CQIN
CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT NETWORK
Walt Disney World
Orlando, Florida
CQIN, the Continuous Quality Improvement Network, was founded by CEOs of institutions of higher education and business. A decade old, CQIN assists CEOs with organization transformation, including sharing innovative ideas and initiatives; sharing materials, successes, challenges and failures; and networking with groups outside education for mutual exchange of ideas and practices. As part of this venture, CQIN conducts workshops and institutes in the furtherance of its goals.
Each year CQIN members attend an institute at some location where innovation and organizational transformation is the norm. Last year, CQIN members and participants visited the Saturn car manufacturing facility. This year, the institute was held at Walt Disney World. Next year, CQIN will visit the Dallas area to look at a variety of innovative organizations there. While planning is still in its preliminary stages, both Texas Instruments and Southwest Airlines are being sought as visitation locations.
A year ago, Larry Calderón, President of Ventura College, joined CQIN. This spring, Phil Westin, Chancellor of VCCD, joined. At its CEO meeting on August 6 in Orlando, CQIN accepted Jim Walker, President of Moorpark College, as a new member. Steve Arvizu, President of Oxnard College, is working on a membership application at present. Since both Moorpark and Oxnard expressed a desire to become part of CQIN, the organization allowed Phil Westin to sponsor under his membership teams from those two locations. This permitted all four locations—DO, MC, OC, and VC—to attend the summer institute.
Each CEO appointed a CQIN representative who functioned as team leader for the Summer Institute. Each location created a team to join the CEO and team leader at the Institute. Those teams were:
District
Office
CEO: Phil Westin
Representative: Cheryl Shearer
Team: Marion Boenheim, Pat Kistler, Irene Pinkard, Shelley Signor, Eileen Welser
Moorpark College
CEO: Jim Walker
Representative: Elton Hall
Team: Floyd Martin, Maureen Solheim, Diane Sukiennik
Oxnard College
CEO: Steven Arvizu
Representative: Carmen Guerrero-Calderón
Team: Mary Jones, Priscilla Partridge de Garcia, Bob Reeves
Ventura College
CEO: Larry Calderón
Representative: Diane Moore
Team: Nancy Latham, Angie Marquez, Alma Rodriguez, Tom Roe
The theme of the Summer Institute 2000 was “People Management: Reinforcing the Right Culture,” focusing on organizational culture as consciously defined by Walt Disney World. The elements of that culture are selection, training, communication and care.
The CEOs met in February 2000 to plan for the Summer Institute in Orlando. At the end of March and beginning of April, the representatives traveled to Orlando to get intensive training in the institute program and to familiarize themselves with the area so that they could shepherd their teams through the summer learning experience.
Over the summer, CQIN teams met several times to plan for the summer institute. CQIN provided materials for study and planning, the CCVC teams met as a whole twice in the summer, and each location held its own planning meetings. Each team member was asked to complete an organizational survey that addressed issues of culture, including selection, training, communication and care in CCVC’s diverse locations. Then the teams met together, discussed their findings, and produced average scores for each location.
The scoring, on a scale of 1 to 5, used the following rating:
1.5-2.6 This is an area in which improvement is needed.
2.7-3.6 This is an area of moderate performance that could be turned into a strength with some effort.
3.7-5.0 This is an area of strength in the organization.
This survey was a two-stage, self-perception survey. Team members shared their individual perceptions in the defined areas; then the teams developed an average team score for each area.
The results of this self-perception survey are tabulated below.
CCVC CULTURE SURVEY RESULTS
Note: DO and OC results are rounded off to the nearest tenth of a point (to conform to MC and VC calculations).
|
Area |
District Office |
Moorpark |
Oxnard |
Ventura |
Comments |
|
Culture |
2.2 |
3.3 |
2.0 |
2.2 |
|
|
Selection |
2.5 |
3.6 |
2.4 |
3.4 |
|
|
Orientation |
2.5 |
2.3 |
1.3 |
2.3 |
All need improvement |
|
Training |
1.6 |
2.0 |
1.5 |
1.8 |
All need improvement |
|
Communication |
2.2 |
3.2 |
3.0 |
1.9 |
|
|
Care |
2.7 |
3.6 |
3.0 |
3.4 |
|
The CQIN 2000 Summer Institute was held at the Swan Hotel, Orlando, Florida, August 5-9, 2000. Centered around the theme People Management: Reinforcing the Right Culture Through the Right People, the Institute focused on streamlining, enhancing and humanizing all aspects of human resources. Although the entertainment industry as a whole has an annual employee turnover rate of over 70% a year, Walt Disney World, Inc., maintains a turnover rate of about 17%, a remarkable feat in the industry. The corporation attributes much of this success to the way it has developed and handles human resources from recruitment and hiring through training, cross-training, continuous evaluation, good communications, and employee development.
The learning objectives of the Institute were:
1. To increase understanding of the importance of integrating and reinforcing the components of a desired culture throughout the operations of an organization by learning about the Walt Disney World approach to people management.
2. To increase understanding of the strategies and tactics for reinforcing the desired culture in major areas/components of operations by learning about the Walt Disney approach to hiring, training, communication and care.
3. To increase understanding of possible applications of strategies and tools for reinforcing a desired culture in a college or other organization by learning about the strategies of Walt Disney World and other CQIN colleges.
A quick review of the learning objectives will provide clues to the focus of this Institute and the purposes of CQIN itself. Walt Disney World, the organization under review at this Institute, has quite consciously and deliberately defined a culture for itself. Its human resources operations have been designed to nurture, exhibit, maintain and reinforce that culture. CQIN itself serves as a meeting point were colleges can come together and share their best practices and successes in the higher education mission. The Institute allowed colleges to see what Walt Disney World has done and to filter those discoveries through the sieve of higher education goals and purposes to see what, if anything, would be of practical use to colleges.
August 5 was a travel day. For those coming from the West Coast, most arrived in late afternoon and early evening. California Community Colleges joining CCVC were El Camino College, Cuesta College, Mt. San Antonio College, and the Contra Costa Community College District. Community colleges from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Illinois were also part of the Institute.
August 6 saw presentations from Walt Disney World on “People Management, Disney Style,” and “Establishing Your Culture.” Individuals associated with the Disney Institute conducted these sessions. The Disney Institute provides a number of services for the corporation and for the larger world. Internally, the Institute assists employees in training for advancement in the corporation, cross-training for different positions within the corporation (an option employees are encouraged to exercise, since the Disney culture is sensitive to the “burn out” that comes from doing the same job endlessly), and general educational skills that employees need and can use. Externally, the Disney Institute provides programs such as the one for the CQIN Summer Institute, demonstrates its workings for other corporations, and hosts civic planners from communities all over the world. Walt Disney World employs about 57,000 people and the entertainment complex, including hotels and campgrounds, covers dozens of square miles. It is a city within itself, and many communities, both smaller and larger, have studied Walt Disney World for ideas in civil engineering, civic planning, and city management.
The operative spirit of human resources is captured in a quotation from Walt Disney that is found everywhere: “You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people the make the dream a reality.”
The presentation on “People Management, Disney Style” centered on the formula
Selection + Training + Communication + Care = Culture
The root idea is reinforcing culture continually, through
ü Selecting right-fit talent
ü Training for consistent quality
ü Communicating to inform and inspire
ü Creating an environment of care
From the Walt Disney World perspective, the culture has to be a world culture, because the corporation operates globally. In its view, both the organization and its employees must be deeply aware of the elements involved in a culture that (1) is consciously developed, (2) is consciously maintained, and (3) is consciously transmitted to those who enter it. Those elements of culture that Walt Disney World has identified as constituting an organizational culture are:
ü Language and Symbols
ü Heritage and Traditions
ü Shared Values
ü Quality Standards
ü Metaphors and Legends
ü Traits and Behaviors
Every corporation has a culture, and whatever the details, every culture is one of two types:
Either:
· One that works
· One that is established by design
· One that is clear and well-defined by the organization
Or:
· One that works against you
· One that just happens
· One that is vague and open to individual interpretations
The consciously designed culture of Walt Disney World is centered around the idea of performance and entertainment. This is not surprising, since the corporation is an entertainment industry. For example, its employees are all referred to as cast members, whether they are “on stage” dealing with the public or “off stage” maintaining the grounds, supplies, rides, cleanliness, etc. The human relations office is known as Central Casting.
A potential employee may walk into Central Casting because of a job announcement in the local paper, or a potential employee may find out about open positions by calling a telephone Jobline. Either way, an interested individual schedules an interview. Before doing any paperwork, however, the potential employee comes to Central Casting and watches a film about the corporation, including its values and expectations of all employees. If still interested, the potential employee then fills out an application and engages in a face-to-face interview with an individual. This approach aims to accomplish three things: (1) to allow the potential employee to opt out of the process without embarrassment or chagrin; (2) to show the potential employee the basic conditions of employment (which includes a code of appearance) so the applicant knows from the start what is expected; and (3) to determine the “right fit”—that is, to fit the potential employee to a job that makes use of the applicant’s skills, experience, interests and enthusiasm. Walt Disney World has found that those who decide that employment in the corporation is not for them can opt out of this process and go away happy. Because the process was friendly and allowed them to make the choice to exit the hiring process, they often refer others to the corporation for possible employment and sometimes return at a later date to gain employment for themselves.
The interview in this process is crucial, because it allows the applicant to see exactly what the job is, and it allows the corporation to fit talent to job. (Jobs are called ‘roles’ in keeping with the corporation’s theme and language.) The interview is highly structured, and the interview questions were developed through a process of assessing employees (cast members) who were identified as exemplary and through distilling the competencies they exhibited. In this way, the best employees drive the mechanism for future hiring.
Once an employee (cast member) is hired, a threefold career-long training program begins, consisting of (1) orientation prior to taking up a job (role), (2) on-the-job training, and (3) ongoing training.
Orientation involves spending two days (with pay) with other new employees learning the traditions of Walt Disney World. The goals of the traditions program are:
ü Introduction and acclimation to the culture of the corporation
ü Introduction to and perpetuation of the corporation’s language and symbols, heritage and traditions, quality standards, values, and traits and behaviors
ü Generation of enthusiasm for working in the corporation
ü Introduction to core safety regulations
In a consciously developed culture, job training must include these items. Each new employee is shown how his or her first job fits into the corporation as a whole and how it relates directly to serving the customer. The aim is to help the employee see the importance of his or her work in terms of the whole and to support and value the employee for that work from the first day on the job.
The traditions training includes learning some of the corporation’s heritage and its vision. New employees travel around the corporation to see the kinds of experiences guests are exposed to (theme parks, rides, food, shops, hotels, and other services). They learn how to deal with guests, including the use of voice, gestures, posture, facial expressions and appropriate sense of humor. A special portion of the training focuses on dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds, so that all guests are treated with a uniformly high level of sensitivity and courtesy.
On-the-job training lasts from two days to two weeks, depending on the nature of the job. With the assistance of a trainer who acts as a guide and resource person, the new employee is given time for and direction in gaining the necessary skills for the job, the knowledge required to do the job well, and the attitude that nurtures the service provided by the job. The model used in this process is simple: training teaches skills, communication imparts knowledge, and care influences attitude. On-the-job training is therefore much more than training in a narrow sense. Professionalism involves the whole person, not just a set of skills. Consequently, trainers are themselves trained through Disney Institute workshops, because being able to train others involves its own special set of skills, knowledge and attitude.
Ongoing training occurs at various levels. For all employees, on site classes are offered and employees are encouraged to pursue them. They cover work-related studies, including computer literacy, math, training in regulations, and communications. Degree programs are also offered in partnership with educational institutions. And self-paced learning centers have been established for employees interested in learning skills needed in jobs different from the ones they currently hold.
There is also a “crossroads” program for employees who are considering advancing to leadership positions in the corporation. Within the program, each employee is assigned a mentor. Together they use job performance evaluations, work experience, and goal-setting to develop the employee for leadership.
The Leader’s Pathway program is a required program for all managerial employees. It involves a thorough analysis of what is involved in leadership, responsibilities to employees, understanding of employees and how to work with them to elicit employee satisfaction and high quality work, an a ongoing program of self-evaluation involving a variety of feedback techniques. Leaders create annual performance development plans and are measured annually on these individualized plans.
Other forms of training include job rotation, which can begin a soon as three months after initial employment, and is encouraged (though not required) to add variety to an employee’s work experience and to provide the opportunity to learn new jobs and skills. Employees may voluntarily seek lateral movement in the corporation, because such experience is relevant to management development and to collaborative relations between departments. And job shadowing is used to promote communication and mutual understanding. During peak seasons, managers and office personnel join the “front lines” in serving guests, not just to meet the needs of fluctuating numbers of guests, but also to stay closely in touch with the roles played by front line employees. And task forces are developed to implement new ideas. Being part of a task force may require part or all of an employee’s time during the existence of the task force.
Because of the size and complexity of Walt Disney World, communication between all segments of the organization is essential, from changes in job assignments and work schedules, to changing jobs within the corporation, and from changing procedures to announcing when a parade will occur, and on and on.
Communication has been developed at two levels, centralized and decentralized. There are communication centers where employees can monitor an electronic bulletin board, pick up a house phone and dial a department, collect brochures and weekly newsletters, gather electronic mail, review jobs postings, and get quarterly booklets of corporation statistics. The decentralized communication system includes beepers and radios, electronic bulletin boards, break room displays, management by walking around, interdisciplinary management meetings, open-door policies, special events for employees, roundtables, suggestion cards and boxes, and periodic excellence surveys.
Employees need to care for guests in many ways. Walt Disney World holds that the best way to teach and reinforce the kind of care required for a successful enterprise is to care for employees and help them learn to care for one another. A fundamental rule of the corporation is that employees are to treat one another exactly the way they are to treat guests. Caring for employees requires a supportive environment and frequent recognition.
To achieve a high level of care, cast (employee) activities and services have the following objectives:
ü Maximizing employee work experience
ü Meeting day-to-day needs of employees
ü Improving morale and loyalty
ü Promoting group activities among employees
ü Improving teamwork
ü Creating a sense of belonging to a family
ü Maintaining a personal touch
Included in the activities and services designed to meet these objectives are in house services such as check cashing, discounts, film processing, notary services, postage stamps. The corporation has also created facilities exclusively for employees’ use, including sports fields, swimming pool and lake, boat rentals, and holiday events like picnics. Also included are a series of special events for employees and their partners, from film premiers to sports events to holiday celebrations, clubs and tournaments.
Employee recognition includes awards, pins, public recognition, recognition breakfasts and banquets, a partnership in excellence program that includes trophies, departmental awards, and, in some cases, paid vacation at a resort, a holiday gift, and various tickets of admission.
In the afternoon, Sheila Smith, a performer in several Disney shows and a Disney Institute Trainer, explained and illustrated ways in which the corporation’s language, symbols and stories are used to introduce new employees to Walt Disney World and to instill the Disney traditions in them from day one. In addition to making clear the values and expectations of Walt Disney World, this process contains many illustrative tips on dealing with guests in a positive manner and shows how ongoing evaluation is aimed not to punish but to improve performance. A crucial feature of the traditions program teaches new employees areas in which they are expected to exercise initiative and judgment and how they are rewarded for doing so.
A small group activity centered around the theme “Establishing Your Culture” focused on ways community colleges and districts could nurture a consciously defined culture.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in an all-CCVC team meeting. CCVC participants decided by consensus to apply the main components of the Disney learning experience to five areas:
ü Selection
ü Orientation
ü Communication
ü Training
ü Care
Among questions to be addressed in the application of this learning are:
q What is CCVC culture as it is?
q How do we design improvements?
q How do we implement needed improvements?
These questions are fundamental to conscious culture change, itself the basis of organizational transformation.
The evening was devoted to self-selected small group activities. Each participant had been given a set of guidelines for observing the Disney approach in action at restaurants, amusement rides, shops, shows, and infrastructure. Everyone was encouraged to look for ways the traditions training showed up in employee behavior, including instances where the training seemed to have failed. Since all transportation throughout the Walt Disney World complex is free—including regularly running buses and trams—many participants had much to say about the transportation system. The majority of drivers, conductors and guides were helpful, friendly and outgoing, though a few found their drivers to be tired and taciturn.
August 7 began with a field experience. CQIN participants boarded buses and were given a behind-the-scenes view of some parts of Walt Disney World, including the horticulture and laundry facilities, the waterways, canals and flood control system, and the “tunnels” beneath the Magic Kingdom. The one feature that stood out most prominently is the way all aspects of each operation had been carefully thought out and planned before being implemented or constructed. For example,
ü The canal system preserved the original and natural waterway system of this area of Florida; special mechanized dams were built to control the flow of water to prevent flooding, and to keep water in constant circulation to reduce the incidence of mosquitoes (which breed in stagnant water). Over the last decade, Walt Disney World has successfully introduced organic ways of dealing with a significant mosquito problem, reducing the use of chemicals by well over 90%. The lake in front of the Magic Kingdom doubles as a flood control basin.
ü The laundry facility, handling the bedding and towels for 17 hotels, is ergonomically designed for maximum efficiency. Employees in the facility were consulted before the facility was built. This consultation led to some innovations, including placing the air conditioning units on the ground floor of an open two-story building, because the workers are there. All equipment tables, for sorting, folding and packing, are adjustable to the appropriate height for each employee. Employees are rotated through jobs in every shift, so that no one has to do the same thing for more than a couple of hours. The linens are identical for all hotels and restaurants, so that only quantities have to be earmarked for specific locations.
ü The horticultural facility is set up to rotate plants continually in pots, so that sites like the Magic Kingdom are always fresh with near perfect plants. Each potted plant is numbered and dated, and some date back to the 1970’s. The plants rotated out of public view are not simply destroyed but nurtured back whenever possible to good condition. The facility also functions as a horticultural research and experimentation center.
ü The tunnel system under the Magic Kingdom was a necessity. Since the water table is just 36” below ground level, the entire site was built on a raised mound, with the earth for that fill taken from what became the lake. Under the mound on which the Magic Kingdom is perched is a tunnel system that is the staging center for all employees working in the Magic Kingdom. The system allows employees to enter the facility without being visible to guests, to check out costumes, eat, learn about the day’s events, and get ready for work without being seen by guests. Each employee who meets the public can then go to the appropriate area—e.g., Tomorrowland—and appear in that area. (Costumed employees can’t be seen dressed for Tomorrowland and walking through Main Street or the Castle!) In the tunnels are staff restaurants; costume dispensing centers and a costume repair shop; full beauty, make-up, and barber shops; vending machines for work related items such as hosiery, hair nets and lipstick; special merchandise for employees only; a human resources center; hotlines for questions, including questions regarding benefits and services; electronic bulletin boards to announce area events and closures that employees need to know in order to answer questions from guests; a pneumatic tube trash disposal system; and much more.
After lunch, participants joined the CQIN Café, a networking small group discussion on integrating the desired culture in one’s own institution of higher education. Teams went to dinner together for further networking.
August 8 was a leisurely day devoted to capturing the learning that had occurred and to team meetings. Each team sent a member to a strategic planning session, and the other members of each team engaged in small group discussions on exchanging ideas learned from the Walt Disney World experience and from one another’s organizational efforts. Both those who attended the strategic planning session and those involved in the more general small group work discovered that the activities of Futures Forum had placed them in an advantageous position in respect to strategic planning. These sessions validated the work that Futures Forum is doing.
In the afternoon, CCVC teams met separately and together to discuss what could be done at the CCVC locations and district-wide to implement learning that had taken place at this CQIN Institute. In the meeting of all CCVC teams, each team gave an overview of its location’s strategic planning and what could be taken back to Futures Forum and shared.
Areas that were identified for review and improvement included
ü Human Resources, especially hiring and orientation
ü Staff Development, especially collaboration on innovation
ü Recognition and valuing all employees
ü The language, stories and symbols of each location and CCVC
ü Ways of implementing a policy and practice of care for employees
ü Training, both initial and ongoing
After individual team meetings, the CCVC teams came together again and reported on their discussions.
Moorpark College advocated
ü College and district-wide orientation for all employees, including the need for colleges to tell their distinctive stories
ü Review of titles for various units and areas, and appropriate names for faculty, staff (ask classified staff what they would like to be called) and managers
ü Enhancement of recognition, specifically
o Longevity certificates and pins for 5 year increments of service
o People new to positions
o College banner to celebrate identified successes
o College flag
o Electronic signs
ü Enhanced communication, especially from president’s office
ü Training, specifically providing opportunities for faculty to hone skills, and training for managers
ü Focus on hiring people committed to facilitating learning
The District Office focused on
ü Taking back ideas on how better to interface with colleges
ü Developing fast tracks on orientation
ü Improved advertising for positions
ü Staff development surveys to determine training needs
ü CCVC-wide departmental meetings, café style
ü Beautification of all sites
ü Office personnel meeting with campus counterparts
ü Revisit all locations’ connections to CCVC
Oxnard College addressed issues of culture, including
ü Honoring past and shaping future
ü Nurturing culture on an ongoing basis
ü Consciously developing symbols, language, icons
ü Revisiting titles
ü Developing awards
ü Developing themes, e.g., “Condor County—Home of the College with a Heart,” “Soar and serve”
ü Conducting survey regarding culture
Ventura College, already far along in a strategic planning process, dealt with
ü Refining strategic plans
ü Dealing with a common accreditation cycle
Burt Peachy, present at the CQIN Institute, joined this CCVC meeting and suggested that all locations look at the permanence of rewards, a customer driven focus, establishing benchmarks against which performance can be measured, and instituting rituals (recurring events).
August 9 was again a travel day. In the morning, CQIN Institute participants joined for a breakfast celebration full of humor. Volunteers rose to share what they were taking back to their institutions, and CQIN announced its plans for next year’s institute, hosted by the Dallas County Community College District. It will focus on Dallas headquartered businesses that have demonstrated efficiency in operations and excellence in customer service. Possible visitation sites include Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, and several large local businesses that have won national recognition in these areas.
Each CCVC team submitted brief reports on what it hoped to do upon returning to Ventura County. Those reports are not included here, because those teams have had some time to think through their plans, and those reports will be presented to Futures Forum directly.
(Report compiled by Elton Hall)