Everyone has key moments in their career, when they learn something so significant that it shapes their future leadership journey.
It could be when something has worked fantastically well and you want to repeat. It could be when something goes spectacularly wrong and you never want that to happen again. It could be a really pertinent conversation that you have had with someone or one you had with someone else and you note the impact it has had. Or it could be a number of tiny actions that have happened over time which have built to make something truly important to occur.
One of the skills of the most effective leaders is that they reflect, think of the moment and truly learn from it.
‘No Silver Bullets 2.0: Heart and Soul of School Improvement’ is published on Monday the 4th March – A guide for your school improvement journey.
What you will learn?
In this blog you will learn about a highly significant event which happened during the career of the chef, Will Guidara and the three lessons that he took from that moment. We then consider how these can be applied to our work in school leadership.
A Dirty Water Dog!
Will was working in his restaurant, one of the best in the world and he over-heard four guests about to sit down for the last dinner of their trip to New York. They were discussing their sadness that they had not had chance to try the archetypal New York Hot Dog. I suppose that would be like a tourist to the UK being disappointed not to try ‘Fish and Chips’ served in newspaper!
He nipped out onto the street and bought one. To the chef’s disapproval he insisted that it was served as the eighth course of the fine dining menu. Albeit it was cut into four pieces, arranged artfully on plates with a swirl of tomato sauce. His guests were absolutely delighted.
Will comments that the most important thing in his work, is understanding how he makes people feel in his restaurant is far more important than any dish served to them.
Three lessons
The ‘hot dog moment’ did not happen by accident. This is a restauranteur working at the height of his powers. This is also true in our schools. Magic school years do not happen randomly as we know they require hard work and skill so that our children get a real sense of belonging and a feeling of safety in our schools.
Will suggests that were three factors which led to his hot dog moment and these are all lessons which we can learn from.
Lesson 1: Being present
He only heard the comment from his diners because he was completely present and focussed on them. As he moved around the restaurant he was very attentive so he could pick up on the little conversations which people were having, otherwise he would not have heard this exchange, let alone been able to act upon on it.
As we move around our school or schools are we present? Are we listening to the conversations which children and staff are having? Are we alert to the concerns of our children from safeguarding to their educational worries? Are we paying attention to our colleagues and their reflections on the systems that are proving cumbersome or their fears of overload?
We need to be present to try to take heed of all the intelligence we can gather so that we can continually improve our schools.
Lesson 2: Don’t take yourself to seriously
Being prepared to serve a hot dog in a high end restaurant is the sign of someone who does not take themselves too seriously. They are prepared to put serving their guests before their ego.
Working in schools should be a joyous affair and working with children can give us many moments of humour. Children say some of the funniest things and we should not be afraid to laugh.
Young people in secondary schools can sometimes make it seem that they have no room for jokes with teachers. Yet we also know a sign of a strong pupil / teacher relationship is the ability to laugh.
So whilst we move around our classrooms let’s try to take moments to smile and laugh with pupils and colleagues alike.
Lesson 3: Treat people as unique individuals
The request for the hot dog was a very personal desire. The vast majority of diners would not have been so impressed. This was a mark of great hospitality, that Will responded to their personal wish and was prepared to flex his offer for them.
This is maybe the most contentious of the ideas as how often do we treat teachers and pupils as unique individuals? There is a style of school leadership which says ‘these are the rules’ and everyone is treated exactly the same. This is argued to be the fair approach.
Equally there are a quieter but very numerous group of educationalists who believe we need to flex and consider how we look after pupils and colleagues? What can we do which allows them to perform at their best whilst still being part of the broader system?
As teacher recruitment becomes harder and retention becomes more challenging perhaps those schools who value uniqueness will be rewarded in these fields. Equally the schools who look at the requirements of individual children will enable all children to perform at their best.
Lessons from the restaurant
There we have three lessons from one of the leading restaurateurs in the world. Three lessons which we can reflect on, learn from and hopefully help us to be even better leaders and create even better schools.
Final thoughts
So which of the three lessons would you like to work on?
1. How can you be more present in your school, taking on board the concerns of pupils and colleagues alike?
2. How can you lighten the mood and find moments of humour in your working day?
3. How can you celebrate the uniqueness of your community and ensure they can let their light shine in your school?
Take a moment and consider the actions you could take tomorrow to incorporate one of Will’s ideas into your leadership.
To find out more:
- Read ‘Unreasonable Hospitality’ by Will Guidara
About the Author:
Paul K Ainsworth is an experienced system leader and facilitator. He has supported many schools and leaders that have been in difficult positions which they then have been able to recover from. ‘No Silver Bullets: Day in, day out school improvement’ was published in February 2021, republished in September 2022 and now contains 108 strategies for improving schools. The sequel ‘No Silver Bullets 2.0: Heart and Soul of School Improvement’ was published in March 2024.
Day in, day out. Day in, day out. 
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