environments where the role of humans is oversight (eg. a pilot flying a plane or factory engineer running a production line).
Let’s face it, any job that can be turned into a recipe has either been automated, or will be, using AI bots. So there won’t be much work for the recipe follower however the adaptive chef is a survivor.
When the industrial approach is applied to complex problems, typically those involving people, like keeping people well or treating them when they are sick, the recipe is quickly made irrelevant.
We need to adapt to the situation, make the best of what is on hand, use our skills and experience to find creative solutions. Like hiring a corridor nurse to look after people in A&E. No, it should not happen, however A&E staff have to deal with this problem on a daily basis so something is better than nothing. What would you do in their position?
Do you remember the “Undercover Boss” TV series where a board member put on a hi-viz vest and join the front line as a “new employee”? What if this was part of every senior leaders personal development plan, to spend a day on the front line and report back? It what a caring leader would do.
We need leaders who exercise the power of love not the love of power.
If you manage a people based service, particularly if you have not had the privilege to do the job you are managing, why not spend a day in the trenches, do/walk the job, experience the reality. Note the things that get in the way, the unnecessary drag of ticking boxes on the SOP to measure quantity. The clunky systems that add, not subtract, work. The unnecessary harm, hassle, time and cost that’s part of your business-as-usual operations. Imagine if some of that could be removed, now that would be a real productivity boost.
Give the chefs the essential ingredients they need and space to use their skills and experience. Be on tap not on top. Go undercover in plain sight…
It’s not a new idea however perhaps it’s one we should remember and rejuvenate.