Leadership and Courage at Disney – Part 1

Conservative Leadership

So far, all the posts I have written about my experience at the Disney Institute have focused on the very positive aspects of the experience.    It is important to note that like any organization, Disney is not without some warts.   I made some notes on a few of the things that were mentioned during the week that might be viewed as negatives.  Disney tends to be:

• methodical in communications
• zealously protective of their brand
• slow to offer new services that fall outside their traditional brand
• slow to implement changes in processes

Protecting the Disney Brand

One of the things that was mentioned several times by facilitators of the Disney Institute was the notion that Disney is quite often the target of negative press because of who they are and what they represent.   Examples of this range from critics of the company business approach and visitors coming to the park to set up false legals claims to the more modern day perils of customers making their complaints known to the world via the Internet or even blogs.  (gasp!)

A very telling example of the type of negative press that Disney may face reared its head during the week of my visit when the third death of the Cast Member in Orlando this year took place on Tuesday.   Anislav Varbanov suffered a head injury late Monday while rehearsing an acrobatic move in the “Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular”.    This incident and the ways that Disney might respond were discussed in the Disney Institute class.   This quote from an article from the Sun News of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina illustrates the Disney approach.

Disney said the deaths weren’t related, and federal investigators were treating them as separate accidents.

“The only common thread is the sense of loss we feel for these valued cast members,” said Zoraya Suarez, a Disney spokeswoman.

The same article goes on to mention an imminent investigation by OSHA, and concerns from union leaders regarding staffing levels.

It is for reasons like these that Disney tends to be protective and conservative in their approach to brand.    This conservative approach also extends to internal decisions.   Some examples mentioned by the facilitators include the concept of “castzooming”, and providing Quinceanera celebrations.

Quinceanera Celebrations

According to Wikipedia, The Quinceañera, or Quince años (“fifteen years” in English), in Latin American culture, is a coming of age ceremony held on a girl‘s fifteenth birthday. The term Quinceaños refers to the birthday of the celebrant, and the term Quinceañera refers to the celebrant herself.  Like many other coming-of-age ceremonies, the Quinceaños is associated with the Quinceañera “becoming a lady”.  Despite many requests by customers and Cast Members alike, Disney did not offer Quinceanera events until just a couple of years ago for a variety of reasons.  They would cater such events through their bridal department, but it never really worked well.  Now, it is a part of the overall menu of services available at Disney and has turned into a nice profit center, and very popular service.

A horse-drawn crystal coach for your daughter? Her own twinkling ballroom?

Anything is possible these days at Disney resorts, which stage elaborate quinceanera parties, the traditional celebrations of coming-of-age for 15-year-old girls in Latin American cultures.

Walt Disney World Resort in Florida on Wednesday announced party packages with price tags up to $20,000. Meanwhile, Disneyland Resort in Anaheim is ramping up marketing for quinceaneras, which it has informally offered since 2005.

“Walt Disney World is a little bit ahead of us on formalizing the program,” said Robert Deuel, spokesman for sales and travel operations in Anaheim. “We’re aware that quinceaneras are a growing market.”

Although Deuel would not give figures, he said demand for the parties “has just about doubled” every year.

CastZooming for Cast Members

According to our facilitator tour guide backstage at Epcot, Disney operates some of the largest wardrobes on Earth, second only to the uniform operations of the U.S. military services.   In Orlando, 66,000 Disney cast members change into their required work uniforms every day.  Just managing the tracking and distribution of these items, and ensuring their availability, proper appearance, and availability is massive logistical undertaking.

Describing it simply, each cast member has to be changed and dressed and in their work assignment at the designated starting time of their shift.  In the past, this meant that they had to:

• report to wardrobe to get clothing
• go to a changing locker room to dress and then store personal items
• report to work at the start of the shift.  Being late can incur points in their attendance record and impact customer service.
• the same process is followed at end of shift. Cast members receive 20 minutes of walk time at the end of their share for donning and doffing of uniforms.

Despite years of requests by cast members to be allowed to take uniforms home, Disney did not allow it due to fears that someone might engage in negative off hours behavior while wearing a Disney uniform.  Twenty jello shots in a Disney park guide outfit didn’t seem like an acceptable risk.

After years of this same request appearing on annual cast surveys as an issue, Disney management finally agreed to pilot a test in Epcot.   The program was named Castzooming, and permitted cast members to check out up to five uniforms at a time and take them home.  There are also some expectations about what personal tasks you can perform during your travel time.

The program proved wildly popular and successful and has now been implemented at nearly all Disney facilities and is very popular among the cast.

More on how this relates to my experience with the Disney Institute tomorrow in Part II.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Disney World: When Death Comes to the Magic Kingdom (time.com)
• Death at the Magic Kingdom: Disney Performers Remember Their Fallen Comrades (time.com)
• Disney performer dies after performing stunt (cnn.com)
• Indiana Jones stuntman is third to die at Disney World this summer (telegraph.co.uk)

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Tagged as: Business, Company, Creativity, death, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Management, Strategic planning, The Walt Disney Company