September 24, 2010
CULN 270
Reflection 5

In my second reflection in this competition course I wrote about the idea of the Chinese word weiji, which I saw as opportunities gained within danger or challenges. I couldn’t have predicted what exactly my challenges would be. But, as it turned out one of our challenges would be the relationships building within our group.

During the first few weeks there were definitely differences of opinions when we were given tasks that required creativity, and there were issues about work habits. Eventually, the group was split in half because of comfort levels between our four members. Those differences finally built up to an inevitable fracturing point. Personally, I would’ve ignored it, and remained quietly frustrated for the next four weeks, until the end of the module; a trait I should consider dealing with if I’m going to manage people one day as a chef. But, thankfully one member came forward and expressing his frustrations. I believe his frustrations were exactly what we were all feeling, but not being completely upfront about it – we were not the team we needed to be just yet.

On the first day of the following week we agreed on a team meeting with Chef Alan. Initially it was a little uncomfortable, but Chef’s calm personality set the tone. It was a great conversation, and everyone got to speak their heart. My contribution to the conversation was that relationship building is always challenging, and as a group that’s randomly put together, the chances of conflict is almost a guaranty. We fell into a comfort zone where we were comfortable and clique-ish with one team member, and we needed to break through that comfort zone. I’m reminded of a quote from Pastor Groeschel, and that is, “The path to your greatest potential is straight through your greatest fear.” To even start being a better team we had to face those fears of connecting to someone that we were uncomfortable with, or felt that we didn’t relate to.

I’m thankful, that we had that meeting – it broke that communication barrier, and it opened each of our doors to a greater potential. In due time, because this week was the first week of our skills salon and cooking phase. Honestly, I wasn’t completely prepared – due to the “turn and burn” of my school and work schedule. And if our team didn't pull it together we could have bombed in many ways. We may have been able to pull off similar scores, but our biggest success was how we bonded as a team as our efforts, patience, and hearts opened up to each other. It was awesome!

A personal success for me was spiritual. Three minutes before we had to start our first attempt at the cooking phase, I offered a huddle and a short prayer. I'm very touched that our team was open to that. I feel that God was speaking to me to not only look to Him for my own personal goals, but that there was an opportunity to honor Him and look toward Him for the success of our team. Honestly, that was uncomfortable for me to do, but I’m always reminded of that clip of Chef Lance Nitahara praying with his kitchen team on the Food Network show Chopped. At that second, I broke through that fear, and everyone huddled up. Awesome! And on day two of our cooking phase we did it again! We huddled up, shoulder to shoulder, with our heads and hearts bowed. I said a prayer thanking God for blessing us with this passion and ability to cook, and asked that he give us wisdom, patience, and speed. God is good, and so was our scores! Praise the Lord!