As a leader, one of your top priorities is to be available for staff members to see you. 

When I was at Disney World, I made it clear anyone could come and see me. If they were not getting their problem solved at the local level, the could bring it to me. 

My responsibility was to get things right. Every cast member should have a work environment where they felt comfortable and safe. If an issue came to me, I wasn't looking for someone to blame, I only wanted to take care of the problem. 

Word began to spread that Lee Cockerell would take care of it if you had an issue. 

Cast members had several ways to get in touch with me. This was how I kept up with the responsibility of creating a culture people wanted to be a part of. 

Bill Marriott told me, "When in doubt, go in favor of the employee." Over time, this is how you build trust. Sure, someone may take advantage of you every once in a while. But don't punish everyone because someone might take advantage of you.

Take care of the people first. Then take care of the paper. Make yourself available to staff. 

Believe it or not, the first step of making yourself available for staff is to get organized. You have to have your time under control so you can devote yourself to your biggest priorities like making yourself available. 

At Walt Disney World, we implemented a cross-utilization program at our busiest time to make sure we had enough people to serve our guests.

One time, I was assigned to work at Pecos Bills.

As I was working the front line taking orders, I noticed trays were beginning to come out hot. Which meant they were coming right out of the dishwasher and into the hands of the customers.

It wasn't long before trays were coming out dirty, meaning they hadn't even been washed. A few minutes later, we ran out of trays.

This is a big problem at an eatery as busy as Pecos Bills.

Without trays, there is no way a father could carry the food for his family back to the table. And he yelled at me, questioning what was going on. It was an embarrassing situation.

But it led to a meeting to figure out how to make sure this situation never happened again. The situation also reminded me of a valuable lesson:

Everybody is important.

You know who was the most important person that day at Pecos Bills? The guy who washes the trays.

Everybody is important.

Support people. Treat them right. Everyone is important (I can't say this enough). Everyone has a role

We started this cross-utilization program to make sure shifts are covered. But through it, we learned how hard those front line jobs are. And people with an office job got a reminder that they are doing their job to serve a guest. Now they have a face, or many faces, to go with the idea of serving a customer.

Getting people out of the usual area, especially if they work behind a desk, is of the most powerful, quick, things you can do to improve your operation.

ep track of your problems so you can fix them. 

You have the same problems that show up every week. Pay attention, keep track, and you can fix nearly every problem. 

At Disney World, we kept careful records of problems and mishaps. Then we would train cast members to take care of the problem right there on the spot. 

There are trends in every business. There are likely 6 or 7 problems that will happen in your business every week or even every day. Pay attention and you will know what these problems are. Talk to employees and customers to find out where the problems and pain points are. Employees and customers know everything you need to know about your business. 

Once you know what those common problems are, focus your training on those particular issues, then let your team take care of it. 

Next, start looking at how you can eliminate the problems. You know what the problem is. The staff is trained to deal with it. The staff is empowered to respond on the spot. But why not eliminate the problem altogether. 

If you do this, you will immediately see an improvement in your business. Your organization you may have gotten 10 complaints a day and now you only get 2. You will immediately see an improvement in your business. 

Does a CEO always need to be in the office?

There are situations where a CEO or a leader works from home, comes in late, leaves early. 

Does the CEOs presence at work matter in getting the work done?

When I became EVP of Walt Disney World, I made it clear there may be times I would leave at 3 pm. But the job would get done. And I didn't want jokes about leaving early. 

If you own the company, you can do what you want. If you are a high-level leader, you may not need to be in the office all the time. 

But there can be a side effect. If you don't have the right team in place, work might not get done. Gossip could spread about why you are not there. Staff could makes jokes about how often they see you. 

But you can get rid of some of the drama by addressing it up front. Explain why you aren't always there, and point out you hired great people so they could take care of the work that needs to be done. 

We need to take care of ourselves, take care of each other, and take care of business. 

The focus should be on getting the job done, not the hours people are at work.