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You may already know that 75% of workers who quit their jobs, voluntarily, said they decided to do so because of having a bad boss. Unfortunately, many of us are familiar with this bad trend. In food service, this still applies, as many of us don't walk in to the industry as seasoned chefs, food and beverage directors, management, and the like, a lot of us working in my industry have studied in other professions, worked unrelated positions, and came to us with some knowledge of order or management, but not of the style needed for my industry. We are all works-in-progress, but the learning curve is a lot steeper for those who have not been trained to our industry verses the ones that have had training.
No matter the industry, or company, you can find yourself working for a bad boss. I never wanted to be one of the bad bosses who, either feel that the title means that you can push your weight around, bugging everyone and ruling with an iron fist, or a boss who knew nothing about the work or workers they were in charge of managing. I have always wanted to own a company and therefore I took opportunities to learn different positions instead of just working as a chef in the back of the house.
I have worked for people in lots of different situations and not all of them were good or made any sense. I have been required to answer manager's requests from people who had very little knowledge of what I do or how long things take. This is critical, that you as a boss, or as a employee under a boss, work with a knowledge base as requests can be irrational or impossible to create. If you ask me for more cinnamon rolls be baked for the sales table, you need to know that it can not be done in less than an hour, for example.
The worst bosses that you can encounter are those who are promoted or became owners without understanding who and what management is all about. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing which are yours will create the best environment possible. Too often people who are good cooks think that they can spend some money and open a food outlet and be successful. Food business is, without a doubt, a business first and foremost, but then you add food production, receiving, P&L, ROI, labor costs, personnel, shrinkage, edible portions versus actual portions, food safety, sanitation, injuries, liability, talent recruitment, menu and recipe development, marketing, cost controls, alcohol licenses, storage, payroll, and insurances. Many business do not have nearly as many perishable products nor the amount of personnel needed to run a successful operation in food.
I once met a bakery owner that left the confines of being a pastry chef in order to step into the ownership role. She is a horrible boss because she isn't good with customers or management of staff. The company did, of course, need a front of the house manager but she was not a good person to do this. I suspect that she has control issues and doesn't want a manager, someone that she could have hired with a good track record and a mind for innovation, but instead stopped doing the thing that she was excellent at in order to exhort control of the whole company. Too many people make this type of mistake when forming their businesses. She took her best cake designer, herself, out of the kitchen and made herself the management face without expertise in the customer service and/or management areas. In other words, if she was working for another organization as an employee, it is my opinion that, she would never have been promoted up the ladder to a management position due to her lack of expertise and poor disposition, but since she is the owner, few people can tell her what she should do to run her business efficiently.
I wish not to make mistakes like that, mainly because I fully understand what it feels like to be in that position, attempting to work underneath a bad boss. I know quite a bit about both the back of the house and front of the house. If I get blessed to own my own outlet, I will make the hard decisions needed to run the business smoothly instead of the choice to make myself some type of local celebrity. The front of the house and back of the house must depend upon each other for proper functioning but the work done between the two is vastly different skill types.
No matter the industry or line of work, a good boss is vital. What a lot of people do not understand about leadership is that it is not about being a bully, being in total control of operations, or not having anyone to answer to about your decisions, in fact a good leader must be cool and level headed knowing that the leader has more 'bosses' than they did as just a worker. A leader must respond to the demands of upper management, customers, AND the employees. A bad boss is one who doesn't take the needs of employees into consideration and feels autonomous to make unilateral decisions that effect everyone one involved without any giving anyone needs into account.
Check your ego at the door, and get to work. The culinary world isn't at all easy to be successful at what we do and no amount of kissing up will keep you employed when your work doesn't live up to expectations.
No matter the industry, or company, you can find yourself working for a bad boss. I never wanted to be one of the bad bosses who, either feel that the title means that you can push your weight around, bugging everyone and ruling with an iron fist, or a boss who knew nothing about the work or workers they were in charge of managing. I have always wanted to own a company and therefore I took opportunities to learn different positions instead of just working as a chef in the back of the house.
I have worked for people in lots of different situations and not all of them were good or made any sense. I have been required to answer manager's requests from people who had very little knowledge of what I do or how long things take. This is critical, that you as a boss, or as a employee under a boss, work with a knowledge base as requests can be irrational or impossible to create. If you ask me for more cinnamon rolls be baked for the sales table, you need to know that it can not be done in less than an hour, for example.
The worst bosses that you can encounter are those who are promoted or became owners without understanding who and what management is all about. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing which are yours will create the best environment possible. Too often people who are good cooks think that they can spend some money and open a food outlet and be successful. Food business is, without a doubt, a business first and foremost, but then you add food production, receiving, P&L, ROI, labor costs, personnel, shrinkage, edible portions versus actual portions, food safety, sanitation, injuries, liability, talent recruitment, menu and recipe development, marketing, cost controls, alcohol licenses, storage, payroll, and insurances. Many business do not have nearly as many perishable products nor the amount of personnel needed to run a successful operation in food.
I once met a bakery owner that left the confines of being a pastry chef in order to step into the ownership role. She is a horrible boss because she isn't good with customers or management of staff. The company did, of course, need a front of the house manager but she was not a good person to do this. I suspect that she has control issues and doesn't want a manager, someone that she could have hired with a good track record and a mind for innovation, but instead stopped doing the thing that she was excellent at in order to exhort control of the whole company. Too many people make this type of mistake when forming their businesses. She took her best cake designer, herself, out of the kitchen and made herself the management face without expertise in the customer service and/or management areas. In other words, if she was working for another organization as an employee, it is my opinion that, she would never have been promoted up the ladder to a management position due to her lack of expertise and poor disposition, but since she is the owner, few people can tell her what she should do to run her business efficiently.
I wish not to make mistakes like that, mainly because I fully understand what it feels like to be in that position, attempting to work underneath a bad boss. I know quite a bit about both the back of the house and front of the house. If I get blessed to own my own outlet, I will make the hard decisions needed to run the business smoothly instead of the choice to make myself some type of local celebrity. The front of the house and back of the house must depend upon each other for proper functioning but the work done between the two is vastly different skill types.
No matter the industry or line of work, a good boss is vital. What a lot of people do not understand about leadership is that it is not about being a bully, being in total control of operations, or not having anyone to answer to about your decisions, in fact a good leader must be cool and level headed knowing that the leader has more 'bosses' than they did as just a worker. A leader must respond to the demands of upper management, customers, AND the employees. A bad boss is one who doesn't take the needs of employees into consideration and feels autonomous to make unilateral decisions that effect everyone one involved without any giving anyone needs into account.
Check your ego at the door, and get to work. The culinary world isn't at all easy to be successful at what we do and no amount of kissing up will keep you employed when your work doesn't live up to expectations.
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