One thing I’ve always marveled over is how fine-dining restaurants can produce excellent food consistently. Of course, that isn’t always the case, but you don’t get a Michelin star if you have a reputation of inconsistency.
There’s a formula to this. And behind that formula is a philosophy that borders on religion for many chefs. What is this formula/philosophy, and what can we consultants learn from chefs about delivering excellence and delivering it consistently?
It’s called “mise-en-place” (MEEZ-ahn-plahs), French for “putting in place” or “everything in its place.” Author and journalist Dan Charnas studied the concept, interviewing various chefs and culinary school instructors and students. He chronicles the results in his book, Everything in Its Place: The Power of Mise-En-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind (AMAZON)
The book is arranged in three parts. Part 1 explains what mise-en-place is, its evolution in the culinary world, and its power to organize what could otherwise be a chaotic kitchen environment. Charnas also walks us through the three central values: preparation, process, and presence.
- Preparation – meticulous planning and preparation so you’re ready to greet the day.
- Process – constant pursuit of better practices. Arranging the work and your space.
- Presence – showing up early. Keeping attention focused on the task at hand and tuning out distractions.
As Charnas says, “when practiced by great chefs, these three mundane words become profound.”
He also explains the difference between “immersive time” and “process time,” which helps manage work that requires handoffs. A task is immersive if it requires you to be hands-on, devoting your full attention to it (e.g., writing a report). A process task is any task that you can start and then be relatively hands-off (e.g., quickly outlining a report and handing it off to a colleague to write).
Part 2 outlines ten tenets or “ingredients” of mise-en-place. In Part 3, Charnas lays out his suggestions for using mise-en-place to organize work outside of the kitchen, committing to the three values, preparation, process, and presence.
- Preparation – committing to a 30-minute session each day to clear your work setting and plan the next day.
- Process – following good procedures and continually improving them by incorporating checklists and better techniques and tools. And abandoning methods that no longer work. He points out improvements in this area are about pursuing excellence, not necessarily productivity.
- Presence – committing to being fully present in whatever you do. Being present physically and mentally, listening intently, being deliberate, and cultivating discreteness — create and keep boundaries between our professional and personal lives.
Throughout the book, a theme is planning and squaring your plan with your calendar, thoroughly thinking through the steps, sequence, and timing to accomplish something. And using that planning to be “honest with time” – being realistic about what you can and can’t do.
To manage workload and attention, he suggests breaking down what you want to accomplish into missions (limiting your missions to 10 or less). Within those missions, identify the “front burner” tasks, the first action needed to move forward on a mission. The remaining tasks are back burner items until they move up the queue. Also, creating routines, time buckets for actions.
Charnas concludes with a walk through a day using the mise-en-place philosophy.
After reading it, professionally, I’m paying more attention to my workspace arrangement, thinking more carefully about routine project “recipes,” and my front burners and back burners — the sequencing of first this then that. My “daily meeze,” his proposed 30-minute wrap up to the day and planning the next, is a work in progress.
I love to cook, so personally, this book was a game-changer. I’m much more deliberate with my time in the kitchen. And I love it, especially considering food prep and cooking are concentration-building exercises, making my Deep Work sessions more productive.