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Creating Disney Magic

Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, shares his wisdom and experience from his time with Disney, Marriott, and Hilton. Lee joins show host Jody Maberry to discuss how you can apply lessons in leadership, management, and customer service to create magic in your organization.
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Now displaying: April, 2019
Apr 30, 2019

Don't stay where you are not appreciated.

Good pay and health benefits can make you feel comfortable enough to get stuck in a place you don't want to be.

Even if the pay is good, over time you will become unsatisfied.

I would never stay where someone did not respect me and treat me well.

More than once, I have left a job because I did not like how I was treated.

If you are not appreciated where you are, it is time to go someplace new. Continue to do a good job while you look around. Take your time to find a new opportunity.

For me, it is simple. Move on if you are not loved.

But can you take the risk of making a big move? Becoming stuck in a job you don't love is a risk, too.

Most people are not happy with what they are doing. But that doesn't have to be you. Take the risk.

Don't get stuck where you don't want to be. Don't stay where you are not appreciated.

Apr 23, 2019

If you want to have success, be healthy, and happy, one of the most important things you can do is learn how to manage your time. 

In this episode, we look and four insights to help you understand time and the impact it can have on your life. 

It doesn't matter what you know if you can't get the job done. 

Knowledge is useless unless you can execute on what you know. 

People don't know you are disorganized they just think you don't care. 

If you don't get back to people, or do what you say you are going to do, people will fill in the blanks. And they won't realize you have trouble managing your time. They will think you don't care. Or they aren't important. 

Time is not on your side.

When you are young, life goes by slowly. But don't be lulled into thinking there is plenty of time. 

You spend money and you spend time but you will never get your time back. 

Money comes and goes. And you can get it back. But the way you spend your time will impact the rest of your life. Do you get as much value in your time as you do in your money? Most people don't and go bankrupt in their time. 

If you are in the United Kingdom, join my friends at Managing Multi-Units for a Time Management Magic seminar May 16th in London and May 17th in Manchester. You can get more information here. Use the code magictime for a special discount. 

Apr 16, 2019

Attack the problem, not the person. 

Often, an incident comes from a poor procedure or lack of clarity. 

At Disney, we dig all the way down and find out why this happened, not focus on blaming the person. Even when there was an accident, we didn't focus on the person. We wanted to know what caused the accident. What really happened?

When you blame the person you rarely solve the problem. 

If you want to find the real problem, be a detective. 

Talk to the person. Visit the scene. Review your policies. Talk to other team members to see if they think there is a policy or procedure that lead to the incident. 

In time, you will create an environment where people know you will attack the problem or process and not the person. Then people will be more willing to tell you upfront what caused a problem. 

You may find the problem is clarity in training or policies. Uncovering this will allow you to fix the root of the problem. 

 

Apr 9, 2019

Training and developing staff is one of the most important things for your organization to do. But how can you train your staff when you have a limited budget?

First, discuss the situation with your staff. Let the know there are tight cost constraints, but you still want to train and develop them. Ask them what they think about the situation. Ask them for ideas. If you do, they are going to offer some ideas you would never come up with on your own. 

Next, explain that training and development is also their responsibility, not just yours. 

Sure, it would be great if you had the money and time to send everyone through 60 hours of training, but it doesn't often work that way. Here are some ways you can still train your staff with a limited budget;

-Don't focus on 1 or 2-hour chunks of time. Divide training into smaller segments. 

-Spend 10 minutes before the business opens covering an important topic. 

-Walk the floor and look for opportunities to show and tell. 

-Create a document with your expectations so everyone is on the same page. 

In just a few months, you will find people are doing a better job. 

Apr 9, 2019

Training and developing staff is one of the most important things for your organization to do. But how can you train your staff when you have a limited budget?

First, discuss the situation with your staff. Let the know there are tight cost constraints, but you still want to train and develop them. Ask them what they think about the situation. Ask them for ideas. If you do, they are going to offer some ideas you would never come up with on your own. 

Next, explain that training and development is also their responsibility, not just yours. 

Sure, it would be great if you had the money and time to send everyone through 60 hours of training, but it doesn't often work that way. Here are some ways you can still train your staff with a limited budget;

-Don't focus on 1 or 2-hour chunks of time. Divide training into smaller segments. 

-Spend 10 minutes before the business opens covering an important topic. 

-Walk the floor and look for opportunities to show and tell. 

-Create a document with your expectations so everyone is on the same page. 

In just a few months, you will find people are doing a better job. 

Apr 2, 2019

If you are getting bad service in a restaurant, the problem is the General Manager, not the waiter. 

If you see dirty bathrooms, don't blame the guy who cleans them, the problem is the General Manager. 

If you find problems showing up like this in your organization, poor service or lack of attention to details, you either need more clarity on what you expect, better training, or you need to fire people who can't meet expectations. 

The leader sets the tone, expectations, and how the show we put on every day will be executed. 

But too often, the manager doesn't even know what is going on because he doesn't check. He doesn't have a checklist to make sure processes are followed. He doesn't check bathrooms to make sure they are cleaned. Let me tell you if a manager doesn't check on standards people will know. When the manager doesn't check employees will not follow through. 

If you want to know the truth about what happens in your organization, check when people don't expect you to be there. This is how you can find how your organization really operates. 

When I worked for Marriott, we never got ready when we knew Bill Marriott came to visit. We were always ready. It's better to get some criticism from Bill Marriott than to have employees think you only cleaned up the hotel when he was coming to visit. 

You shouldn't get ready for an important guest. You should be ready for every guest, no matter who they are. My book, Creating Magic, can help get you there. 

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