Well, they’re back! Classrooms are full, bright eyes are looking your way, enthusiasm is high, and uncertainty is palpable. Your students are embarking on a journey that will be both rewarding and challenging; a journey that will hopefully carry them from good to great and great to extraordinary. All that opportunity begins in your classroom.
What will set them apart? What will set the stage for the people who will make a difference today and tomorrow? What will create a positive energy that will make this industry of food better tomorrow than it is today? The answer rests with the concept of team. I’m not referring to just teamwork – the ability to focus on the collective accomplishment of one goal. I’m referring to crafting a mindset, setting the stage for a true team.
We know from observation and personal experience that when a group gels as a unified team – one that thinks as a whole, rather than relying on the accomplishments of the individual, then the possibilities are limitless. We have seen this in sporting teams and professional organizations when reaching a goal pushes aside all the typical barriers. If it means people need to change their role – so be it. If it means one steps to the background to allow another to shine – so be it. When helping others is sometimes more important than helping yourself – so be it. It means that even leadership may shift from person to person given a specific situation. Team becomes a singular, breathing entity, a family of sorts.
This being the case, I ask: What are you doing to promote a team environment in your classrooms and kitchens? It might just be the most important lesson you can offer that will set a positive course for your students as they seek a fulfilling career. What could/should you be doing?
Try asking yourself these questions:
- Grading tends to focus on the individual, the quality and consistency of their skill set, their mise en place, ability to pull flavors from a recipe, speed with which they accomplish a task, or their ability to multitask. All of that is important. How much emphasis do you place on their ability to step in or step aside as a member of a team working TOGETHER to exceed expectations? The people who understand how to work as a team will eventually become team leaders.
- Are you giving after-class assignments requiring students to work as individuals to assess or solve a problem or are you creating assignments requiring students to work together and share?
- Are you creating a team environment in your classes that allows individuals to contribute freely, to have a voice, to learn to listen to each other, and to celebrate their collective accomplishment or learn from failure as a team?
- Do you seek to change your role of sage on the stage to guide on the side? Do you listen while group members offer input, self-assess, work to help each other and come to an agreement through compromise?
The natural inclination of teachers is to GIVE solutions, RECOGNIZE those who understand the material, CRITIQUE individual skills, and POINT OUT areas of weakness. Maybe, just maybe, the best thing you can do is build an environment of collaboration, provide the foundational examples of how to work through challenges, and allow the TEAM to build from that and find a way to win.
"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." – Phil Jackson (former coach of the championship Chicago Bulls)
When your students succeed as individuals, they will feel personal pride; when they succeed as a team, they will understand what real accomplishment feels like. This is the foundation of a career that will change the industry that we know and continually make it better.
PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER
Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC, president of Harvest America Ventures, a mobile restaurant incubator based in Saranac Lake, N.Y., is the former vice president of New England Culinary Institute and a former dean at Paul Smith’s College. Contact him atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..