Change Insights

Whilst watching Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen recently it got us thinking about the recipe he uses to help businesses make change happen and grow. We wanted to share the key ingredients we see him using, and we promise there won’t be any cursing on our menu!

Ingredient 1 – Providing the Reality Check

Gordon will always look at the current state of the business first, it’s service, menus, customers, financials & leaders highlighting the issues as he sees them…but why spend so much time sharing the obvious? Well clearly for some it’s not obvious, and whilst we don’t support his hard line approach we definitely agree a reality check is required before change can truly be embraced, along with an acceptance by any business owner that they have and will continue to play a key part in its success. Accepting change can be very difficult, especially when you are emotionally attached but as Henry Ford says “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.

Ingredient 2 – Painting a new era

Once the business owner gets it warts and all then it is interesting how Gordon switches his approach to that of a supportive business friend, helping to paint a compelling and exciting picture of the future and what life could be like….a fully booked restaurant, a new look and feel along with award winning food and service. He always focuses upon what it is that makes the business, team and individuals special…what’s their purpose and what makes them really unique. Sharing an exciting vision like this helps teams to connect and aspire to achieve something new together, and without these common elements then you will likely experience a lack of focus, varying agendas and lots of misfiring!

Ingredient 3 – Leading the way

The final critical ingredient to making this work is how Gordon leads the owners and teams on this journey, regularly boosting their confidence and morale along the way. When we go through change we can question our ability to achieve the vision and lose confidence, and when this happens we start to revert back to what we know best…the old way, but yet we are stuck somewhere in the middle! What we like is how he breaks down the vision into bit sized manageable tasks for the team to complete…open days, new restaurant menus, refurbished restaurant. He demonstrates that change success is achieved one step at a time and it is not so scary when you break it down. Quick wins and recognition are a great way of motivating teams to move forwards and real results then start to quickly follow!

So next time you are faced with a change in your business remember Ramsay’s three ingredients to successful change….

1. Paint a compelling picture of the future that connects people through commonality
2. Ensure everyone understands the reality of today and why change is necessary
3. Lead through recognising the small steps that will add up to make the change success.

Failing that just curse!