Mickey Mouse Service
Service, Disney Style
Saturday, June 26, 2004 -- ALA Orlando
(Caveat Lector: I know conference news about ALA Orlando has cooled off quite a bit and just about everyone in the libraryiana section of the Blogosphere has had their say. So, I'm going to try to focus on events/issues that, as far as I know, haven't been blogged about. This is one of them.)
Disclaimer: Like a fair number of panels, I arranged late and left before the end. Also, these are hand-written notes made when I was somewhat sleep-deped. The notes are not as comprehensive as I'd like, but I think I got the gist of what was said.
Service, Disney Style featured 2 Disney senior managers (obviously local), one male and the other female (I did not catch their names), who traded off talking points during the presentation and used a multimedia show (video and standard slides).
[Entered in progress]
Know and understand your guests
Recognition of the stereotypes guests bring --
* Disney example: Differing castles at various Disney properties; the castles at Disneyland fit a 1950s American cultural understanding of what a fairy castle should look like -- an understanding that wasn't necessarily shared in the 1970s (when Disney World was built) or by Europeans who were exposed to real-life castles (at Euro Disney). However, Japanese visitors to Disney Tokyo want that 'quintessential' American experience, so the castles there closely resembled the Disneyland ones.
* Library example: the Librarian Action Figure
Promote the positive stereotypes and confront/minimize the negative ones
Understand the emotional connections your guests bring
Disney examples --
* Characters -- guests want, no, NEED to see the characters. Hence they are out front on Main Street just as you enter the park
* How to find your car at Disney World -- working to diffuse a potentially tense situation that would mar the good experience, even if your guests don't expect that of you
Have a service theme (not the same as a mission/vision statement)
Disney's service theme: "We create happiness by providing entertainment to people of all ages everywhere."
Service standards: system of measurement of the theme
Developing service standards requires identification (what are the most important qualities/aspects of our service), definition/questioning (what do we mean when we say "_____"), prioritization (what is the order of important of these qualities), communication (making sure that every member of the organization knows the service theme and the standards).
Delivery systems: how service standards are delivered (i.e. the intersection of assets and access points with the guests)
Assets:
* Human resources -- the front line = the bottom line; seek 'the right fit' - not simply the best available, but the best for the job, period; "Disney traditions" instead of filling out paperwork at orientation; performance training
* Setting -- send the right message; consider the guests' experience; visual & non-visual (aural, olfactory, tactile) details; separate "onstage" from "backstage" (i.e. you don't want your kids running into Snow White on her cigarette break); maintain the setting
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