People who make good choices get ahead in life.
To make good choices, you need to understand your values. Take time to figure out what you stand for and what you stand against.
It is easy to make the wrong decision. It is tough to be brave and step in and help someone who doesn't have the same influence you don't have.
In the long term, it will pay off to stand up for what you believe in and do what is right. Making an easy decision may benefit you in the moment, but there is no benefit later. In fact, it will hurt you down the road. If not with other people, you will erode your confidence in yourself.
We all have influence. If you speak up you never know who is listening. If you take the right action you never know the impact it will have on the people watching.
When you learn something new, it is only entertainment if you don't use it.
On this episode of Creating Disney Magic, Chris Jaskiewicz joins us to explain how he used what he learned to improve his organization.
Chris is the President and CEO of Icon Park in Orlando.
Icon Park was the first attraction in Orlando to open as the city began open again after the Covid-19 lockdown. Chris explains how they used story, not facts, to present the case why Icon was ready to open again.
Chris also explains how he used what he learned from me to improve his organization. With the improvements to Icon Park, they have been acknowledged by Forbes and USA Today.
Whether you learn from me or someone else, you need to find a way to use the new information to improve. Don't go through the motions and then claim you are better. Apply what you learn and actually get better.
When I was the Executive Vice President at Walt Disney World, I treasured my team coming to me with their opinion. They did not think of me as the big bad boss. They knew I was open to hearing their opinions.
I told them to keep me out of trouble and not let me make stupid decisions.
This attitude flowed up, too. Often, I would tell Al Weiss, my boss, what I needed to get work done.
Part of your responsibility as a leader is to do the right thing. Telling your boss what you know is the right thing. If you know something and don't share it with your boss, that is on you. You are not in your job to get along and get to retirement alive.
Too often, people are scared to speak up and let their boss know what they thing. If this is you, you are likely overrating the chance of getting in trouble with your boss.
If you don't have an environment where you can share your opinion with your boss, consider if it is the right place for you. When you hold back, it begins to have an impact on you when you don't get to tell the truth. It gets to you. Maybe it is time to move on.
When I was Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World, Operations and entertainment sometimes had a conflict. The live shows were tremendous, but at times the cost was concerning. There was an entire operation to run, but live entertainment was a big piece of what people enjoy at the parks.
There are times when two department's priorities conflict with each other.
The key is you both have to have a mindset that you are going to work it out. Get a team together to find a way to make it work. When the right experts are in the room, you can work out the details and come out feeling both sides get what they need.
If you go in with the attitude you are going to win, everyone will lose. You won't look for a solution, you will just try to win.
There is no upside to winning when both sides are reaching for the same goal of serving the customer.
When you have a good attitude, you can avoid most of the problems.
Once you get people in the defensive mode, it can be difficult to get them out of being defensive.
Don't fall in love with your idea. There could be a better solution. Give your point of view, but you have to be willing to listen, too.
The leader of an organization needs to be clear that you will not operate in silos. If one department doesn't work, none of the departments will work. No department is more important than any other department.
To keep an organization from operating in silos, the leader must set high expectations, clarity of expectations, quality of hiring, and a high-level of training. Basically, it is your culture.
When you make a bad decision, the first thing you can do is apologize.
Don't hope people forget about it. They won't.
If you have done something inappropriate, it can be difficult to get over. But if you take action on a decision and it doesn't go well, face it head-on and admit what happened.
When you get feedback from someone about a bad decision or how you are perceived, the first step is to believe it. You can't change until you accept the feedback you get.
To avoid making mistakes, seek counsel as you work through and towards big decisions. Have relationships with people who work with you so you can ask questions and get their advice. Seeking help, and taking your time, will lead to making fewer bad decisions.
Often, bad decisions come from making the decision in isolation.
In difficult situations, our desire to make people happy can also lead us to make the wrong decision.
It is better to hurt someone's feelings now rather than hurt their career later because you didn't give them candid feedback.
When I was at Disney, cast member surveys brought to my attention some perceived me as playing favorites. It was like a gut punch to get the information.
But you know what? They were right. When I reflected on the feedback, I realized I did
Immediately, I change my behavior. I sat next to different people. I sought out different opinions.
Over the next couple of years, my scores improved.
The key to employee surveys is to change your behavior to change the ratings.
Don't get defensive. If you do, employees will never tell you anything again.
The purpose of feedback is for you to get better.
Employees and customers know everything you need to know to get better.
As a leader, your job is to give your team the resources and support to take care of the customer. It is not about you. It is about your team.
If you want more accurate employee surveys, follow these guidelines.
Don't ask for feedback unless you want the truth. If you just want employees to tell you that you are doing a great job, you are doing it for the wrong reason.
Keep it anonymous. Employees are more willing to tell the truth if their name is not attached to what they say. Otherwise, they fear retaliation.
Do not try to figure out who said what. Resist the temptation to get to the bottom of it when someone says something negative about you. Take it as an opportunity to get better.
Take action on the feedback you get. The most effective way to get accurate survey results is to actually take action on the feedback you get from employees. Once they trust you, they will open up more.
At every business, you are going to disappoint some customers.
On this episode of Creating Disney Magic, we answer a listener question about customers getting upset or disappointed.
The question is about how the narrative told at a historical president's home causes disappointment and tension with visitors. Sometimes they don't treat staff well when they get upset.
From this situation, there are some things you can learn to use in situations with difficult subject matter. Be committed to telling the truth. Stick with the facts, whether people like them or not.
Although the subject matter may be unique to the location, all organizations deal with disappointed and upset customers.
If a customer gets so negative it impacts the experience of other customers, you have to step in. Start with empathy, and see what you can do to help the situation. If needed, escalate your response to remove the customer.
Always remain professional. Keep cool. The upset customer does not know you. It is not personal.
When you have a tough day at work, you have to find a way to let it go before you get home.
If you are a pain in the neck at home, your family won't want to see you after a workday.
I have been there myself.
My wife, Priscilla, once asked me if I could try making a little magic at home. When my son was 14, he suggested I sit in the hot tub when I get home because everything was fine before I got there.
I needed those reminders. If you let this go on too long, it becomes hard to recover.
You have to be able to lead yourself before you can lead anyone else, whether at home or work.
When you have a tough day at work, you have to find a way to let it go before you get home.
Routine relaxes me. When I was EVP of Walt Disney World, my routine was to workout at the gym between leaving work and arriving home.
Exercise makes you feel better. When you feel better, you act better.
Find an intermission before you arrive home. Maybe a commute is enough of a break if you use it the right way.
Be deliberate. Consider what would make you feel better? What would help you leave a tough day at work so you can let it go before you get home?
You can pre-order Dan Cockerell's book, How's the Culture in Your Kingdom, HERE.
During the Coronavirus Pandemic, many businesses have had to shut down temporarily. As businesses begin to reopen, we have the opportunity to do it the right way.
Don't just open the doors and expect customers to return.
Approach reopening your business like it an entirely new product. Check everything carefully. Talk to your staff for ideas. Start calling customers and ask what concerns they have about reopening.
Customers are individuals and they may have different concerns. You may not be able to address all of them, but if you don't find out what your customers are concerned about you will not be able to address any of them.
As you prepare to reopen our business, customers and employees know everything you need to know before you open the doors again.
Don't reopen your business based on what you want. Open your business on what they want. Check all of your customer's concerns and consider how you have addressed them.
If you are uncertain, go in favor of the customer. In this case, when in doubt, go in favor of safety.
If you are interested in the Time Management Magic workshop being offered in the United Kingdom, you can find more information here.
Leading a remote team for the first time can be a challenge for many people.
If your leadership style is based on face to face interaction, it can leave you feeling disease about not being able to see your team.
Don't stress over it too much. Leading remotely, for the most part, is no different than leading in person.
Be yourself. Pick up the phone. Get on Zoom. Communicate often.
Often, we magnify the problems that come with remote teams. Most people stress about not being in front of the team is because they want to feel important. Not being able to have direct and immediate interaction leaves some leaders feeling less important.
Here are some tips for leading a remote team:
The more you do it the better you will get at it. Everything is hard before it is easy. You can practice with family or friends before you have to have remote meetings for real with your team.
What do you do if you have a negative coworker?
For the most part, I recommend you stay away from negative coworkers. There really is no upside to you spending time with someone like that.
But, if this person is a friend or someone you are willing to help out, then step in and let them know they are damaging their reputation and career.
Keep in mind, any negative culture or environment you spend time in will eventually affect you.
Usually, the problem doesn't have much to do with work. They have something going on in their life that makes them the way they are.
Personally, I enjoy these conversations. It gives me a chance to help someone by having a candid conversation other people may not be willing to have with them.
If you do feel like you can help, sit down with the coworker and be candid. Explain how other people see their attitude and how it affects them. Offer to help. Oftentimes, people who are so negative don't know what is happening. They don't know people are avoiding them because of their attitude.
On this episode of Creating Disney Magic, I answer a listener question that may seem unique, but it is more common than you may think.
A listener told me she is 28 and people think she is a teenager. It creates a challenge at work because people think she is young and therefore inexperienced.
Although you may not have this problem of looking like a teenager, you do have something in common with this listener.
You have a challenge that gets in the way. You hope people don't notice, but they probably will.
Maybe you try to get around it by not talking about it.
Hiding your challenge is not the right approach.
For this podcast listener, people treat her differently because they think she is young. It's not uncommon for people to discriminate against someone for being too young.
Or too old.
People shouldn't focus on age. Young or old. What matters is experience and knowledge.
But sometimes it is to your advantage to bring it up right from the start.
Call out your challenge from the beginning. Deal with it as soon as you can.
When I was younger, I thought people would question my ability because I did not have a college degree. So I brought it out front in the beginning. It allowed me to draw attention to my experience and the positions I held during my career.
If you don't address what people may already be thinking, you may not get the opportunity you are after.
Bringing out the issue upfront will also show people you are not afraid to have a difficult conversation.
Use the situation to help create a personal story of perseverance and overcoming a challenge.
Documenting HR issues is important for you as a leader and your organization as a whole.
When I was at Marriott, I learned how to coach, counsel, and discipline employees. Documenting HR issues was part of the training that stuck with me the rest of my career.
If you have any issue with an employee, you need to build a record of the history of the behavior in case it becomes a problem.
Documentating issue gives you and the employee clarity to what is going on.
Without documentation, both parties may have a different understanding of what the problem is, or if there is even a problem at all.
When you hire new employees, let them know upfront you have a system to document HR issues.
Document not only the issue but the consequences.
And when you document consequences, you have to follow through.
There is one activity every leader should do every day, and it may not be what you think.
In my book, The Customer Rules, Rule #15 is Be Like a Bee.
There is a story behind this rule or customer service.
A girl asked Walt Disney if he was involved in making the movies. Walt explained he was like a bee. He buzzed around the company looking for and spreading new ideas.
What Walt told the young girl is the most important activity for any leader. You need to get out among people and hear their ideas. And help spread those ideas.
If you want to be like a bee, ask more questions. Talk to customers and employees. Departments in your organization may have no idea what other ideas are up to.
Here are some ideas of what questions to ask;
"Why do you do it like this?"
"Do you think there is a better way to do this?"
"Have you ever thought about doing it this way instead?"
"What do you like most about the way we do things?"
"What don't you like?"
"What do you hate to have to say to our customers?"
"If you could change 2 things about how we serve our customers what would they be?"
"What items do you usually run out of?"
"What percentage of our customers are repeat customers and what percentage are one-timers?"
"What else can I do for you?"
Buzz around every day until you find all the issues and uncover all the ideas. Then you can spread ideas, uncover new solutions and pollinate your organization.
When you have free time, what do you do with it?
Too many people let it get away without getting any value from it. But you can use free time to gain an advantage.
There are three ways to consider how you use free time; organizationally, at-work, and personally.
With organizational free time, you can take care of some of the small items you always wish you had time for. You can train employees or work on planning. Free time is a perfect time to work on maintenance items that are harder to do when you are busy; paint buildings inside and out, change lightbulbs and other smaller items you may have let slide.
With your own free time at work, you can clean up your area for starters. But now is also the time to take control of your own career development. What happens next is up to you.
With your personal free time, think about what you can do in the short term to get a long term payoff. Learn a new skill like playing the guitar or speaking a foreign language. Learn something new. Find an online course. Listen to podcasts. If you listen to all of the back episodes of this podcast you will practically have a master's degree in leadership, management, and customer service. There is no upside to sitting on the couch. But also take time to step away from projects and learning. Spend time with your family. You can build memories now that will last a lifetime.
Jeff Noel joins us as a special guest on this episode of Creating Disney Magic.
Jeff is a 30 year Disney veteran. For the last 15 years of his Disney Career, Jeff taught at the Disney Institute.
Now, Jeff is a keynote speaker and helps businesses operate with a little more magic.
Jeff has his own podcast If Disney Ran Your Life. On his podcast, Jeff explains how if Disney ran your life, you would have higher standards and not settle.
Both Jeff and I give examples of what it will be like if you apply Disney principles to your own life.
If you want a great life, you can't ignore anything. At Disney, everything matters. That is how we create magic. It is an attitude.
There is no finish line. You are never done taking care of yourself and improving your life.
Make sure you check out Jeff's podcast and visit Jeff at his website.
Meeting a new team as a leader is your first chance to let people know what it is going to be like to work with you.
When I became the General Manager of a Marriott Hotel, I used the first 30 days to find out what questions people have.
Every day, I walked the hotel and met with every employee. First, at 6 am, I would walk every area of the hotel. Then again at 11 am. Finally, before I left at 5 pm I would walk the hotel one more time. Every day, I saw every employee. And I asked questions about what they needed. When they told me they needed something, I took care of it.
When I became EVP of Walt Disney World, I applied what I learned at Marriott, but with 44,000 cast members and an operation the sie of San Francisco, I could not meet every cast member and see the entire operation every day. But, I did meet some people every day. And I saw some portion of the operation every day.
And I made myself available to answer questions and meet with people.
Don't get overwhelmed by the idea of meeting with everyone. Focus on one person at a time.
Meet with an employee. Find out about their career and their family life. Get to know the person before you get to know their work.
Ask people, "what can I do for you to make your job easier?"
Your new team is not looking for giant changes or big leaps of progress. They want a little bit of help. They want you to remove barriers so they can do their job. Now, you have to find out what those barriers are so you can remove them.
Whether you use a paper planner or a digital planner, you are going to have notes and other items you will need to keep that don't go into your planner.
It can be a challenge to keep all of your notes in order and organized so you have them when you need them.
In this episode of Creating Disney Magic, I offer some suggestions and ideas on how you can keep your notes and other vital information managed and organized so you have them where you need them when you need them.
As with any system, you have to work it until it works for you.
You can also find additional tools like Dropbox, Google Calendar, Slack, Trello, Evernote or others to help find the right processes for your system.
On this special episode of Creating Disney Magic, Dan Cockerell, my son and former VP of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World joins me to talk about how to handle a crisis.
Here are four steps to keep in mind while dealing with a crisis:
Safety First. Before anything else, the safety of employees, customers, and yourself comes before anything else.
Deal with the Facts. During a crisis people get emotional. People speculate and gossip. You should deal only with the facts when you communicate with people.
Be Empathetic. Everybody is dealing with a crisis in different ways for different reasons. Understand people are worried.
Use the situation to get better. You and your organization can learn plenty from a crisis. Use it as a training opportunity.
During my time as EVP of Walt Disney World, we had to shut down the parks due to hurricanes and 9/11.
During a crisis, your culture is on show for everyone to see. Your actions should match your words. What you say doesn’t build a culture. Culture is built through actions.
You don't have to be a supervisor to influence positive change in your organization.
At Disney, there are hourly employees who have influence over decisions from management.
If you want to influence positive change you need to begin by having a spirit of serving.
If people trust you then you will gain some influence. When people want to work with you, you can have more influence on what happens.
Positive changes begin with our attitude. Have a positive attitude so people want to work with you. Then you can introduce ideas on how to make things better.
Don't wait for people to be nice before you are nice to them.
One question you can ask today to help you influence positive change is, "what more can I do for you?" Be sincere and help and you will begin to see the organization change around you.
Every business gets an unexpected rush of customers.
You have seen this either as a customer or in your own organization.
How often in these situations are you left wondering what is going on? Most of the time, this is what happens.
Too many customers leave staff unable to deal with the rush. The line builds up and customers get frustrated.
Don't act like nothing is happening. The best thing you can do is acknowledge what is happening. As a customer comes in, greet them and set the expectation on when you will be able to serve them.
Keep people informed, let them know you are busy and you will be with them as soon as possible.
Be polite, profesional and cureous.
Never let a customer wonder what is going on. Tell them upfront about what is happening.
And when they get their turn, provide service so good they will feel it was worth the wait.
You can also take steps to prepare ahead so you are not impacted as bad by an unexpected customer rush. Make sure you have supplies stocked and ready to go to lessen the impact on staff. Tell the staff what shortcuts, if any, are acceptable during customer rushes. Seconds matter to customers so you may be willing to take some shortcuts. And you can never go wrong by making sure you have a great product and great service.
Layoffs are not easy for anyone, no matter which side you are on.
When I worked at Marriott in Philadelphia, I had to lay off 10% of our staff. It was the first time I had to do this.
Every person I had to lay off I knew personally. It was heartbreaking for me to have to impact them and their families.
Employees who are left behind also feel the pain. They have seen it happen and it erodes trust and impacts the culture of the organization.
When you have to lay off employees, help them however you can. Be available personally. Offer references. As an organization, offer help with the transition, such as resume services, counseling, severance packages.
If you get laid off, -develop your skills. Learn as much as you can. Make yourself a good prospect for another company. If you work long enough, you will have something like a layoff impact your career.
Leadership is leadership no matter where you find it.
A podcast listener wrote in with a question about how leadership looks different in a school versus leadership in a business.
Good question with a simple answer. Leadership is leadership no matter where you find it.
The words you use may be different, but leadership is the same in a school setting.
A Principal sets the standards and teachers carry out the standards and expectations.
Appreciation, recognition, and encouragement.
Hire the right people. Train them. And treat them right.
Management techniques may change over time, but leadership will always stay the same.
Leadership is about influence, attitude, making people feel respected and special.
A good leader in education would be a good leader in business. Leadership is leadership.
Whether you work in a school, a drug store, a movie theater, or a factory making widgets, it is never about the product. It is always about the people.
"The biggest obstacle to thriving is arriving"
Once you accomplish something big, do you keep pushing to get better? Or do you settle in?
You can do more than you are currently doing in your life. If you want to.
Don't try to be the best. Just try to be better every day.
The ability to push through obstacles and resistance is how you get ahead in life.
If you let something derail you, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Get better every day by learning something you did not know yesterday. Help someone you did not help yesterday.
If you know more, you can help other people now more.
If you are nicer, you can help someone have a better day.
Every day, I try to be better and do more than I did the day before. Can I serve someone better? Can I reach out to more people? Can my next podcast be better? Can I be a better role model?
Most of your satisfaction will come from people appreciating you, not how much money you make.
We often fall in love with our own ideas.
When we have time and money invested in an idea, it becomes hard to walk away.
But if you have been doing it for a while and it is not working, it is probably not going to work.
Rethink how you are doing things. What do you have going on that is not working right now?
I admit, guys tend to be stubborn about hanging onto ideas, even if they are no longer working.
One of the best ways to examine your ideas is to get experts around you. Sit in a room with a mastermind group, talk to employees and customers, work with someone who knows more than you do. Make sure you are not sticking to an idea that no longer works.