📣 Experiences from the Scrum Cooking Workshops: What we can learn from them for our organisations

In the last few years, we have trained thousands of people in our Scrum Cooking workshops. Time and again, we have had an amazing experience: almost everyone – apart from a tiny number that can be counted on two hands – was not only friendly and fun, but also incredibly open to self-organisation and shared learning. 👫👩‍🍳

What does that show us? It’s impressive what a good environment can trigger in people. The combination of cooking and kitchen creates exactly this environment. It offers space for creativity, collaboration and spontaneous learning – without any hierarchies, but with clear goals and roles. Everyone gets involved, takes responsibility and, in the end, something great is created that everyone is proud of. 🎯🥘

The big question is: how can we bring this experience into our organisations? How can we create working environments that are not only productive but also fulfilling? Where people develop, act in a self-organised way and grow together?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Clearly defined tasks, flexible collaboration: In the Scrumkitchen, everyone knows what needs to be done thanks to the joint planning phase, but the participants remain flexible in order to help each other. Everyone understands each other’s tasks and can support him or her. It is not uncommon for people to help across team boundaries, e.g. when washing up or tidying up.
2. Bottlenecks are solved creatively: It is not uncommon for resource problems to arise when a large team gets going in a lively and self-organised way. This can mean running out of space at the cooker or sink. And the team always finds a good compromise and a good solution. Unlike in everyday working life, resources are willingly shared, as everyone is aware of the need to work on the big picture.
3. Creating common goals: It goes without saying that a jointly prepared dinner motivates everyone in the team. How do organisations get their employees to commit to common, meaningful goals?
4. Promote presence and mindfulness: When cooking, everyone is involved with all their senses. We can also establish this attitude in meetings and projects in order to strengthen focussed work and deeper understanding.
5. Rituals for team spirit: Just as sharing a meal brings people together, regular team activities and successes can also be celebrated in organisations to strengthen bonds.

What do you think? What other approaches do you see for transferring what you have learnt in the kitchen to our working world?