The Burger Comparison Technique – Fast and Cheap VS. Gourmet

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You know, I’ve been thinking about how to make a very, very specific point in Solution Focused practice. And I had a really, really good idea this morning, I was just literally laying in bed and had a really, really good idea. So I’m going to eat hamburgers today and prove a really specific and important point for you. So come with me. You guys, I’m going to enjoy some hamburgers. I’m going to show you why this one thing is so important.

Okay. First of all, I apologize for the wind. I’m sure you guys can hear too much wind, I’m not a professional filmmaker or anything, but here we are at burger place number one. Let me turn around to show you, there you go. Everybody will recognize McDonald’s. So I’m going to get a McDonald’s burger and show you guys something super important.

Now I’m going to get the most popular and most famous burger that they have at McDonald’s, the Big Mac. “I just want a big Mac”. So they have like an assembly line back there to put the burgers together, right? So, there’s actually like a tray of burger patties and they put the burger patty on the line and then they put whatever condiments or whatever it goes on the big Mac.Then they put it to put all together.

So it makes me wonder how long those burger patties have been sitting in that tray? But I can watch, like I’m watching them. They’re not so much making my burger as much as they are assembling it. Like I said, I’m not making this video to criticize McDonald’s. I actually like Big Macs. But I do have a point that I’m thinking about. Anyway so let’s dig in, eat this burger and have a bit of a chat. So McDonald’s is an extraordinarily successful company. Billions and billions of dollars. they’ve been around forever. And one of the things that makes McDonald’s so successful is something that they called their Standard Operating Procedures, SOP, and the standard operating procedures ensure…

So I’m in Dallas, Texas, and the standard operating procedures ensure that an employee in Dallas, Texas can make a Big Mac in the exact same way that an employee in like London, England can make a Big Mac. So I can come to the McDonald’s like anywhere around the world and have the same experience. Like they didn’t make this burger for me, they assembled it. And the purpose of it is for consistency.

Bit I’m wondering this since I was in grad school, I think in our field, they want us to be consistant, and they want us to be, to have like Psychotherapy Standard Operating Procedures. In essence, they want us to be McDonald’s. But I wonder is that the best way to go about things?

Is that the best way to do it? Should we train so that a therapist using an Approach in Philadelphia would be doing the exact same work as a therapist using Approach in Alaska, whatever. Should we try to make this like, or is there a better way? So, all right. I had enough of this, I think so. Now by comparison, I’m going to go to a different burger place and just see what that experience is like. So this is a burger, you can have a Big Mac at just about any McDonald’s all around the world. And it’s the exact same experience. And that’s intentional, they do that on purpose. They have these Standard Operating Procedures where they teach the techniques of how to make a Big Mac so that you could have that same experience in any McDonald’s restaurant all around the world.

But what happens when you go beyond the technique and go to another place. And that’s what I hope to discover today. So in order to find that out, I got to go to another burger place. So here we go, come with me. Okay, here we are. I found the number one rated burger in Dallas, Texas. I’ve never been here before, but it’s a stand-alone restaurant, it’s a chef owned restaurant. It’s not a chain at all. So I’m excited to compare the experience of a chef made, chef owned burger versus the McDonald’s experience of like the assemble line burger. So this place is called Dugg Burger. Never even heard of it, but apparently it’s the best burger in Dallas. So let’s see.

Did I hear you say this is like, build your own burger concept? Okay. I’ll have a bun, a beef patty, cheddar. I’ll have fries, but I just want ice water. Elliott. And do I pick like what condiments like, Oh my God, awesome. No pickle or onions. What is that? Can I have those onions, no, no bacon. That’ll be it. So right off the bat, it’s a completely different experience. Like you got to build your burger and you could see, I tried to capture it on camera. I think they were staring at me a little bit uncomfortable, but you could see, they didn’t start making the burger until I ordered it and the ingredients to go into the burger where like, in these pans that are just super fresh, super vibrant and place smelled great.

I’m actually super excited to taste this burger. I had the McDonald’s burgers several hours ago, ugh, and it’s still on me so. And like I said, I usually liked the McDonald’s burger, the big Mac, but I don’t know. The other thing I noticed is they had like these fresh buns. And then once you ordered, they like start toasting the bun on this really like special toaster thing, which I thought was pretty cool. And, and, you know, you can see that there’s technique there. So I don’t want to want you guys to think that I’m saying like, it’s bad to have technique, but I think what I would say it’s bad to just have technique.

You also have to have personalization. You also have to have creativity. And also I have to have fluency and mastery and skill and passion. You also have to have those things in combination with your technique, like technique alone just leads to a very superficial experience. And I think that’s true in burgers. And I think that’s true in psychotherapy. And in order for us to really maximize the impact we can have on our client lives, I think we have to bring more to the table than just our techniques. Like clearly there are techniques even here at this like super specialized burger place that I’ve found, which is totally like when I searched on Google, this is the highest ranked burger place in the city.

But even here it’s clear, there are techniques like if they are going to hire me to be a burger chef, they would, they would have to show me the techniques that they use to produce the quality burgers that they have. Oh, here it is. Thank you. Wow. So if they are going to hire me, then they would have to, they would, they would have to show me what techniques they have to produce the kind of quality that, that Dugg Burger is known for. But the other thing they’d have to do is they’d have to show me how to enjoy the work, and they’d have to share their passion with me and enthusiasm with me because again,

technique is not enough. And like, look, this is just the whole, looking at it’s just a different. man, I wish you could smell it and I wish you could touch it, but this is a different, it’s just a different experience here. I’m going to take a bite out of it. Look at that. It’s just not even comparable, like a freshly cooked burger versus the assembly line burger at McDonald’s is just a different experience. So I hope you guys see what I’m saying. So, in conclusion what did we learning today? We learned that we can use techniques and produce quality, that’s actually true, you can use Standard Operating Procedures and produce quality. But when you combine technique with art, when you combine technique with creativity, mastery, passion and enthusiasm, it’s a whole other experience. When you personalize it, it’s a whole other experience. And it’s complete game changing. So I think we have to resist, like, in our field I think so many of us are being fed technique, techniques, techniques, that we’re forgetting the importance of mastery and fluency, and personalization. So I’m just going to leave you with a question. If you were a burger, would you rather be a Big Mac or this?

Would you rather be a Big Mac or a gormet burger? And if you were, if you were a chef, if you were a customer, would you rather eat a Big Mac or this gormet experience. Think about that as you guys are pursuing your education in graduate school, like, do you want to be focused on techniques or become a master?

How do you want your clients to feel? Do you want them to feel like just another client that you have that you use your techniques upon, or do you want them to feel special to you? And when they feel that way, thinking about how that contributes to their outcomes and their accomplishments through therapy? Those are the thoughts I want to leave you with.

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