The Kitchen is Loud… And That’s a Very Good Thing

My husband is a Chef. We were talking about work last night, and he described a kitchen that has gone quiet. In his world, silence is a flashing red warning sign. Everyone is always talking in the best kitchens. If you walk behind a chef sautéing veggies, you speak up to let him know you’re there. In the corporate world, silence is even more of an essential trait.

Perhaps logistics and hospitality are not that different. We think one is about spreadsheets and the other is about service. The hospitality sector is seen as people-centric and service-driven; the corporate world is more seen as structured and performance-driven.

Both live or die on deadlines. And both live or die on whether people feel safe enough to open their mouths.

Both sectors say they value initiative and open dialogue. Leaders encourage people to speak up, ask questions, and challenge the status quo. Yet the lived experience can feel very different.

Curiosity is not always interpreted as curiosity.

When someone asks questions, it can be perceived as criticism. Instead of being heard as an effort to understand or improve, it may be received as a complaint.

Suggestions are not always heard as support.

Offering improvements can be interpreted as being forceful or overstepping. The intent to contribute gets reframed as trying to control or dominate. Proposing alternative approaches can be seen as shortcut-seeking rather than creative problem solving.

 Silence is not a sign that all is well. A productive, high achieving team is the opposite of silent.

People learn fast. If the risk of speaking up is too high, if they’re embarrassed into beginning quiet, if they’re spoken over or spoken down to, they will choose the easiest path: saying nothing at all. They are certainly not going to tell you where the ship is leaking. They will for sure not tell you that your precious process is broken because you’re the one who left the watertight door unlatched.

Silence leads to stagnation and atrophy. If you want innovation, you have to protect curiosity. You have to evaluate ideas on merit, and not on whether the person speaking is overstepping.

 Whether in a hotel, a logistics hub, or a headquarters office, the principle holds: cultures that truly invite voices — and respond constructively — are the ones that keep getting better.

Cultures that truly invite voices - and respond constructively - are the ones that keep getting better.