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:

Don't Stay Where You Are Not Appreciated Apr 30, 2019

Show notes

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.

Time is Not on Your Side Apr 23, 2019

Show notes

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.

Attack the Problem Not the Person Apr 16, 2019

Show notes

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.

How to Train Staff With a Limited Budget Apr 09, 2019

Show notes

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.

How to Train Staff With a Limited Budget Apr 09, 2019

Show notes

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?

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

-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.

Why You Shouldn't Get Ready for an Important Guest Apr 02, 2019

Show notes

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.

Make Yourself Available to Staff Mar 26, 2019

Show notes

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.

Why Every Organization Should Use Cross-Training Mar 19, 2019

Show notes

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.

Keep Track of Your Problems So You Can Fix Them Mar 12, 2019

Show notes

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 the CEO Always Need to Be in the Office? Mar 05, 2019

Show notes

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.