The “Disney U” model to serving customers

When Boomers are asked, “what is one of the strongest brands names in the world, Disney always ranks at the top.?The question is “Why?”?Yes, travel to one of their theme parks is magical regardless of your age.?But would it be as magical if Donald Duck walked right past your child and ignored them??What if you saw trash blowing around the park??What if you saw Pluto take off his head and take a smoke break??Would it still be magical at that point??Obviously not.

Creating the?happiest place on earth?takes work and that is where Disney University comes in.?Anyone who has ever been to a Disney park or event knows what to expect.?The employees, called “cast members” are always friendly and courteous.?The area is spotless, and any messes are immediately addressed.?

You might think that it is easy to find great employees to staff and run the parks but Disney, like every other company in the world has experienced its staffing issues as well.?Disney parks may be magical but running them isn’t.?It takes work – hard work.?When Disneyworld opened in the early 70’s it started with 5,500 cast members and quickly grew to over 10,000 in a couple of years.?Running the park was a 24/7/365 operation, there was no downtime and after just a little while, cast members were exhausted. The annual rate of cast member turnover exceeded 80% - dismal by even senior living standards.?

The leaders at Disney had to change or the park may be doomed to fail.?One of the most visible and enduring changes was the creation of Disney University.?Disney has gone to great lengths to develop and reinforce a culture where all cast members are totally committed to their jobs while they are at work.?Once hired, Disney spends a lot of time with each employee before they ever come in contact with a guest at the park.??Disney cast members do not simply go through a four-hour orientation covering the history and spout off some platitudes about dealing with guests.?They attend Disney University and they instill in cast members these four priorities for dealing with any issue at the park –?Safety, Courtesy, Experience, Efficiency.

Over the next few days I will be expanding on how these four principles or priorities can help your senior living organization meet your resident where they want to be and help them choose you as their home for the rest of their lives.