10 Management Lessons from my Cookery Class

You will be forgiven for wondering what on earth a cookery lesson my wife took me through has anything to do with management, leadership and so on. If you have read some of my articles you will realize that I derive lessons from what I see and experience every day. Indeed I received some coaching from my cookery mentor, my wife. It was worth the time as I now appreciate the fact that a meal does not just happen at the touch of an Emergency SOS button. It calls for time, planning and many other leadership and management aspects I share with you today. Picture me with an apron, in the kitchen with my mentor.

1. A meal is as good as the planning that goes with it – A meal will not suddenly appear. We planned to make a meal at the end of our lesson and realized that we needed to set aside time, money, get a venue and all the other resources necessary. Furthermore we needed the electrical power necessary.

Lesson – Before you consider any project – Count the cost. Cost could be in terms of what you will have to give up in order to achieve the project expectations. I gave up watching TV and catching up with the newspaper one weekend.

2. Follow the recipe closely for optimum outcome – We had to make use of a recipe book with over a thousand recipes. We had some on the computer (thanks to Mrs. Makoni who loaned us her CD of Recipes). A recipe breaks the process step by step. What do you start with, and next? How many minutes should you wait? Etc. Failure to follow the recipe may create a similar yet not desired outcome.

Lesson – A business without policies, procedures and systems is liable to creating varying results using the same inputs. Create systems that work.

3. Timing is very critical in cooking – The recipe tells you how long you must boil, how long you must stir the soup, how long the chicken must marinade etc. Why is timing important. The reason is simply because to everything, there is a time and season. Time to roast, time to fry, time to grill etc. If you miss the time you will overcook and lose nutrients or bring out something raw and hard to eat. 3 minutes means 3 not 4 minutes.

Lesson – You may have all the good intentions but if you miss the aspect of time in leadership you have lost the plot. How long should meetings be in your business? Are there any due dates? What is your definition of being on time at your workplace? All this is important to define otherwise very little can be achieved.

4. There a specific order to follow in making a meal – The recipe tells you what to do precept upon precept, line upon line. All you do is read and apply. If by any chance you are overtaken by zeal and feel you need to fry the chicken and marinade it later then your family may soon ban you from the kitchen.

Lesson – Everything in business must be done decently and in order. There is a structure or protocol to follow. There is an organogram which shows the order and authority structure. As an individual always start you day with order, with a plan and course of action

5. Cookery calls for you to exercise a high level of discipline – If you are tempted easily by the ingredients, you will short circuit what you need to achieve. Some ingredients are edible and it makes sense to just eat them as they are but remember you have a goal, to make a meal. We had grapes, carrots, lettuce which I could have decided to eat from the onset (confession, I did snatch a few grapes for “tasting”, sorry “testing” purposes.)

Lesson – In business you should never be tempted to consume your capital before it brings profit. Your inputs are not for consumption. Exercise restraint.

6. Every ingredient is important for the outcome – There is no ingredient too small for the outcome. It may be a pinch of salt yet it makes a different to a huge chuck of sizzling chicken. Makes it tastier and pleasing to the tongue (I bet you already want to have a meal soon after this article). There is no better ingredient. All ingredients work together for a common cause – e.g. making the meal for four people.

Lesson – In building teams, make every member realize that they are as important to the company as the CEO. They have an important part to play. Just as we have five fingers they are all important. There are places an index finger can go where a thumb would shy away. A messenger who delivers invoices and mail to clients is crucial. He in turn collects the cheque which is shared by employees (not equally of course). If he doesn’t do his work diligently, the business will not meet its overheads.

7. Presentation of your meal is important – Most consumers want to see it looking good and appetizing before they can take it to the tongue. I learned how color in a plate is important. I had the orange, the white, the purple and the cream you name it. I realized how that made the plate so inviting to the family members. They couldn’t wait for the prayer of grace over the food to end.

Lesson – You may have the best product but if you do not package it nicely and advertise it, no one will take a chance. Branding is important to all you will ever achieve in business life.

8. A meal requires commitment – A pig bragged to a chicken over how more committed he was as he dies to make breakfast happen while a chicken simply lays an egg. In our cookery lesson however, I realized that the commitment level of the chicken went a notch higher as we committed one to the oven so if I was the chicken I would have said to the pig “You never know, one day I will be more committed than you, I will lay the egg for breakfast and commit my life for lunch.

Lesson – You need commitment from those in your project team for success to come your way. There should be no squabbles about who is more committed as “you may never know”.

9. When you produce a good meal, you receive the acknowledgment and accreditation – Indeed there was exceeding joy after the sumptuous meal was served and consumed. Interestingly, they never acknowledged the system (recipe book) but the ones who did the work. “Thank you mum, thank you dad for the meal” is a statement we heard enough times in ten minutes.

Lesson – Produce good results regardless of acknowledgment (our recipe book made us look good but did not complain). As a leader however, strive to thank those that made things happen. Thank them in public. It brings you so much return after-wards. It is the easiest yet least expensive way to motivate your team. Acknowledge also those that make their leaders look good. Avoid just praising the Head of Department as he alone cannot achieve as much as the team he works with.

10.Excellent cooking can be measured upon repeated consistent performances – We produced a good “experimental” meal. I couldn’t consider myself excellent as I needed to make a few meals myself to achieve the excellence level. Just because I had an apron on a few times did not qualify me as a good or excellent cook. I had to show results.

Lesson – Repeated excellent results will qualify you as excellent not once off occurrences. One time wonders can easily bask in their own shadows with the assumption that they hold the crown of excellence and yet be in error.