Management Lessons I Learned In The Kitchen
It may not surprise you (being a community builder and a Jewish Woman) that one of my favorite hobbies is hosting big shabbat dinners. Before the pandemic my boyfriend (now husband) and I were regularly hosting 12 people around our dinning room table several times a month. It was always a mix between family, old friends, new friends, colleagues and strangers (usually friends of friends). It was the perfect melting pot.
Getting a meal on the table for 10–12 people is no joke. Being a mother and a full time employee means that I’m constantly optimizing and looking for ways to create efficiencies. And of course, I like to entertain myself along the way.
So, I’ll let you in on a quirky / nerdy / embarrassing thing that I do while cooking. I try to teach myself management skills using the kitchen as a case study (this is real, I can’t help myself and I have my friends Becca and Jeff to thank for getting me started/inspiring this thinking).
The list of lessons is endless but here are 3 that I think about often:
Don’t boil the ocean — I’m an offender here. I see a vision for an insanely elaborate meal. Broil on low for 3 hours? No problem! Puree with a new utensil I don’t own yet, I’ll make the trip! But the reality is, an exhausted chef is not a good host. Knowing which weeks you can invest, and which weeks you need to go with what you know is key. The same goes for work.
Find a great sous chef and manage them well — None of this would be possible without my sous chef (Read: Husband) Zachary Roseman who also happens to be the superman who flocks in when I realize I have way too much on my plate (pun intended) and no time to make it happen. Look at your overall list of tasks, and prioritize the ones that enable your assistant to be productive for as long as possible without needing your help again. Review each task. If your sous chef can do it? Let them. Try avoiding tasks you know they can do unless you are done with your own. If there’s a task you find yourself doing often, train them up so they can take over in the future. If you manage people at work, you’ll see a clear parallel here.
Plan, then execute — Every week I look forward to sitting with my cookbook (or Pinterest) and planning a menu for my upcoming shabbat dinner (and enjoy brainstorming ideas with my friend Rachel). There have been (plenty) of packed weeks when I head to the grocery store without a menu (and grocery list) and I can confidently say that it’s a rookie mistake. I get distracted, I make lots of changes, ultimately I waste valuable time that I could be spending actually making the food, taking care of my daughter or getting work done (or relaxing?). Making a plan before you begin executing is key, I’m learning this at work as well.
Fun (and super nerdy fact) — For large holiday meals, my husband and I keep menus and shopping lists from the year before. We even jot down best practices to make sure we remember them year over year.
Well, there you have it. The first batch of management lessons learned in the kitchen! Anyone else finding themselves connecting lessons learned at the office with lessons learned in your personal life? Share them below!
