NACCM 2009: Leading Through Turbulent Times - Disney Institute

Leading Through Turbulent Times - Disney Institute, presented by Bruce Kimbrell

Disney starts of with a video that shows how they go about preparing the park every day for the maximum enjoyment of their customers. PPIR's in the Disney Institutes's box - to encourage audience participation! Kimbrell has had 27 years of experience in Disney parks. Everyday should be a prep day for turbulent times. If it's important, if it has value, every day should be.

In the 24 Disney hotels from coast to coast, they experience 95% occupancy year round. This all has to do with the cast they have. They know what their guests are coming for. They treat every guest as if they're important.

Leadership excellence came from leaders who were willing to listen. Listening is an art and talent, few people have the talent. There were many leadership challenges from the 1960s on, after both of the Disney brothers died.

Communicate the vision. How they did it at Walt Disney:

-Create a shared and meaningful purpose

-Inspire passion and interest

-Guide decision making and strategy

-Convey values

Core competencies at Disney are how clean the park is and how friendly the people are.

What Disney did to improve their brand:

- Refocus on core competencies

- Refined brand, mission and product offerings

- Solidify corporate culture

Refocus your culture to demonstrate appropriate behaviors of:

-Language and symbols

-Cultural values

-Traits and behaviors

Listen to your front line which is your bottom line. Key factor that Disney relies on for communicating with their customers. Example: A Pub in the park was continually asked if they sold fish and chips. A cast member took a tally of the individuals who asked for Fish and Chips, so they created a shop where customers could buy fish and chips, which now brings in $3 million a month. The leader listened, and was rewarded as a result.

Making Magic Every Day - Lessons from the Disney Institute

"Service is tough, " so said Bruce Kimbrell our facilitator from the Disney Institute.

Yep. But the way Bruce talks about service makes it infinitely fascinating and fun!

We got the basics on loyalty you would expect. Lifetime value. Know your markets. The relation of the employee's satisfaction with the experience of the customer. But there was so much more...

Some takeaways from Bruce's delightful talk:

• "I just work here." The enemy of customer loyalty is the company where "the rules" are a disincentive to customer satisfaction and the culture is "we just follow the rules."
• "What little bump does it take to notice service?" Disney pays attention to the details.
• Loyal customers feel ownership of the brand, "it becomes part of how they send messages about themselves."
• "Seamless process - start to finish." This is a favorite of mine. Thinking about what happens before, during, and after each individual transaction gets at the whole customer experience.
• Why do customers leave? Bruce's answer. It's the "Yeah, what?"...the "you're bothering me" look from a service person communicates "I don't care."
• Then there was a real life letter from a customer with accompanying pictures of their stay in Disney World. "Thank you for adding magic to our stay." Wow. A housekeeper moves Mickey around, posing him differently each day when she cleans the room and a grandchild experiences a vacation she will remember fondly - forever. You could hear the "awww's" fromt he audience at the last photo of Mickey at the window...waiting for the family to return to the room.
• The challenge? "Once you have bumped it, that becomes the new level, the new expectation."
• Identity - Value- Relationships...these in balance build great loyalty.
• Experience Mapping - way cool. Disney uses these to break down the elements of value and see what drives the quality of every experience. For each they define what would meet and what would exceed expectations. The goal is to exceed.
• "What do you want to be known for, then make that connection at every point."
• And there was that clip at the end with the girl dancing with a cast member. I teared up, more than just a bit. “We have the opportunity to make magic every day.” Yep.

Thanks, Bruce, for an inspiring journey into the magic of Disney service.