Disneyland, where over 90% of the staff are part-time workers
Nevertheless, everyone provides 'miraculous service' that impresses customers.
is providing.
What on earth is the reason?
Discover Disney's system and manual know-how in one book!

Disneyland employees, who work as if it were their own business and provide the best service, even though more than 90% of the employees are part-time workers rather than full-time employees.
The secret lies in the unique Disney-style educational system and manual.
What exactly is the management manual Disney practices? What is the Disney structure that creates rules that encourage employees to work with excitement? This book introduces Disney's employee training methods and management manual, which transform anyone into a top employee. It also highlights tips and key points, presented in a comic format, so that even ordinary companies can easily apply them.

The Disney-style system introduced in this book can be applied to any workplace, including hospitality and service industries, indirect businesses with no customer contact, and companies with office work as their primary focus.
Moreover, it can be useful not only for large organizations at the company level, but also for smaller organizations such as departments, teams, and stores.
This is a must-read leadership book for anyone who wants to learn how to create a corporate manual that fosters employees who do their part based on strong relationships of trust.

There are many different types of companies in the world.
And any company will have manuals, systems, and rules.
So, how do Disney's manuals and systems differ from those of a typical company? The biggest difference is whether the manuals are designed for individuals or not.
General manuals are designed to enhance an individual's abilities.
Meanwhile, Disney's manual is designed to elevate the capabilities of the entire team.
Walt Disney was a person with a lot of experience in forming teams to produce animation.
He was in his mid-50s when he opened Disneyland.
By then, Walt Disney had overcome several difficult experiences as a manager, including a studio staff strike.

--- p.36

Walt Disney felt that it wasn't that they didn't want to work or cooperate, but that they simply didn't know what to do.
So, we changed the stranger by writing a detailed manual of the tasks and procedures to be done.
Second, 'disregard' literally means 'to disregard'. If there is someone who disregards or takes a sloppy approach to the established rules, cracks will appear in the results of the work.
For example, if you skip the intermediate steps while cleaning because you think it's "too much of a hassle" or "you can't tell at first glance," the rules you've been firmly following will become distorted.
Third, ‘mindless’ refers to a state in which one does not know ‘why this service should be provided’ or ‘why this procedure is necessary’ and just moves like a machine.
You could also call it a suspension of thought due to familiarity.
Although I think I'm doing my job properly, I end up doing it half-heartedly, ignoring the essence and falling into mannerism.
“Rather than kicking out these members, we change them by creating a simple and clear manual.
Then, the team can produce consistent results, regardless of individual ability.” This is the essence of the manual defined by Walt Disney.

--- p.38

What would happen if all members followed the manual? We could break the "2.6.2 rule" in organizational theory.
The '2.6.2 Law' is a theory that holds that the top 20% of productive and active people lead the organization, the middle 60% are average, and the bottom 20% are made up of members who are low in both performance and productivity and do not take active action.
However, if you gather the top 20% of members and create a new organization, the distribution of talent within that organization is said to be 2:6:2.
In fact, Walt Disney faced the same problem.
So what he came up with was to leverage all of his employees, 100% of his constituents, by using a manual to manage the bottom 20%.


We will create an environment where anyone can perform the minimum 'necessary tasks' without any problems.
Rather than relying on the power of a specific individual, we will raise the average of all members.
By achieving these two things, we were able to dramatically increase the team's capabilities.

--- p.68

As the saying goes, "Even beads need to be strung to become a treasure," no matter how excellent a manual is, it is useless if it is not adopted by employees.
This is also the case at Disney sites, and a system has been created to prevent this.
The reason all Disneyland employees are familiar with the manual is thanks to a system called the "Brother System."
This is a refined version of the 'Elder System' (on-site practical guidance from senior employees to new employees) that can be found in general companies.
It is a system where new employees are assigned a senior employee as their exclusive training manager and receive guidance from him.
Up to this point, it is no different from a normal company.
However, this 'brother system' is characterized by the fact that the senior in charge provides guidance to the junior in charge almost one-on-one, and that the training is thorough regardless of whether it is public or private.
It's Disney's unique system that hopes that paired seniors and juniors will grow like brothers.
Since seniors are always around and can give advice right away when you don't know something, situations like "I don't know what to do" or "I'm too anxious to properly serve customers" never arise.

--- p.104

"Employees quit quickly," "There's no sense of unity within the organization or team," "Subordinates don't take initiative," "The company as a whole is lacking energy." I'm sure some leaders among you have these concerns. In fact, when I give lectures or give training sessions, I often hear these questions and share these concerns with others.
Working at Disneyland means there are a lot of manuals to follow, and since you're working in a crowded amusement park every day, you're bound to be busy during your shift.
Despite this, Disneyland employees always work with a bright and positive attitude.
What's surprising is that 90% of the employees working at Disneyland are part-time workers.
We don't hire special people, and our hourly wages aren't high compared to other companies.
But it's surprising that other companies envy the work attitude of such ordinary people.
So, what's the secret to Disney employees' joy at work? It's "self-efficacy."
'Self-efficacy' is a term used in psychology.
In simple terms, it means, “I am helping others!” and “I am being recognized by others!”

--- p.138

Cross-communication is a method of semi-forcing employees to participate in communication.
This is a system that creates time to share thoughts face-to-face regardless of age, gender, position, nationality, career, etc.
In workplaces with morning and evening meetings, we are sometimes forced to engage in one-way communication, such as checking monthly target figures, listening to a short speech from the boss, or reciting the founding principles.
The idea is to use that time for ‘cross-communication.’
Rather than one person speaking unilaterally, the group freely and honestly discusses positive themes, such as happy or good things that happened that day.
It would be great if you could talk about essential topics like "why are you doing this?" and connect them to the company's philosophy.

--- p.171

Even if you study ideology, you don't have to think it's difficult.
Surprisingly, even in everyday questions, stories about the nature or ideology of work sometimes arise.
Be mindful to set universal and positive themes.
For example, you could choose a topic like, "What was an enjoyable experience you had while working?"
Let's have one person from each group take turns talking about this topic.
“At that time, I responded like this and the customer was very happy, so I was happy.”, “When I had some free time, I recreated the company extension directory and distributed it, and everyone thanked me, so I was happy.”, etc. If you hear a lot of useful stories like this, you’ve succeeded.
Then, if you ask yourself questions like, 'But what does it mean to be happy?', 'Are being happy and being joyful the same thing?', you will gradually get closer to the essence.
The important thing is that the goal is not to get the right answer.
Rather than trying to summarize the story simply, we should focus on broadening the scope of thought by encouraging each person to share their own opinions on the topic.
And avoid negative topics like 'revealing the company's problems'.

--- p.181