While cooking one of my favorite dishes last week, I had an interesting revelation. Two seemingly separate instances in my life were, in fact, parallel! I started learning how to cook around the same time I had my first opportunity to lead a project and manage people. What does cooking have to do with management? Let me tell you what they both have in common.
There are plenty of books, blogs, online videos on both topics. Here’s the thing – just like cooking, managing people is a skill you get better at only with practice. Some people have a natural aptitude for it. If you have a passion for it, you will enjoy doing it and excel at it. Yes, this applies to both – cooking and managing.
Not all leaders are managers, and not all managers are leaders.
I want to draw an important distinction between leading and managing people. Leadership is about inspiring people with a vision, influencing the company’s trajectory or even the industry, and galvanizing teams around a common purpose. A manager has the responsibility to make it happen. Managers motivate people to do their best work and ensure teams have the necessary tools and resources to execute effectively. Leadership is about ideas, and management is about people.
There is no one recipe for success.
Cookbooks and management books teach us the fundamentals and provide us with a blueprint to replicate the concepts either in the kitchen or in the business world.
If we cook often, we learn to adapt recipes based on the equipment and ingredients we have and the likes/dislikes of the people we are feeding to find our own version of the recipe that works for us at that moment.
A team of X people is often a team of X different personalities. A seasoned manager will invest time to get to know the team and understand what makes each person tick. A collaborative management style may work most of the time, but it may be necessary to be firm and directive with some people and certain situations.
To be a good chef/manager, be present, open, and flexible.
Have you ever watched an excellent chef at work in the kitchen? You may notice they only use the recipe as a guideline. They are fully present, continually assessing the process with all of their senses – sight, smell, taste, touch, and sometimes even sound. They frequently make small adjustments until they are satisfied with the results.
Similarly, management books & training only provide you with a toolkit. Good managers rely on their emotional intelligence to interpret the situation, the environment, and personalities and adapt their management style accordingly.
Form a community and trade tips.
I always enjoy trading recipes and cooking tips with my friends, who are also good cooks. Some of the best tips I’ve learned have come from other seasoned home cooks, perhaps because we share the same purpose and a similar environment (cooking easy & healthy meals in a home kitchen).
Similarly, it’s helpful to exchange notes with managers who are in similar roles in your organization. Form a group with 2 or 3 managers within the company and meet with them once a month to discuss challenges and trade advice. It’s also a good idea to occasionally talk to managers from different companies as company culture greatly influences how teams function.
Invest time to learn continually.
People are complex, and you are bound to make mistakes. If you aren’t getting the results you expect from your team, start by asking how you can help them. Be self-aware, open, and seek feedback. Get a coach or take management training courses provided by your company.
There is one big difference between cooking and managing – you can’t “fake it till you make it” in the kitchen. Not without hurting yourself and causing distress to people who depend on you for their nourishment. On second thought, it may not be that different after all.
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Author Bio:
Paawan Kothari is an entrepreneur, a seasoned marketer, and a budding political activist with over 20 years of experience working for large and small companies. In 2010, Paawan quit her corporate job to start her venture, The Chai Cart®, to bring together her passion for entrepreneurship with her desire to make a difference. After 8 years of building the business, brand, and acquiring marquee customers, Paawan sold the business in 2018.
