Leading with Food…for Thought
Would you agree that leaders and teams respond best when they get personally involved? We witnessed this first-hand during our time in Fort Collins, Colorado, this summer. During the Advanced Facilitator Training and our iLead Team retreat, we spent some time at The Cooking Studio in historic downtown Fort Collins.
We learned a few simple rules from our chefs that tie directly to leadership:
• “Know, Show, Go” – Our chefs KNEW their stuff, SHOWed us their techniques, and then let us GO to try them ourselves.
• Small Groups love to tackle challenges – our cooking teams of four were just the right size to chop, mix, slice, dice, and plate up our best efforts.
• Food brings us together – we all felt a stronger sense of community after cooking with, and for, each other.
I have used versions of “cooking school” over the years to help teams bond. When we cook together, we end up with lots of fodder for jokes about knives, bad technique, and special skills that we don’t experience in the workplace.
Next time you are looking for a way to bring your team together, you might consider looking outside the workplace to an environment where you can learn, challenge, and grow together (and have fun along the way!).
Tom
The Perfect Recipe for a Capstone Event
Every year in August, select Certified Masters-In-Training make the pilgrimage to Fort Collins for the Advanced Facilitator Training Capstone Event. The recipe for success has been fine-tuned over the years and this year’s event was very tasty. What do you need for the perfect AFT Capstone meeting? Here is our recipe:
THREE PARTS EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
Renee Harness and Tom Pearce provided exceptional insight into the Leadership Practices Inventory® (LPI®). If you don’t know Renee, she is the Guru of everything LPI and was one of the original writers of the LPI Coaching Training. Every good cook knows it is about the quality of the ingredients, and with Renee’s experience regarding the LPI, participants walked away with advanced knowledge on how to interpret and coach from the LPI.
TWO PARTS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Participants of the event were able to teach content from The Leadership Challenge® and receive feedback on both their content and presentation skills. With a total of five Certified Masters in the room, there was no shortage of encouragement, skills assessment, and feedback. Everyone that attended (including the Certified Master Facilitators) left with new resources and insight.
ONE PART FUN AND FELLOWSHIP
Participants had a great evening at Fort Collins Cooking School where Chef Trish and her team provided a great time teaching them how to cook French cuisine. Teamwork was the name of the game as teams worked together to create a meal of Chicken Provencal with seasoned Green Beans, and Chocolate Souffle. Of course, much of the energy that evening was spent trying to ward off Tom Pearce as he attempted to find chocolate at every turn.
Of course, we are always improving our recipe and next year’s Capstone Event promises to be even better. Interested in joining the next Advanced Facilitator Training, click here for more information.
Quick Tip: Green, Yellow, Red
As we prepared for this month’s newsletter, reflecting on all the fun we had cooking together in Ft. Collins, I began thinking about what kinds of meals I like to prepare for my family. The answer most of the time is something quick and easy that allows everyone to play a part.
