Top 10 Take Aways From Attending Disney's Approach to Quality Service Course

Recently, I attended the Disney Institute's course: Disney's Approach To Quality Service. This multi-day course presented Disney's world-famous customer service philosophy and program to participants from all over the world. This course is one of three offered by the Disney Institute. The other two are Disney's Approach to Leadership Excellence and Disney's Approach to Employee Engagement.

The course was taught by members of the Disney Institute who are former leaders in other aspects of the company. For this course, the two instructors had a background in resort leadership at Walt Disney World. As such, the lessons were often supported by personal experiences that highlighted the concepts in the course.

In a very broad sense, the course focused on Disney's approach to designing, delivering, and recovering both internal (cast members/employees) and external (guests) customer service. This included a deep dive into Disney's 5 keys for delivering the Disney experience: Safety, Courtesy, Inclusion, Show, and Efficiency. There were also daily field trips into one of the four Walt Disney World Parks to see the lessons from the course in action.

The entire experience was transformative. The lessons learned have relevance in any industry - and even for one's personal life. Even participants who may not have been Disney stands were amazed at the thoroughness of the course's design and delivery. In every aspect of the experience, my expectations were exceeded, and I have found myself rereading the course manual and reflecting on my time daily.

With my preamble completed, I thought it might be helpful to share my Top 10 Take Aways from the event. These are my notes, not necessarily specific items from the course (though there are many similar points).

10.

Inclusion impacts every other aspect of service standards. Inclusion allows everyone to belong and, thus, allows for everyone to feel valued and welcomed.

9.    

Crafting a culture of excellent service must be intentional and strategic.

8.    

The processes by which excellent service is delivered is under your control and is about more than just people.

7.    

A process without alignment to a greater purpose is bound to fail to achieve excellent service.

6.    

Outstanding service is about more than needs and wants. It is also (and often more about) awareness of stereotypes and emotions.

5.    

The transaction allows us the opportunity to be transformative.

4.    

We don't get to decide when our guest's "magical moment" may happen, so we need to prepare for every moment to be the "magical moment."

3.    

There is a big difference between commitment and compliance.

2.    

Standards to deliver a great guest experience need to be teachable, observable, coachable, and those delivering them need to be held accountable.

1.    

Recovery begins with intentionally listening and empathetic apologies.

Have you had a Disney Institute experience? Want to share your thoughts?  Feel free to leave a comment or send us an email at disneyassembled@gmail.com.

For more information about the Disney Institute, including how to register for one of their courses, can be found on their website.

Thanks for reading, and...

See you real soon!

Troy