As managers it is difficult to embrace our mistakes. Nobody wants to be wrong, or rather nobody wants to admit to being wrong. Once you are the chef you can no longer say, "Sorry Chef!" and move on. The more responsibility you have is the more your shit stinks. Every mistake might as well be under a microscope. Your every flaw is exploited. The reason for this is because your mistakes affect everyone.
I like to think I am able to remain humble and accept when I am wrong, but I know that in the heat of the moment I am like everyone else and want to give reasons why it wasn't completely my fault. The truth is we as managers also have to embrace the fact that when our staff makes mistakes it is our fault just as much as it is theirs. Every person below you under your jurisdiction is another version of you. If your cook sends out a well done filet in place of a rare, then it is your fault just as much as it is theirs. The next in command above you is not going to ask the cook "What the fuck?" They are going to ask you.
I am writing this because I got a direct order today to manage the hours of somebody who up to this point for a year and a half has been managing their own hours. This person is a work horse and as we all know it is more important to focus on creating the best end result than the time it takes to do so. Up to about three weeks ago hours weren't so much an issue. Right now it is important we track and manage hours as best we can and allow no overtime. Even though we had a last minute super VIP event I can't use that as an excuse. I have to accept that even though he didn't warn us that he surpassed 40 hours, then 50 hours, then 60 hours, it is totally my fault. I will have to face the heat on Monday. All I can really do is apologize and hope they don't scrutinize my managerial duties too much. I'm on salary so a 60 hour week happens to me a lot and nobody will ever notice. I worked 3 weeks straight in September and yet my superiors had no idea. When my Chef di Partie works a 60 hour week in October it will require a series of emails and a eventually a meeting. I will take the heat, just as my Executive Chef will have to take it as well.
Part of me wants to blame it on the last minute events and a lack of consistent planning, but the reality is that it is in fact my fault. In turn it is Chef's fault, and then again the restaurant manager's fault, and then again the owner's fault. When I think about being in the owner's shoes I won't blame him if he is livid when he sees the reports on Monday.
What sometimes stinks worse than our own shit is the reality that our employees and those under our jurisdiction generally don't and will never understand the real gravity of these situations. After all in the end it isn't their ass. It isn't they who are going to battle for themselves. It isn't they who are reporting to the boss. All they have to do is say, "Sorry Chef!"