Great leadership is directly correlated with customer satisfaction.
Highest guest satisfactions always resulted from positive guest-cast member interactions. And most successful cast members had leaders who received high ratings from their staffs in areas such as listening, coaching and letting people make their own decisions.
Being a leader means doing what has to be done, when it has to be done, in the way it should be done, whether they like it or not. It means making the right things happen by bringing out the best in others.
Remember everyone is important
RAVE (Respect, Appreciate and Value Everyone).
- Make sure everyone matters. and that everyone knows it.
- Know your team.
- Let your team know you.
- Greet people sincerely.
- Reach out to everyone on your team.
- Make yourself available *Lee relocated his office to ground floors and opened his door 24 hours.
- Listen to understand
- Communicate clearly, directly and honestly.
- Stand up for the excluded.
- Forget about the chain of command.
- Don’t micromanage.
- Design your culture.
Questions on organization culture (strongly disagree to strongly agree)
- 1. I trust the people in my work team
- 2. I receive the training I need to do my job well
- 3. My work team values different points of view
- 4. My immediate leader deals with me in the truthful manner
- 5. My immediate leader makes the best use of my talents and skills to accomplish team goals
- 6. My immediate leader accepts responsibility for failures as well as successes
- 7. I trust my immediate leader
- 8. If given the choice, I will work with my immediate leader again
Break the mold
- Be clear who’s responsible for what.
- Remember responsibility and authority goes hand in hand.
- Make every position count.
- Get as flat as you can.
- Eliminate overwork (add new layers if necessary).
- Rethink the meeting structure.
- Anyone can take responsibility for change.
- Be prepared to take risks.
- Expect resistance.
- Don’t try to win every battle.
- You’re never really done.
Make your people your brand
Your organization is only as good as people working in it.
- Define the prefect candidate.
- Don’t settle for the clone.
- Look for people in unlikely places.
- Involve the team in selection process.
- Select by talent, not by resume (remember CVS are ads)
- Find a good fit.
- Hire people who are smarter than you (they’ll help you keep your job).
- Describe the job completely.
- Check out candidates personally.
- Ask revealing questions.
- Use structured interviews when possible.
- Find out what really matters to candidates.
- Have candidates demonstrate their expertise.
- Select the best candidate, not the best available.
- Look for people to nurture and promote.
- Constantly evaluate performance.
- Recognize when job doesn’t fit talent.
- Terminate quickly and kindly.
- Don’t lose touch when you lose.
Newsletter features of Disney
- 1. Main message to leaders
- 2. Weekly message from head of operations on how to be a better leader
- 3. Pre-shift meeting message
- 4. Do you know? company news on new hires, promotions, etc.
- 5. Updates on perks and benefits
- 6. Advice from mother
- 7. Safety message of the week
- 8. Security message of the week (along with numbers…)
- 9. Your community
- 10. Local events and service opportunities
- 11. Respect for diversity
- 12. Lessons on creating inclusive workplace
- 13. Key policies and other matters
- 14. Important dates
- 15. Cast-members who went above and beyond for customers
Spend more time training
- Give people a purpose, not just jobs.
- Take your role as leader seriously.
- Become a COACH (Care, Observe, Act, Communicate, Help)
- Teach by example.
- Teach the principles of great service.
- Teach people for Magical moments and 5s.
- Teach them how and where to spend their time.
- Communicate constantly.
- Give feedback immediately and effectively.
- Prepare them for the unexpected.
Employee trainings that are integral to Disney customer service.
- 1. Smile
- 2. Greet
- 3. Seek out contact
- 4. Provide immediate service recovery
- 5. Display appropriate body language at all times
- 6. Preserve the magical guest experience
- 7. Thank each and every guest
Eliminate hassles
More often than not, the culprit turns out to be process than people.
- Ask what rather than who
- Listen to your customers.
- Learn firsthand what’s working and what’s not.
- Constantly query employees.
- Harvest process solutions from employees.
- Try an audit exchange plan.
- Stay technically up to date.
- Think ahead.
- Look at your personal processes.
- Expect resistance.
- Periodically evaluate the changes you make.
Cast-members are not only trained to look for take-5 opportunities, they’re held accountable for making it happen.
Most take-5 takes from 5 seconds to 5 minutes. There’s no better use of time than take-5s.
Learn the Truth
Leaders are always responsible for knowing what’s going on.
- Get out and about routinely.
- Get a ground-level view.
- Meet regularly with direct reports.
- Assemble small groups.
- Make people feel safe.
- Probe for the whole story.
- Answer tough questions *Lee install plants in the audience to ask him tough questions
- Get formal feedback about yourself
- Constantly evaluate your spending *Lee requires invoices to go through him
Even the best job has something frustrating that makes employees want to walk out the doors.
“What happens on your job that makes you want to quit?”
Burn the Free Fuel
ARE (Appreciation, Respect, Encouragement) are your free fuel. Burn it all the time
- Spend meaningful time with employees.
- Recognize them by names.
- Catch them doing something right.
- Make it public.
- Include their families.
- Recognize and encourage good ideas.
- Give extra ARE to frontline employees.
- Make ARE a natural part of your routine.
- Watch your language.
Stay ahead of the Pack
Whether it’s’ technological or social, trends emerge. Recognize them and exploit them.
- Be a knowledgably sponge.
- Fill in your gaps.
- Master business fundamentals.
- Learn from the best.
- Learn from your competitors.
- Keep up with your colleagues.
- Study your customer base.
- Follow the compass.
- Expand your horizons.
- Keep the people you lead ahead of the pack.
Prepare and adapt toughest questions a leader can answer
- 1. Why don’t people at my position get paid more?
- 2. Things are like they used to be? Why did they change? How can we restore good things we lost?
- 3. How do you work with someone who don’t like and trust?
- 4. How can we honor our schedules and also consider the Individual needs of our employees?
- 5. How can we retain quality employees in the face of our need to reduce healthcare and other benefits?
- 6. Isn’t this latest initiative an excuse to reduce headcount?
- 7. What’s the greatest obstacle to workplace diversity?
- 8. How can we create trust as leaders and how can we create trust among our teams?
- 9. As a young employee who cares about the future, how can I develop career traction within the company?
- 10. How should we answer when direct reports ask if they can get to the next level when they’re not ready for it?
- 11. What’s the best way to focus on flawless performance while still allowing people to learn from their mistakes?
- 12. What’s the best way to handle politics at large organizations?
- 13. How can we motivate people to fully commit and to make the extra effort?
Be careful what you do and say
As a leader, you’re always under someone’s watch. Pros take their work seriously, but not themselves too much.
- Demonstrate a passionate commitment to your role.
- Do what it takes to get the job done.
- Set high standards.
- Have a positive attitude.
- Look and carry yourself like a pro.
- Be a full-time pro – even when curtains are down
- Model personal ownership.
- Don’t lose your sense of humor.
- Be a great partner.
- Stay humble.
Develop character
At the end of your life, no one will care what titles you once held, how much you once made, or what a big shot you thought you were. But they’ll care about your principles and values.
- Anticipate ethical dilemmas.
- Live your values.
- Train for character, not just skill.
- Teach your values.
If a picture worth’s a thousand words, an action worth’s even more.
Your people will learn more from observing you than what you tell them.
You should not worry that your children are not listening to you. You should worry that they’re always watching you.
Managers should be evaluated not only on the bottom-line results also on ‘how’ they achieved those results.
Actions are usually forgiven. Cover-ups are not.
Always tell the truth.
Don’t underestimate the power of word choices.
Nobody ever says “I can’t wait to be a subordinate”. Inferior word should be replaced by “team member”, “associate”.