113 - 10 Qualities of an Inspirational Chef

Hey, welcome. So today we're going to be talking about the 10 qualities that make a chef, inspirational. Now, a lot of times, everybody talks about how great a chef is because of their menus, or the restaurant or the food. But what we don't talk about very often is the inspiration and the type of leader that that chef is, because really, that's what a kitchen is all about. Kitchens, are great breeding grounds for the best leaders, I tend to think a lot about kitchens. And, you know, they were created and really modeled after the army, after the brigade system after, you know, a chain of command, and things like that, and the army is one of the best places that you can learn how to become a great leader. So the kitchen is naturally another place that you can learn to become one of the best leaders that you can be. But unfortunately, because of the glory and the greatness and the food, and the menus, and all that kind of stuff, the aspect of the chef, as an inspirational leader tends to be lost in all of the glory, all the glam, all of the promotional and, and everything like that, all of that, you know, marketing. So I want to talk about what makes an inspirational chef. The first qualities that I feel like a chef has that is inspirational is that they create motivation, they create that feeling of a reason for working a reason for doing their best, you know, a chef, one of his responsibilities is to help build people up, and to help create this team, create this vision that everybody else is, understands that everybody else looks towards and knows the directions that they need to go to be able to hit that vision to hell, they hit that purpose behind the restaurant. The an inspirational chef, with their motivation, He illuminates the why? Why are we doing what we're doing what makes us great? What makes this restaurant so wonderful. And so great. Excellence is the next section of of what makes an inspirational chef. In order to really be inspirational, people need to be looking up to you. And in order for them to look up to you. You need to make sure that as a chef, you only focus on excellence on greatness. You're fierce attention to be the best for quality for consistency. And that can be with the way that you're running the restaurant that can be with the way that the food comes out. The taste, the flavor profiles and everything like that. That is what helps people look up to you as a chef. So that Eklund excellence. You know, it's more than just it's a little bit more than that though, but it's that the chef can help other people realize that they go beyond what is easy. The next thing I wanted to talk about is training. As an executive chef You are the primary and the head leader of not only that kitchen, but also of the entire restaurant of the entire operation, people look up to you with with a lot of awe with a lot of respect. And in order to earn that you need to focus on the training. Again, remember when I talked about the team, and that the chef builds that team, that is all in the training. Not only is the chef, the one that is training, but he's also the student, always been a student, taking the time to learn, taking the time to improve themselves. And always sharing the experiences they have with those around them. The chef focuses on the building of the team. And he focuses on mentorship and coaching. The next thing I want to talk about is integrity. What is it, that people can look up to a person and know that they can trust them, that they look towards them and they're like, that is a person that I greatly admire is from their integrity. an inspirational leader, an inspirational chef is going to show that integrity through the things that they do. They do what is right, they do what is best. Not only just for them, but for the people that they're talking to, for the business, for their staff for their team. They do what's best, not what benefits themselves. The next they talk about a leadership chef deals with the morality and ethical decisions every single day. And without having an integrity, those those decisions can be become huge and horrible. Also with integrity is important to being honest. When you're talking with your staff, when you're talking with other people make sure that you're always honest with them, and that you're not deceitful in any way, shape or form. You're not trying to deceive them, there are going to be times where you are, it's very important that you do not divulge the information that they want to know because of, you know, human resource issues because of privacy issues. And the important thing is, is that you're not deceitful in that, but you're honest. Along with integrity is your willingness to admit when you're current when you're wrong. That it's very difficult for for leaders to admit to that they're wrong. It's very difficult for chefs to admit to them that they're wrong. Because one of the things that is most you know, celebrated and chefs is their ego, their their bigness of who that chef is. And a truly inspirational leader is one that can admit that they're wrong, they can understand it. I messed up, okay. And it's more of, it's more than just saying, if it goes wrong, it's the chef's fault. It's the chef literally owns it and understands that it is their fault, and they made a mistake. But at the same time if things go right, it's the team that accomplished it. And inspirational chef shares the credit and helps other people to to help again, build them up and create that motivation. The next is passion. Now we talk a lot of people talk about the passion of the chef that you know, that drive the excitement and, and and just, you know, they have to have a passion for the food. Well, what does that mean? Is it just, you know, they forget everything else and just focus on that. I like to think of passion is more of it's an enjoyment of the entire process. Being willing to go through the grueling work to become great. And how willing are you to do the things that are just mundane, grind and difficult to be able to maintain that excellence so that you can achieve it What you what your dream is, it's an enthusiasm for the entire journey. It's it's being able to be completely exhausted at the end of the shift, but elated at everything that you were able to accomplish, and elated at, at the joy that everybody who was able to have, and have a team that is excited about all about a great service. Okay. That's the passion that a chef that is inspiring has that even though they can go through the most grueling time, they are extremely elated and happy and excited for everything that they went through. Because they enjoy the entire process, they enjoy the journey, even when it is difficult. I touched a little bit on the respect that other people have towards a chef, because of how excellent they are because of their attention to detail. Respect is earned through the actions that you take. Respect is earned because of disciplinary action, in the way that you go about doing it, realizing and making sure that everybody understands that the disciplinary action, the the corrections and things like that are to build up the team, or to build up the person not to tear them down. So the way that you approach that as a chef, in showing that it's a, it's an opportunity for you to build up, they will begin to respect you. And they will, although they may not like the criticism at that time, if you present it in a way that builds them up, and then afterwards, make sure that you help them and provide the needed support for them to achieve the thing that you were just talking to them about. You will gain their respect. You gain respect by leading by example, by doing the things that you tell them to do. There's only one rule, there's not a rule for the chef. And then a rule for everybody else. As the chef, to be an inspiring chef, you need to be able to follow your own rules and make sure that everybody follows those rules. And obviously, to build respect, you need to be willing to receive criticism from others, even those that are under you, even those that are learning from you. A chef who thinks to himself Am I like that is going to gain respect of his co workers. And as you advocate for your team members, as you advocate for them, and make sure that they are taking care of both for the team and the individual, both physically, spiritually, mentally. And financially. That is going to build respect. The seventh thing I'm going to talk about is all about collaboration. How well do you work as a team? Again, talking about that team building and that motivation and bringing them up. Collaboration is all about bringing everybody together and getting rid of your own ego, getting rid of the I'm the best. And there's nobody else around me That's nearly as good as I am. Being willing to bring in other chefs, you know, people say this, too many chefs in the kitchen. Why did they say that? Because if if you've got a whole bunch of chefs that are all have their egos, and all think that they're the ones that know how to do it best, it's going to cause problems. And the same thing happens within their team. If the chef breeds that well amongst his team members, amongst those that he works with, and he's the example for that. That is completely opposite of collaboration. And that's competition. And that is it destroys the Brotherhood, the the unity of a team. But collaboration, understanding that everybody else, you know, can have something has a say collaboration and the chef shares the knowledge with other people. Chef asks for help when he needs it. And he begins to build trust with those people all around him. As you build that collaboration with the people of your own Team, and even with other chefs and other restaurants, you will become an inspiration to others. Continue on with that, building up and going out and having that collaboration with other people, building a community, sharing the mission that you have with your team, with the restaurant with the community, and look for the greatness and others. Start building that feeling of the Brotherhood, that feeling of a community of a family, in that you're building friendships, you're building relationships, and you're trying to build people up. It truly inspirational chef understands that diversity, and variety around him, we'll help him become better, we'll help the team become better, we'll help the business become better. And the only way to be able to do that is the next step on here. You're listening, and communication. When I was researching this, there was only one or two references that I got amongst all of the locations that I looked at, that talked about listening, that a chef is a good listener, that a chef, now a lot of them talked about how well the chef communicated. And that is very important. But what surprised me was, there was very little talking about how the chef will listen to other people. As the chef begins to listen, and begins to try and understand gains empathy and compassion for those that he is working with. And the main goal is to be able to seek understanding, the desire to reach that core message of the people he's talking to, of the people he is listening to, to be able to understand and reach that meaning and the intent behind what they are saying. Again, that will help build respect that will help build a community, all of these things kind of meld into melded together and really help build and uplift each other. Like I said, the chef is going to ask, in his listening not only for the person but also into himself. Am I like that? When I'm receiving criticism? Am I really like that. Or if he is listening to a side conversation, or he sees other chefs that he feels are inspirational. He'll say to himself, am I like that person? Or he sees a chef who is not really doing a very good, great job. But he looks at that chef and instead of criticizing that chef, that's the they look into themselves and say, am I like that? Do I have any of those qualities in me? That listening, not only with the years, but with the heart, and and really trying to understand and then sharing the things that they learned through communication? Making? Sure you know, we, like I said a lot of the rest a lot of the places that I looked at and when I was researching, we're talking about the communication, you know, is he clear in his explanations does he say to you exactly what needs to happen. And a person, a chef who is going to become an inspirational chef can understand what needs to be said is able to say it in a way that is clear that and then make sure that they understand as well. So it's a two way street, both the listening and the talking. The last quality of of leadership of a chef that is a great leader and a great inspiration is being conscientious being present in the moment. Being aware of their surroundings. Now, when you're working in a restaurant or and it's service time, and it's go there are a million things going on. The chef needs to be able to multitask in so many different things and the importance of being conscientious of where they are in the moment. Being aware of their surroundings, being conscientious of not only the production but also What's the staff? How are the staff handling it? You know, is it getting a little bit too, too hard for Johnny over here? No, sir, I have an issue in the weeds. And, and being conscientious and being aware of what's going on being able to focus not only on the, on the surroundings of what's going on, but also still being able to focus on the little details. And to be able to understand that, you know, he's looking like, he's doing great, but you can start to see that he's falling behind. And inspirational chef is able to adjust and move things around. And to be able to help out and relieves pressure. You know, they can be taking things back or slowing service down just a little bit to be able to allow them to catch back up to catch your breath. A chef is conscientious when they are aware of their own actions of their words, and their thoughts. So let's do a little recap about each one of these 10 qualities of an inspirational chef. You've got the motivation, Chef is motivating. A chef strives for excellence. They focus on training and learning. They have integrity. They have a passion for not only the food, but the entire process and the entire journey. They build respect in both themselves in in what other people feel towards them, but also respect that they have for their co workers and for their associates and team members. They work on collaboration to get everybody around. And that builds a community. A chef listens and communicates effectively and is conscientious of what is going around them. Those are 10 qualities of an inspirational chef. Now if you have any other ideas and other any other things that you think or any other chefs that you have had, that have been an inspiration for you. And I didn't touch on one of those qualities. Go ahead and put it in the comments below. I would love to hear from you. Thank you so very much for coming to this training. And I will see you next week.