Innovate the Pixar Way and Bill in E! Online Article

 

http://www.eonline.com/news/331520/finding-nemo-2-toy-story-4-has-pixar-run-out-of-ideas

Pixar–A Case for Collaboration

Too many companies encourage competition with "employee of the month" or "team of the year" programs. Eliminating competition from the workplace is one of the hardest concepts for most managers to grasp. We are a society that rewards competition through our athletics, classrooms, achievements, etc. Alfie Kohn, author of The Case Against Competition, conducted extensive research on the results of competition in the workplace. After over five years of collecting data, he concluded that the most successful organizations embrace a culture of cooperation. Pixar president Ed Catmull stated that he often has discussions with his counterparts at other studios. The heads of other studios claim that the reason Disney and Pixar are so successful is that they get ALL the BIG IDEAS ideas. But Ed claims that it’s not about the BIG IDEA that will generate a hit such as Toy Story or Up…it’s about the thousands of ideas that come from EVERYONE on a project to produce a magical result!

Tokyo Disneyland Promotes Self Discovery for Cast Members

Creating “magical” customer service – The Disney Way begins with creating a culture in which employees feel valued, trusted, and respected. The Tokyo Disneyland theme park is doing a great job of training their Cast Members in the “Disney Way.” First of all, like Pixar, Tokyo Disney Resort (where the theme park is located) claims to have “its roots in the dreams of Walt Disney.” The mission of their Cast Development Department includes: “communicate the Disney dream and philosophy…by training them in the ‘Disney Way.’”

In 2010, Toyko Disneyland created a Self Discovery Seminar series that affords cast members the opportunity to explore their dreams; discover and refine their talents; and understand what motivates them to learn, grow and succeed in their careers and lives. What a great morale builder!

You may have read in Innovate the Pixar Way that legendary Pixar director, Brad Bird said, “…If you have low morale, for every one dollar you spend, you get about twenty-five cents of value. If you have high morale, for every dollar you spend you get about three dollars of value. Companies should pay much more attention to morale.”

When people have high morale, they are able to express their creativity and achieve great things. Walt Disney believed that everyone is creative. We all may not be able to come up with the next iPad, Blackberry, or microchip, but almost everyone sees innovative opportunities in the way they conduct their jobs or serve their customers. When we encourage, trust, and reward employees to be innovative in how they do their jobs…the results are amazing!