Why do you do it this way?When I give speeches and workshops, I’m usually introduced as the man who ran Disney World operations for ten years. Then the person introducing me talks about how I oversaw the forty thousand cast members (employees) responsible for keeping Disney World’s numerous hotels, theme parks, golf courses, shopping and entertainment centers, and sports complex humming. Inevitably, I’m then asked, “How did you keep track of everything?” The fact of the matter is that I had no idea what was going on in each and every corner of that vast enterprise—how could I? What I did know, at all times, was this: I could trust the many highly competent people who reported to me to know exactly what was going on in their areas of responsibility. My job was not to know every single thing that was happening; it was to buzz around helping every one of those executives, managers, and frontline people perform just a little better every day.
In doing so, I took inspiration from the following story about the company’s founder. A little girl visiting Disneyland once asked Walt Disney if he still drew Mickey Mouse. Walt replied that he no longer drew the characters he created.
“Do you still write stories?” she asked.
Walt said, “No, I don’t write stories anymore, either.”
“Then what do you do?” asked the perplexed girl.
Walt paused for a moment, then explained: “I’m like a bee that flits from flower to flower, taking a little pollen here and a little pollen there, and I build up all the honey in the honeycomb.” He meant that he buzzed around the Disney facilities, pollinating the imagination of every employee to help them become more creative and more productive.
This is a good rule for managers who want to improve customer service in their team, department, or company. If you want your business to thrive in a competitive environment, you need to make sure things are constantly improving, day in and day out. I learned early in my career that you can improve only some things by yourself, but you can move mountains if you spread that positive intention to everyone in your domain. Military people call this a “force multiplier”; Walt Disney used the phrase “plus it up.” Whatever you call it, imagine what great service you could deliver if everyone in your beehive was in the habit of gathering and spreading good ideas to improve performance.
Just as nature is doomed without busy bees pollinating the flowers, organizations are doomed without leaders who pollinate the minds of their employees and without employees who pollinate the minds of their colleagues. But there’s one difference: For bees, pollinating is a seasonal job; for those who want to constantly improve the service their teams or employees deliver, it’s a daily responsibility. They have to wake up every morning ready to pollinate. The longer I spent in executive positions, the more I came to think that my main responsibility was to connect with as many employees as I could and offer up as many ideas as possible about how to make things better. Sometimes my suggestions were spot-on; other times they were way off the mark. But either way, the conversation stimulated fresh thinking, promoted questioning, and inspired everyone around me to come up with better ways to do things.
As you buzz around your organization, don’t just tell people what’s wrong with the status quo. Faultfinding is unhelpful if your aim is to spread the habit of creative thinking. Instead, focus on how things might be better. But don’t just flat-out tell people how to improve things. Instead, ask. Those on the front lines delivering service will come up with better ideas than you can if you give them the freedom to think and express themselves without fear.
When I got to Disney World, I had a lot of experience in the hospitality industry but zero experience in theme parks, outside of visiting a couple with my family. So I asked lots of questions that must have seemed dumb to the people working for me. But this turned out to be a blessing. I didn’t get stuck in the rut of “This is how it’s done,” because I didn’t know how it was done. And my ignorance gave those who did know the confidence and courage to offer up ideas.
This is a useful strategy for any manager to adopt, no matter how much experience you have and no matter how much know-how you’ve acquired over the course of your career. Expertise is a great and valuable thing, but it can also stifle innovative thinking. “Because it’s always been done that way” is about the worst answer possible to the question “Why do we do it that way?”
I admit that not everyone appreciated having me buzz around their areas, asking how we could improve things. But I was persistent, and eventually I wore down the resistance with my enthusiasm and my sincere respect for the employees’ expertise. Here are some of the questions I would ask people when I dropped by to pollinate their work areas. I highly recommend that you adapt them as appropriate to your business and job responsibilities.
Why do you do it this way?
Do you think there’s a better way?
Have you ever thought of doing it this way instead?
What do your customers like most about the way things are done?
What do they not like?
What do you hate having to say to customers?
If you could change two things about the way we currently serve customers, what would they be?
You might also come with a prepared list of questions specific to each area. For example:
What is the average customer waiting time at peak hours?
What items do you frequently run out of?
How many customers do you serve in an average morning, as compared with the afternoon?
Is there any way we can increase those numbers?
How many of those customers leave satisfied?
What percentage of the customers you see are one-timers, and what percentage return repeatedly?
How can we use your time productively when business is light?
Questions like these may never get asked unless you ask them, and every one of them—and countless others—can lead to creative ways to make things better. The more you learn, the more ideas you’ll have. And this kind of inquiry costs nothing but time, and it will pay off in employee confidence and initiative.
You might also “plus it up” by bringing all the bees together from time to time to reload their imaginations. Schedule regular idea-sharing sessions, perhaps weekly or monthly. Some of the ideas you generate might not be relevant at that time or not yet fleshed out enough to be practical. Write down anything that might be remotely useful and put the collection of ideas in a file. You never know what will prove valuable later on. Sometimes the best solutions arise when seemingly unrelated ideas come together in unexpected ways.
Remember, whatever your position in the company, you are both the bee and the flower. Both roles are vital, and they are intertwined. The more you allow yourself to be pollinated, the better you’ll be at pollinating others. Even if you’re not a manager, you can pollinate your workplace with inspiration and ideas. No matter your role or title, if you want to provide better customer service, start buzzing around looking for better ways to do things. Remember, it is never too late to get better.