Hello again everyone, this week’s (Sep 9-Sep13) class lectures were on readings about Disney’s storyboarding techniques, Disney U, and on logic models. While all the reading were all important to understand as I develop and continue in my degree, and eventually into the employment field I really enjoyed the ones about Disney. The reading explaining storyboarding and its uses within everyday business not just in producing stories or movies, as well as the one explaining Disney U and showing the emphases that Disney puts on customer service both stuck with me.
Of the book titled “The Disney Way” we only read chapter 10 which highlighted storyboarding. I had heard of storyboarding before but only in the concept of movies, some of the Disney films I watched as a child would talk about the storyboarding process in the special features. I had never thought about how you could use the same process to as the reading puts it, “solve complex business problems”. We learned that storyboarding allows individuals with in a company give their ideas anonymously and therefore promotes even the shyest of employees to share their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed. This is a huge pro to using this process as it is important to get feedback from all employees when setting up new projects or even reviewing old ones. I started to think about how awesome it would be if my employer used storyboarding to get feedback from us, and about all the issues that would finally be brought up and perhaps resolved if we could just write it down and post it.
We also read a small excerpt from the book “Disney U”. The pages we read were all about orientation when first hired and how important customer service is within the Disney parks and business. The book talks about how Disney employees are called cast members and they are all part of a big show that Disney is putting on. Disney is well known for how welcoming its parks are this leads to its being called the happiest place on earth. As I work in a customer service driven industry I understand the need to keep the behind the scene stuff exactly there behind the scene. I also realize how devastating of a blow a company can take when the right precautions are not taken to ensure the public are kept out of internal business.
Both these articles talk about ways to make your business better both for the employees and guests. While in class professor Mary Wells explained further the extent that Disney goes to ensure guests feel welcome, she described how Walt Disney did research on how long a person will hold on to a piece of trash before letting is drop to the ground. Although a small detail this research makes all Disney parks better, because when he found out it was only 27 steps he decided to place trashcans with in 27steps of anywhere in the park. By placing trashcans so often it helps reduce the amount of trash being dropped and helps the park stay clean, in return the cleanliness of the park makes people feel happy and comfortable inside the park. This is a lot of thought that when into such a small detail, a question now posed to myself is, do I put that much thought into anything I do, and if not why? I have many things in my life that are very important to me and usually I just run on auto pilot this should change.
I am glad I am learning so much about business and the important aspects often overlooked. I hope as I advance in whatever organization I work for in the future that, I will remember to treat my employees well so that their happiness with the company will reflect in their interactions with our guests. I am also delighted and grateful to have learned about storyboarding and am sure in the future it will be a very practical tool to use to brainstorm ideas either in group projects in school or within a company.
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