Disney Institute – The Front Line

Disney calls them the “front line”, we call them the “heart beat” of our company;  the employees that are in the trenches, dealing with the public and just plain indispensable.

The front line is full of valuable information that can help with leadership decision-making.  Who knows more about your customers’ needs, complaints or struggles?

On the first day of the Disney Institute workshop, we participated in a leadership exercise called the Duckburg Activity.  It was a delightfully funny, eye-opening experiment in communication.   It focused on the difficulties of being a front line employee without proper communication from the leaders.

I was able to reproduce this activity for my employees.   It was great fun watching them try to figure out what was going on, the quiet confusion and the eventual success.

As a result, we started early morning meeting for better communication.  We started to look for ways to make the front line job easier or more efficient.  Through that process we discovered that too much time is wasted restocking supplies.  We were able to devise a system to hold larger quantities of our mailing product.  A task that was once done daily is now only done once a week.

Somewhat insignificant, right?  Not to our front line.

Have a wonder-filled day,

Donna Flanagin

Random Me: I’m a cat lover.