Mise En Place

If you don’t speak French – like me – you will have no idea what this title means! Translated it means “to put in place”.

I attended a speaker training in Memphis, TN and on the first night of training we all went to a professional cooking school to prepare a meal together. It was an incredible experience!

I’ve never seen such a clean and well stocked kitchen. We were given instructions and then put into groups to each make part of the Italian dinner. It first felt totally overwhelming until we realized how working in a kitchen is just like how working in our office should be. Since everything had its place and was labeled, even though we were in a strange kitchen we quickly got our bearings and started to prepare the meal. In other words ‘mise en place’ – everything in its place.

Just think how easy it is to make a meal in your own kitchen when you have all the ingredients and you can find them easily. It’s the same in our office. We can get so much done when:

A - We know what needs to be done

B - We can find everything

C - We keep focused on what we are doing

We ended up all at the same time sitting down to an incredible Italian dinner. I couldn’t believe it! I even helped make homemade pasta!

‘Mise en place’ is really a state of mind. When you truly grasp this idea you will always make sure you have everything you need before starting a project and you will prioritize the steps and get them in the right order.

Here’s to great cooking and an efficient office!