Wow, now you are cooking! Here's the second exercise!
To complete exercise 2: Read the article >> Consider your response.
Do you struggle to achieve excellence? This simple lesson will save you frustration (and could avoid a bloody finger or two!) Take a page from Gordon Ramsay, "ya Donkey!"
1/30/2018
People who work with me know I love metaphor, and that I believe if you're tuned in, insight can come from the most mundane tasks. Photographer and author Chris Orwig said, “beauty can be found in unexpected places… by savouring the moments in life.”
One weekend, while cleaning my blender, and found meaning in a simple act. It was a lesson which I learned becoming a professional chef years before, and it crystallized my thinking on an important aspect of sustaining dramatic strategic improvements with my clients. I'd like to share that lesson with you.
People who work with me know I love metaphor, and that I believe if you're tuned in, insight can come from the most mundane tasks. Photographer and author Chris Orwig said, “beauty can be found in unexpected places… by savouring the moments in life.”
One weekend, while cleaning my blender, and found meaning in a simple act. It was a lesson which I learned becoming a professional chef years before, and it crystallized my thinking on an important aspect of sustaining dramatic strategic improvements with my clients. I'd like to share that lesson with you.
It's always more efficient to clean-as-you-go.
My family loves smoothies. So much so, we own a Vitamix blender. It’s central to our kitchen and even accompanies us on some vacations. It is one of those workhorse appliances that nothing else can replace, and it has justified our initial investment a thousand times over. Its brought joy and health to our family.
The Vitamix has this cool feature: You don’t have to disassemble the jug, and when you finished blending, you just rinse, add hot water and a squirt of soap, close the lid, fire it up full blast, rinse, tip over and let dry. Because it's so easy, the clean-up experience eclipses that of any blender I’ve used in the past, and it's why you'll find them the choice of chefs the world over.
But, if you wait too long for clean-up, watch out. Let sit, an old smoothie forms a tenacious coating 3M could patent, and it creates a breeding ground for bacteria.
The business end of a Vitamix (the jug), with its tight conical shape (providing the supersonic torque needed to liquefy any fruit or veg), contains a viciously sharp set of what I can only assume are indestructible adamantium blades borrowed from Wolverine.
Therefore, cleaning out dried-on crud not only takes time I don’t have, it poses a threat to my fingers, and is entirely no fun at all!
The Vitamix has this cool feature: You don’t have to disassemble the jug, and when you finished blending, you just rinse, add hot water and a squirt of soap, close the lid, fire it up full blast, rinse, tip over and let dry. Because it's so easy, the clean-up experience eclipses that of any blender I’ve used in the past, and it's why you'll find them the choice of chefs the world over.
But, if you wait too long for clean-up, watch out. Let sit, an old smoothie forms a tenacious coating 3M could patent, and it creates a breeding ground for bacteria.
The business end of a Vitamix (the jug), with its tight conical shape (providing the supersonic torque needed to liquefy any fruit or veg), contains a viciously sharp set of what I can only assume are indestructible adamantium blades borrowed from Wolverine.
Therefore, cleaning out dried-on crud not only takes time I don’t have, it poses a threat to my fingers, and is entirely no fun at all!
Gordon Ramsay: "The cardinal rule of cooking: your kitchen must be clean, and by clean I mean spotless!"
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Clean-as-you-go is a fundamental commandment you learn in commercial kitchens, and for a good reason; It saves everyone sweat, blood, and money. |
I’ve learned it’s always more efficient to "clean-as-you-go," rinsing away the remnants of the last great mix-up, leaving the vessel clean to go to work again in an instant. Clean-as-you-go is a fundamental commandment in commercial kitchens, and for a good reason; It saves time, confusion, injury, and cost. It should be a standard practice for any leader, in any organization, pursuing excellence.
As a transformational leader, do you clean-as-you-go?
After investing time, money and effort to shift your business (perhaps a new product, market, process, technology, strategy, or value) have you forgotten to rinse right away?
Many businesses aim for higher performance. They seek to focus staff on the good stuff; a new way of working, and the achievement of a big hairy audacious goal. But they don't clear out the old policies, behaviors, and processes. These then plague leaders by keeping teams tethered to past ways of working. They form an insidious counter current that confuses staff when they have to choose between supporting the new or old, the right-now or future. When the tethers to the past aren't cut, staff and leaders pulling against them eventually frustrate and fatigue. They return to old ways of working, growing incompatible with the companies vision for growth
Many businesses aim for higher performance. They seek to focus staff on the good stuff; a new way of working, and the achievement of a big hairy audacious goal. But they don't clear out the old policies, behaviors, and processes. These then plague leaders by keeping teams tethered to past ways of working. They form an insidious counter current that confuses staff when they have to choose between supporting the new or old, the right-now or future. When the tethers to the past aren't cut, staff and leaders pulling against them eventually frustrate and fatigue. They return to old ways of working, growing incompatible with the companies vision for growth
Make a habit of not only defining what the new state is, define what it is not.
-Tim Sweet
Don’t mix your people and culture up, dispense all that delicious goodness of change, and then neglect the business end of the transformation. If, after making a performance shift, you don’t rinse the crud away, it will dry where it sits! That sludge will create risk and confusion you don’t need. It’s the breeding ground for dissent and conflict. When you finally have to deal with it, it will resist - taking substantially more effort to remedy than it would have if dealt with immediately.
Part of making a silky smooth transformation and being ready for the next one has to be the clean-up. Make a habit of not only defining what the new state is - define what it is not! Proactively help those around you rinse off outmoded assumptions, legacy processes, defunct values and out-flanked strategies.
Keep on mixing it up, bring Joy and Health to your company and clean-as-you-go.
Best,
Tim
Part of making a silky smooth transformation and being ready for the next one has to be the clean-up. Make a habit of not only defining what the new state is - define what it is not! Proactively help those around you rinse off outmoded assumptions, legacy processes, defunct values and out-flanked strategies.
Keep on mixing it up, bring Joy and Health to your company and clean-as-you-go.
Best,
Tim
To Complete Exercise 2,
Consider which statement which is most true for you:
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You have made it clear to your team who they are, and who they are not. Employees get it, and it's all hands on deck! They are operating according to the new reality, and waste little time struggling with the past. |
You are tired of always fighting the past. Your employees are distracted and can be unpredictable. Your reality today includes backing out of decisions, fighting fires and staying on your toes to avoid the next crisis. |
Credits:
Blender Photo: Tim Sweet ©Team Work Excellence, 2015
Screen Capture: Hell's Kitchen is property of ITV Studios, London, UK
Vitamix trademark: Property of the Vita-Mix Corporation, Ohio, USA
