Sales Leadership: What is your training plan?
Learn from “Disney U”
As a sales manager one of your responsibilities is to develop the professionalism of your sales team. After reading “Disney U“, How the Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer Centric Employees, you will come aware with a notebook filled with ideas to improve your employee development. Published by McGraw Hill, the author: Doug Lipp lived the experience and gives us the inside stories that back up the results.
The book provides you insights into the genius of Walt Disney, but also the other people in the organization that brought their vision and dedication to make Disney U the exciting and valuable part of the Disney organization. Each chapter breaks down various subjects with excellent summaries that you can turn into action steps for your own organization. While reading the book I picked up the various “mantra’s” that drove the development of Disney U.
- Management must be diligent or the show will deteriorate.
- Management must be diligent or the cast will deteriorate.
- Note: Show/Cast those terms refer to show=customer experience, cast=employees.
The interesting aspect of the book is the impact Disney U had on the entire organization; it is looked upon by management not as a training department but an element of the organization that IMPACTS the culture, operations and performance. The chapter: Capture Hearts and Minds
mentioned four questions that relate to a focus on the entire organization:
Is innovation encouraged?
Is organizational support found at every level?
Is employee education valued and nonnegotiable?
Is entertainment incorporated into training & education initiatives?
Lastly, Van Johnson, the person responsible for building and leading Disney U opened the chapter on: The Language of Success: My basic story is about the two men laying bricks. When asked what he is doing, one man says, “I’m laying bricks.” The other man performing the same task says, “I’m building a cathedral”. Van went on: “I have found that most people want to be involved in something greater than just being paid for a job.”
The question is: What are you doing to not only train people on your products/services but to truly build a team that excels in all aspects of representing your firm? Ask me for a copy of: Building Belief for a few ideas. [email protected]
