The Walt Disney empire is a great example of how an organization continues to analyze and improve their internal processes to provide a more seamless experience for their guests. Actually, Walt Disney was actively using mind mapping and LEAN leadership techniques well-before they were even defined.
Today, Disney continues to put a strong emphasis on providing a seamless customer experience, and it is all defined how they continue to improve their business processes behind the scenes. Through their Disney Institute training courses for business professions, they focus on this key Disney business insight: The processes and policies you design are foundational to the service you will eventually deliver. They seek to share what successful process techniques they have instilled in their own business to other organizations.
The Disney Institute has worked with a lot of well-known brands on improving what may seem like a simple process to improve their overall customer or internal experience. One example of an interesting case study I found was with the well known ice cream brand, Häagen-Dazs and a challenge they experienced internally.
Identified Problem: Häagen-Dazs employees did not appreciate the brand’s heritage.
Process to Improve: Häagen-Dazs wanted to implement a new training and brand-awareness program but many employees were either inexperienced or new hires lacking motivation. Leadership knew they needed to have employee engagement for a new program to be successful.
The Disney Institute Approach: After consulting with Häagen-Dazs team, they recommended a series of programs which included content from their quality service and employee engagement plans.
What Häagen-Dazs Discovered: Leadership realized they needed to focus on overall company training for all employees. They introduced a program similar to Disney that shared company history, culture and management expectations early-on.
Process Improvement Results: Häagen-Dazs reported higher sales revenue, rise in growth, increased customer approval and greater employee satisfaction.
As I look more into the details of the Disney programs that include quality service and employee engagement training, it seems they break down process improvement, architect systems, service breakdowns, service delivery techniques and strategies to improve work culture.
I can’t find if Disney recommends or conducts a LEAN rollout necessarily or kaizen events. In the Häagen-Dazs case, I would see that a 5-day kaizen event would also be extremely beneficial to learn more about where the breakdowns are in the organization that creates a low morale and low employee engagement environment. It would provide leadership an inside look at where employees aren’t being educated about the brand and how to improve any processes that may lack consistent work culture. But what Disney provided this brand seemed to provide real results.
Disney Institute says it all:
“When an organization puts the customer at its core—empowering its people and unifying its processes—outstanding customer service becomes possible on a consistent basis, from the first greeting to the final meeting.”
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