When an employee’s performance begins to slide, it’s important to first make sure he/she is aware of their underperformance. An initial casual conversation in private can determine if there is an underlying problem such as a personal or work-related issue.When you talk with your employee, re-explain the expectations and create an action plan with behavioral check-ins. Creating an environment where employees can share what’s going on is crucial to employee satisfaction. More often than not employees want to succeed and it’s important to provide the tools and communication for their success. …… Continue reading →

What is the most frequent complaint heard in the theme park industry? You probably guessed it, “These lines are too long!” Walt Disney has been addressing this issue since Disneyland’s opening day and while lines are likely to be a long-lived reality, there are ways to ease the anxiety. Consider the following:- Optimizing the operation of the product and service processes: This means delivering new methods of managing your assets in a way that minimizes waits. Perhaps this means giving your customers earlier or later access to your facility or maybe it is extending access on a selective basis to your best customers. Regardless of your decision, reducing flow at peak times will enable a better experience for the end users.- Optimizing guest flow: This is the way in which you enable your customers to better manage thei …… Continue reading →

Why do organizations stray from their mission? Because, as it has been said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” An organization’s brand is not built on what is said, but what is done. As is often the case, so many things are going on at once, that it may be difficult to keep “values” front and center. Are you illustrating your values in small ways – consistently - every day?  Not by saying “we care about customers,” but by actually connecting with individual customers, and showing them that you care? Perhaps it is a school teacher crouching to speak to children at eye-level, a salesperson smiling to greet potential buyers at a car dealership, or even a safari-clothed ukulele player to greet patients at a children’s hospital.Check out this New York Times article on organizations and industries that look to the Disney Institute approach to help establish their customer connections: Continue reading →

We encourage all Cast Members to be leaders in their area. We believe that a leader is someone who makes an impact regardless of his or her title. To implement change, you must reward and recognize individuals when they do something right.Most commonly, we use “Great Service Fanatic” cards. These are given by Cast Members to fellow  Cast Members when they see each other doing something well and going above and beyond to deliver outstanding service. Upon receiving one of these cards, a Cast Member must have it signed by his/her manager so he/she is aware of the praise. This small action of recognition helps to build leaders and encourage existing ones. How would you define a leader? How do you encourage and recognize demonstrations of leadership? …… Continue reading →

If you have seen Pixar’s animated movie Wall-E, you know how the story goes. Humans have abandoned the planet earth and left Wall-E, a lonely robot, to sort through the remnants. What you may not know is that animators used computers to create and build more than six  miles of cityscape to make the environment realistic and believable to audiences. Take a closer look at Wall-E’s home and you will find 827 poker chips, sixty-six license plates, 290 fake eyeballs, 798 Christmas lights, four bug zappers, five paper lanterns and ten tiki lights. Starting to get the picture?It is only natural to wonder why Pixar would go to such lengths when the viewer could not possibly grasp every carefully planned detail. “It’s the little whispers that speak to an audience,” says Director Andrew Stanton. It is also this meticulous attention to detail, which is, at its core, a Disney Service Basic that allows us to continue exceeding Guests’ expectations.Continue reading →

Hurricane season was in full swing and while no one likes to think about natural disasters, it’s still something for which businesses should prepare. In the summer of 2004, Walt Disney World Resort was hit with three large-scale hurricanes in one month. Hurricane Charley swept through Orlando with wind gusts of 105 mph forcing the parks to close, which we had only done twice before. To prepare, thousands of cast members spent the stormy nights on property to assist our 75,000 guests any way possible. Because of our dedicated cast members and strong culture of a common goal to create happiness, the theme parks opened the day after the storm hit, as cast members worked through the night cleaning debris and getting supplies where needed.It takes an entire team to prepare for the unexpected. Besides building a culture of dedicated employees to help repair damage after an event, there are practical things any business can utilize to prepare employees before a natural disaster hits. …… Continue reading →

Bob Iger was not the “odds on favorite” to succeed Michael Eisner as the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In fact, he once had a boss tell him that he “wasn’t promotable.” Perhaps this is one reason he lists optimism as an attribute leaders must possess. “You can’t be a pessimist,” Iger says. “When you come to work, you’ve got to show enthusiasm and spirit. You can’t let people see you brought down by the experience of failure. You don’t have that luxury.”Instead, he believes that big risks must be taken, but with a creative stance. “If you fail, don’t do it with mediocrity - do it with something that was truly original, truly a risk.” One such risk was reversing the company’s view of technology.  What was once viewed as a risk transformed into an opportunity which Iger embraced and grew. Although, if he had failed, many  doubt he would have been discouraged, and if he was, you certainly would not have been able to see it.Continue reading →

Creating an environment where all Guests feels welcomed and respected is important for any business. At Disney, we train our Cast Members to engage in “people first” language. Putting the person before the disability is central to every interaction. We want every Guest to experience the same quality service and magical experiences while in the parks. Here are some ways to incorporate “people first” language into your organization:• Initially address your Guest by his or her first name when interacting with an individual.• When talking with a Guest in a wheelchair for more than a few moments, approach him or her at eye level for a higher quality interaction.• Offer to read signs or materials to a Guest with visual disabilities.• Always speak to the Guest with a disability first before addressing any companions that may accompany them.    Continue reading →

At Disney, Cast Members from every generation work together and collaborate on a daily basis. This results in various work styles and ways of accomplishing projects. Recent college graduates thrive on quick delivery and constant feedback whereas older generations did not grow up in an era saturated with social media and smart phones. We believe in developing leaders from the start, which is why we have the Disney College Program and offer a wide range of Professional Internships. By bringing college-age Cast Members into our culture, we have the opportunity to train future leaders and learn from them about up-and- coming trends. Collaboration across generations is beneficial in the workplace, so here are some tips when adapting to working with younger generations: •  Younger generations often have a different yet unique skill set. Draw from their skills to further success in your organization.•  Attend to the needs of each gen …… Continue reading →