Leadership behaviors in professional cooking

Few months ago I wrote about the “Top Chef” reality show from a French TV channel. The first French emission of a similar show called “MasterChef” just ended last week and I didn’t miss a single broadcast (and couldn’t resist eating dark chocolate while watching the show, which made my stomach happy :-)).

The most important difference between the two contests was the candidates’ experience – while “Top Chef” targeted professionals, people who were already working in a restaurant or having a professional activity linked to cooking, “MasterChef” targeted amateur cooks who loved cooking so much they wanted to change their lives and become professional Chefs. In both reality shows the candidates were assigned leadership roles to prove their competencies in leading a team in the kitchen. The rules of the game stated that in some challenges the team leader of the team scoring less was given immunity from an eliminatory test the team members had to go through consisting of each one voting on someone else to leave the contest. And there were two different leadership behaviors observed in “MasterChef” that I can’t forget.

There was a case where the team lead asked the jury to have his immunity withdrawn - as a leader he felt fully responsible for the team poor results, and so his wish was granted. The team members appreciated very much their leader’s gesture, admired him even more and voted so that he wouldn’t have to leave the show (unfortunately someone else did).

In a similar situation, another candidate and team leader also assumed responsibility for the results that were thought to be bad, and when asked by the jury if she was happy with the results and what could have been done better she defended herself and indirectly blamed one of the team members. This happened before the results were announced and her team did better and actually won the challenge. If they had lost, I presume the team reaction to her attitude and action wouldn’t have been as nice as in the previous case, and she might have been penalized to leave the show. I doubt someone can see this lady as a “Chef” in the sense of being a leader in the kitchen. However, she is very talented and, in the end, she won the title of first “MasterChef” in France. And considering her path and evolution in the contest compared to others, I was actually happy she won… but that’s out of subject.

These two examples of leadership applied to professional cooking can be found every day in other environments, namely in the corporate world. The way someone in a leadership role reacts to bad and good team results tells much about own leadership style. I have witnessed leaders’ behaviors that weren’t observed continually and thus appear to me as less genuine. The opposite also holds true and I have watched admirable leadership behaviors consistent over time.

I want to close this topic with another example. Several years ago I was part of a team pursuing a large and strategic deal. Despite our hard work we lost the deal and felt very frustrated. The news came out on a Friday and the following Monday we had our team’s weekly sales meeting. I was afraid that our manager would start analyzing the deal to get some learning out and we could end up with defensive and offensive discussions between the deal pursuit team members, the rest of the sales team and the manager. None of this happened. The manager actually had a complete different behavior – he thanked the team responsible for the deal for the hard work and offered each individual a symbolic appreciation gift. I will never forget this leader action and enjoy sharing this story to illustrate leadership behaviors.

How about you, dear reader, what is your experience with reactions to bad results from a leader and/or team member perspective? Please share your stories!!