Morena Baccarin (Inara on Firefly) has been credited with saying, “You like to think that you’re bigger than your traditions and customs, but they form who you are.” So here is a Thanksgiving story, with a little twist.
A man and woman fell in love. Their first Thanksgiving was spent far from family. She cooked their first Thanksgiving meal as a couple using a recipe passed from mother to daughter. The turkey was succulent, simply one of the best that he’d ever eaten. In time, the man and woman married. Thanksgiving came around as it does each year. This time, they went to her mother’s home. Grandma was going to be there as well.
He lounged in the kitchen, forbidden from doing anything to help. Grandma sat near him, tucked in a place of honor doing a crossword puzzle. As he watched the mother and daughter prepare the meal in a modern kitchen filled with the latest gadgets, he could not help but ask, “Why do you cut the turkey in half?” His mother-in-law replied, “That’s how Mom taught me.” Grandma looked up, laid her pencil down, and said, “Dear, that was because the stove was too small to cook the whole turkey without cutting it in half.”
Now, there is probably no reason to change the family turkey recipe, but now everyone knows why the turkey is cut in half. So, they might try not cutting the turkey in half next time, thus saving time and steps, just to see if they get the same succulent result. If they do, then they will have more time to do something else.
Sometimes we need to look at our traditional way of doing things. Over time, we often forget why we chose to do something in a particular way. Sometimes, the person who knows why leaves the company. Set some time aside to look at your systems, why are you doing things that way? Maybe the situation or environment has changed. Can you save time and if you change your processes and systems?
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What’s Coming Up Next: Processes are Recipes