Creating Disney Magic

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**Creating Disney Magic**

Lee Cockerell shares his wisdom and experience from his time as the Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World. Along with host Jody Maberry, Lee discusses how you can apply lessons in leadership, management, and customer service to create magic in your organization.

Latest Episodes:

Use Free Time to Gain an Advantage Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

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.

If Disney Ran Your Life Mar 31, 2020

Show notes

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.

How to Introduce Yourself to a New Team Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

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.

How to Manage and Organize Your Notes Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

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.

How to Handle a Crisis Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

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.

Influencing Positive Change in Your Organization Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

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.

How to Handle an Unexpected Customer Rush Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

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.

How to Handle Layoffs Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

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 Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

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.

You Can do More than You Did Today Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

"The biggest obstacle to thriving is arriving"

- Dan Miller

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.

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