The Disney Way, Revised Edition : Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company by Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson

Author:Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson [Capodagli, Bill & Jackson, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, General
ISBN: 9780071766814
Google: X-Eqg5OHtbYC
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
Published: 2006-10-19T07:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 8

Practice, Practice, Practice

The growth and development of the Walt Disney Company is directly related to the growth and development of its human resources—our cast.52

Walt Disney

Actors, musicians, athletes, and others who perform in public must train and practice. Otherwise, they risk embarrassing themselves and incurring the displeasure of spectators. Of great importance, too, is the teacher or coach who tells the musician that he or she is hitting the wrong notes or advises the athlete about batting stance, running form, and so on. Without such helpful criticism and the benefit of the more experienced mentor’s knowledge, a performer’s career is likely to be short-lived.

So it is in business. To perform at their best, a company’s employees must be thoroughly trained, and they need the help of more experienced staff members. Moreover, to maintain their competencies, training can’t be a one-shot thing; it must be ongoing.

Perhaps because of his background as an artist, Walt Disney fully understood the essential part that training and practice play in the development of an individual’s talents. Add in his well-known penchant for perfection, and it’s hardly surprising that he adamantly insisted on rigorous and continuous training for all of his “cast members.” After all, common sense dictates that everyone, from the backstage crew to the performers out front, must be thoroughly rehearsed in order to put on the really “good show.” But like so much else at the company Walt built, training takes on a special quality not found at most other organizations. Disney even devotes an entire “university” to it.

The students of Disney University enjoy the most exciting campus of any educational institution in the country: Over 29,000 acres of Disneyland and Walt Disney World and anywhere else the company operates. The required course work is brief, but it’s famous for its intensity. The freshmen are all new members of the Disney family: Some are there to prepare for a summer job; others are being readied to assume a permanent position.

Disney University—a process, not an institution—was conceived by Walt Disney himself prior to the opening of Disneyland in the 1950s. Today, every new employee, from senior executives to part-time desk clerks and tour guides, is required to undergo training prior to embarking on her or his day-to-day responsibilities. And in typical Disney fashion, the training process leaves nothing to chance, not only imparting knowledge about specific job skills and competencies, but also, and perhaps more important, ensuring that every employee has a thorough understanding of the Disney culture and traditions.

Thus, what is euphemistically called “human resources” at many organizations—which view training as no more than an expensive but sometimes necessary evil—is given top priority in the Disney universe. That’s because Walt considered training an essential investment in the future of his company.

Obviously, not every organization has access to the facilities and resources that comprise Disney University, but every organization can adopt the attitude that underlies the Disney approach to training and developing its culture. For principal Jan Drees of the Downtown School

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