Managers can learn a lot by watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. Recently, watching another episode of the program, I noticed that he had, once again, as is frequently the case, identified that the problem with the failing restaurant's success was the owner or manager.
It's not that these owners or managers are not deeply committed to their restaurant's success. They are. They just go about achieving success in all of the wrong ways. And, since they are deep in denial, it is likely that, without Ramsey's help, their restaurant would fail.
Always eager to blame lousy staff, poor local food, and rotten customers, the blame for the problems, Ramsey discovers, usually rests squarely on the shoulders of the unknowing, self-unaware, unconvinced owner.
How often does this echo problems in your workplace? An ineffective leader, the person with the most power, can have a deadly impact on a workplace. Rarely open to feedback from staff, even Gordon's advice, at the beginning, usually falls on deaf ears as the owner / manager denies their culpability. Owners who later succeed with staff and customers eventually hear the feedback and change. Do you need to change?
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