Bill Capodagli–ESKOWORLD Keynote Review

http://www.flexpackmag.com/articles/85846-eskoworld-2013-exceeds-expectations

YMCA CAMP KERN LEARNS STORYBOARING WITH BILL CAPODAGLI

http://campkern.org/leadership-conferencing/teambuilding/corporate-teambuilding/

Bill Capodagli–Caring for Employees

http://o.canada.com/2012/10/02/1003-disney-fakery/

Bill brings The Disney Way to the “Mountaintop” this Friday–join in!

http://www.mountaintopuniversity.com/eBlast/08_15_12/event.htm

Thanks to SCN and Kym Reinstadler for a Great Interview!

http://scnforyou.com/the-disney-way-another-option-for-you/

The Disney Way Webinar Happening in May

Event Details:

Who: Disney management expert, Bill Capodagli

What: Creating Magical Customer Service - The Disney Way Webinar

Where: On-line

When: Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EDT

Cost: $49.00

Sign up: http://tinyurl.com/7b75oco - Learn how to implement The Disney Way Customer Service Model in the comfort of your own office or conference room.

For additional information: Contact Lynn Jackson, Producer, dreamovations@aol.com

Bill Capodagli - Michigan Disney Way Cultural Initiative

http://www.dowagiacnews.com/2012/04/25/it-takes-whole-community-for-real-change/

Disney Way Webinar…May 16th, $49.00; Register today!; http://tinyurl.com/7b75oco

WHAT:

"Creating Magical Customer Service - "The Disney Way" Webinar is a convenient and affordable way to learn how to attract customers and gain their loyalty. This is the signature Webinar in a series based upon the bestselling books: The Disney Way (a Fortune magazine "Best Business Book") and Innovate the Pixar Way. The Disney Way has the distinction of being the only book on Disney to have been cited in this week's New York Times article: "In Customer Service Consulting, Disney's Small World is Growing."

For over thirty years, management expert and bestselling author Bill Capodagli has benchmarked the Walt Disney Company, and assisted scores of organizations revamp their customer service standards; leadership practices; and innovation processes using Walt's original credo for success.

In "Creating Magical Customer Service - The Disney Way", Bill Capodagli brings to life the "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" Disney Way principles -- the foundation of a commitment to creating customer experiences that are second to none. Bill presents solid ideas, tips, and problem solving techniques to produce great results. Along with webinar co-host and creative consultant Ken Freestone, Bill invites participants to ask questions and get real answers in this engaging "learning lab" style webinar experience.

WHY:

Walt Disney's "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" credo is a powerful foundation that will support any business, drive any team and guide any leader to newfound levels of success.

WHEN:

May 16th, 2012 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST

HOW:

We provide a link to sign on to megameeting.com on Windows, Mac, Linux, Ipad and Android. For smart device apps, search for megameeting mobile.

EASY SIGN UP:

http://tinyurl.com/7b75oco

Roy Disney once said, "When values are clear, decisions are easy."

Do all of your employees understand the organization’s mission and values AND how their roles fit into the entire “show?”  It’s imperative to define job scope and guidelines for performance.  One of our clients created performance guidelines for all employees. These guidelines did not define procedures, but rather identified areas of known failure or ideas that were tried in the past, but failed. As long as employees avoided repeating past failures, they were free to exercise their own initiative and creativity, make decisions and achieve results that were in line with the organization's values. Rule of Thumb: Go heavy on guidelines and light on procedures.

LAST MINUTE SIGN UP FOR THE DISNEY WAY WEBINAR!

 

Feb. 15^th from 2 – 3:30 PM EST

1. Register:

http://disneywaywebinar.eventbrite.com/?discount=FR2.15.12

2. We’ll send you an invite so you can connect to the webinar.

3. You’ll receive bonus materials and a date for the follow-up webinar for in-depth Q and A…FREE!

Disney Way Changes Dowagiac Michigan–Review of 2011

Schools top local story

Published 8:49pm Tuesday, December 27, 2011

 

Dowagiac will remember 2011 as the year devoted to devising a five-point educational dream to reinvent the school system.
The goal since February has been to build a “one in 100” district for the 21st century that will drive a Dowagiac renaissance.

Months in the making, since “Disney Way” author Bill Capodagli immersed Dowagiac Union Schools, City Hall, Southwestern Michigan College and Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital in the customer service principles of “Dream, Believe, Dare, Do,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Daniel Aug. 31 unveiled the Dowagiac Educational Dream.

The vision, which could take until 2015 to fully realize, started Oct. 17 with the administration move from the Wolverine Building into City Hall. The solution is to create three buildings housing five separate schools — a pre-kindergarten to first grade school housed in the same building as a separate school for grades 2-3, each led by an instructional leader/principal, an early education specialist and a math and reading development specialist. The two schools would share the gym, cafeteria, art and music rooms and support staff.
A second building would house fourth and fifth grades.

The Dowagiac Middle School campus, opened in 2005, would support sixth, seventh and eighth grades with a separate high school for grades 9-12, again sharing common areas such as the gym, cafeteria and Performing Arts Center.

Three buildings, Patrick Hamilton, Sister Lakes and Kincheloe, would join the Wolverine Building to jettison overhead and invest in energy conservation that would make the undertaking financially feasible when voters weigh in early in 2012.

The five points that, thanks to Disney storyboarding with focus groups, reflect beliefs of the school board, administration, faculty/staff, parents and community, include collaboration, differentiated instruction (students grouped by interests and their level of understanding to build upon their accomplishments and to engage them in learning), literacy and early childhood initiatives so 100-percent of third graders read at grade level), technology and Smart Boards and grade levels grouped together through all building transitions to encourage long-term relationships with faculty, continuity in extra-curricular activities (sports, clubs, arts) and student (opportunities for college credit at SMC).

Dowagiac’s new fall festival, Under the Harvest Moon, is well-received and coincides with the opening of Foodies Fresh Cafe.

Springsteen Realty merged with Cressy and Everett in February.
Cass County hired its third administrator, Charles Cleaver, after interviewing five candidates at the Council on Aging Feb. 12.

Chuck Clarke served in the interim when Terry Proctor left after two decades.

The “round house” on M-51 South was torn down.
Firefighters from area departments spent all day Jan. 23 batting a blaze which devastated Edward Lowe Foundation headquarters near Cassopolis. Fire March 3 destroyed the Glenwood landmark Drake’s Little Super northeast of Dowagiac.

Union High launched the 10th Interact club in Rotary’s 57-club District 6360 led by charter President Lauren Krueger Oct. 23.

Marissa Tidey was crowned Michigan Apple Queen for 2012.

Pokagon Band’s Four Winds Casino bet its second location, on Red Arrow Highway in Hartford, will hit the jackpot.

“Little Four Winds” opened Aug. 29, adding 400 jobs to Van Buren County from 12,000 applicants.

The New Buffalo location is expanding with another 250 hotel rooms in a nine-story tower, a multi-use event center and a Hard Rock Cafe opening this summer.

Dr. Nathan Ivey, Southwestern Michigan College’s first president from 1965-68, addresses graduates during the 44th commencement ceremony May 7.

Jimmy Keys, 31, was unanimous selection as Dowagiac Firefighter of the Year after losing his life in a Valentine’s Day crash in South Haven.

Deputy Fire Chief Dale Hutchings retired in June after 34 years with the city and was succeeded by Guy Evans.

Classic boat museum opens in Cassopolis. Cassopolis June 15 debuted a “destination” boat museum. Mahogany Outfitters Classic Boat and Auto Museum, 980 E. State St., contains room after room of vintage boats often trailered behind classic cars from the same year and fills the former Hayden-Beardslee Ford dealership.
It is a companion piece to the 1948 Sinclair gas station replica overlooking Stone Lake downtown which also grew out of Dr. Roger Pecina of Afdent dental clinics and his hobby.

Premier Tool and Die Cast Corp. plans a $3.2 million expansion in Dowagiac expected to create 179 jobs by resurrecting the former ICG plant across Paul Street as a new zinc and aluminum die cast and assembly operation, it was announced July 5.

Cass County Council on Aging conducted a $350,000 campaign for a Dowagiac Senior Center adjacent to City Hall.

Russom Park garnered $600,000 in state grants in December thanks to a cooperative effort between Dowagiac and Silver Creek Township.

Three of five Keeler Township board members, 26-year Supervisor Bill Kays and Trustees Don Blackmond and Patrick Daly were recalled Aug. 2 in a close election precipitated by their decision at the annual meeting to contract for five years with Coloma

Emergency Ambulance, which spelled the end of Sister Lakes’ service.

Dowagiac welcomed Belgium’s 58-member Maasmechelen Concert Band, which performed Aug. 9 in the Performing Arts Center.

SMC hosted a movie premiere Oct. 28 for Debra Tolchinsky’s “Fast Talk,” which makes debate a metaphor for the hectic pace of our lives.

Dailey Church in LaGrange Township turned 125 years old in August.

Leah Sovine is installed as Dowagiac postmaster Sept. 16.

Dowagiac author Michael Collins March 26 publishes his seventh novel, “Of Uncertain Significance,” and Sept. 8 receives the grand prize at the Deauville American Film Festival in France.

Eighty National Guard soldiers with “Charlie Company” (C Troop, 126th Cavalry) deploy to Afghanistan Sept. 24 after a farewell at Union High School.

Latin Americans United for Progress using Disney Way Storyboarding

Tonight, we will be working with the Hispanic youth in Holland, Michigan to help them unleash their creativity through Storyboarding.  Storyboarding will help them identify and address critical issues they currently face in their schools and the community. We look forward to being involved in preparing these bright and motivated young people to become community leaders, and further both their education and future careers.

In 2006, Michigan Future Inc. released a report in which 4 area Chambers of Commerce formed a coalition to enhance business development and success. The name of the report is named “Strategies for a culturally Competent Region”. It emphasized that diversity is now part of our culture and is key in business strategy and development. The report also recognizes that there is much to gain from the richness of a multi-cultural community. Another key finding of a report from the West Michigan Strategic Alliance indicates that our area needs prepare for a more educated workforce so we will be able to fill a variety of highly skilled jobs. Such dynamics will support success in our region economically and socially. This is exactly what LAUP seeks to accomplish through our Steps to Success and Youth Development Programs.

Junior Chamber International–Manila–Using The Disney Way in Training

Excerpts from a letter from Brian Balagot – 2011 Director for Individual Development, Junior Chamber International Manila (www.jcimanila.org); Certified National Trainer, Junior Chamber International Philippines (www.jci.cc)

“Greetings:  I am a Certified National Trainer for Junior Chamber International (JCI) – Manila, and a man whose life was changed by your book. I learned so much from reading it, and it has helped me to grow my business because of the way I applied the skills you mentioned there. From The Disney Way, storyboarding has helped me bring the members of my project team together so that we can solve complicated issues by painting a picture of the current situation together. It’s helped me to bring people on the same page because even the silent members get to participate in discussions, and we get to hear their great ideas. At the same time, I was able to personally apply them in Junior Chamber International, and lead the organization to become more efficient in what we do.

Junior Chamber International is an international organization of citizens who simply want to make where we live a better place to live in by training ourselves to actively take care of our community. We learn about the problems in the city where we live, and then we work with the Local Government Units or the Private Sector to create projects and raise funds that will solve the problems in society. We do this because we want a better future for the people who we love – especially our progeny. We recognize that sufficient training in management and leadership skills can help us become more effective active citizens. When we are more effective in active citizenry, then our projects will have a greater impact in society; and the safe and prosperous future of our loved ones becomes something more certain.

Storyboarding helps a lot here. I am certain that many people will benefit from your ideas – especially if they choose to let themselves become empowered with these skills by applying them in the work that they do.”

Bill Capodagli presents Customer Service - The Disney Way; Live Web & Audio Webinar Item No. 1838303; $179.00; Date: Web Conference 09/09/2011 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT;www.nationalseminarstraining.com/RockhurstConferences

 

Description:

At Disney, every contact with a customer offers a chance to shine. Disney calls these contacts “Moments of Truth” ... the opportunities to create everlasting positive impressions! And, because the company demands excellence as an organizational absolute, even its fiercest competitors acknowledge that Disney is simply the best customer-centric company on the planet!

Now you can learn how to inspire that level of customer service passion in your own organization by joining us for Customer Service – “The Disney Way”!

Learn the Keys to Dazzling Customer Service in Just One Hour!
Attend this one-hour training session and learn Disney’s formula for customer service brilliance. You’ll gain invaluable ideas that your company can immediately implement to amazing effect.

You’ll also learn insider secrets about how Disney requires – and receives – customer-focused behavior from every employee … from top executives to part-time staff. You won’t want to miss that!

Produce a "Show" for Your Customers and They'll Thank You for It Forever!
Walt Disney knew that every aspect of his business was “show” business, and every moment spent with a customer meant that the employee was “onstage.” By perfecting the art of customer relations, Disney built a record of customer loyalty, satisfaction, and repeat business that became legendary.

Join us and you’ll learn how to capture this enthusiasm for customer service throughout your organization. Your team will learn how to put on a “show” that brings customers back again and again and again!
Disney's Success Can Be Your Success — Don't Miss This Training
So what are you waiting for? Learn how to support your business and your customers with the same level of excellence — join us for Customer Service — “The Disney Way” now!

What You'll Learn When You Attend ...

• Disney’s No.1 unbreakable rule for providing the ultimate customer service
• How Walt Disney’s version of “show” business is the perfect tonic for what ails your business
• Identifying the “Moments of Truth” in your organization and ensuring nobody ever misses one again!
• The hidden – and not-so-hidden – costs for your company of even a single poor customer service experience
• How to use a little bit of Disney’s “pixie dust” to create your own customer-centric organization
• Are you overlooking the first step in creating great service? Find out here.
• How to gain complete buy-in for your new customer service vision and values from everyone up and down the corporate ladder
• 5 keys to creating “magical” moments for your customers

Meet Your Speaker — Bill Capodagli

A serious student of excellence, Bill Capodagli has a thriving success story of his own. The original edition of The Disney Way, which Capodagli co-authored, was awarded the coveted “Best Business Book of the Year” by Fortune magazine and published in eight languages. He is also the co-author of The Disney Way Fieldbook, which provides action plans for instilling Disney's vision into any company, complete with diagnostic exercises, practice sessions, proven advice, and insightful questionnaires. Capodagli also co-authored the popular book, Leading at the Speed of Change: Using New Economy Rules to Invigorate Old Economy Companies.

The prolific best-selling author has nearly three decades of expertise in management consulting and corporate research. As managing partner of Capodagli Jackson Consulting, he brings dynamic managerial experience and graduate-level teaching experience to the firm.

Ever practical, Capodagli's style is also passionate and hard hitting. He is currently the most requested speaker in the United States on Walt Disney's original success and leadership principles. This webinar is a rare opportunity to hear directly from Capodagli.

“This book is about the real magic: Stimulating and harmonizing the collective energy of your people.” — Ken Blanchard, best-selling author of The One Minute Manager.

London’s Bute Coaching Adopts The Disney Way

“I read your book The Disney Way, Revised Edition: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney. And thought this to be a fantastic book that gave great ideas and examples of real businesses introducing/maintaining the Disney ethos.

As a small company (less than 10) we have taken some of the ideas from your book, revised them to suit us and currently their is a definite shift in us as a company and I believe this is impacting our delivery in a very positive way.

I would like to thank you for this book.”

Margo Manning Account Director; Bute Coaching Ltd

Based in London, Bute Coaching Ltd comprises a highly experienced team of professionals who have worked in diverse backgrounds including: IT, financial (including investment and retail banking), legal, insurance, pensions, retail, surveying, property development, accounts, construction, education and many other industries.

ARVEST BANK LEARNS DISNEY WAY STORYBOARDING

June 30, 2011: “Thank you so much for coming and teaching us Storyboarding, it was an honor to have you. You did an amazing job! I have heard so many positive comments. I look forward to utilizing these skills very soon.”

Alyssa Pepper, CFB Training Specialist, Arvest Bank, Arkansas

DISNEY WAY RECOMMENDED READING FOR THOSE WHO PROACTIVELY MANAGE THEIR CAREERS

Smart Lemming Review

The SmartLemming.com recommends The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company for workers at any career stage. See the table and images below for specific ratings for each career stage and category relevance.

SmartLemming.com considers The Disney Way as a must-read book for people proactively managing their careers.

DISNEY WAY STORYBOARDING FEEDBACK FROM CAAP’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE

On March 24th, Bill conducted a storyboading session for the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania.  The focus was on how the individual agencies could provide Disney Way service to their audiences despite the inevitable federal funding threats to their network.  The feedback on the session was overwhelmingly positive.  Here are the written comments provided by the participants (original typos were not corrected):

Great

Excellent this type of presentation & workshop is needed.

This was fabilous workshop. The presenter was great. I feel like I can apply what I learned.

Fantastic

Wonderful training will use this extensivley.

Excellent presenter with great hands on tips!

Excellent workshop

Great workshop-I will use this immediately.

Story Board…something the Board of Directors should use.

Disney Way “Magical Moments” Account of WDW’s Customer Service

 

It’s a Wonderful World

The micro details of customer service are what separate the winners from the losers in business

April, 2011

by Kathleen Martin

The first day she wore a Cinderella ball gown everywhere. But in the days that followed, disguised in sneakers and a T-shirt, people could still tell, just by looking at her, that she was a princess. “How are you this morning, Princess?” they’d say, bending down low in front of her.

My four-year-old daughter couldn’t have been happier. She beamed at the wait staff, at the people collecting garbage from the streets, at the shopkeepers. We were at Walt Disney World Resort, where it seemed everyone was transformed: into royalty, into Jedi Knights, into parents with unlimited patience. The Disney employees—people for whom the incredible magical production is, well, work—were also most curiously happy.

The entire week we spent there was populated with smiling helpful employees called “cast members” who raced to anticipate the needs of guests without exception. “The food looks good, but the desserts…I really don’t like carrot cake,” admitted my husband, when a staff member at a quick-serve restaurant saw him looking at the menu options. “They serve chocolate cake at the restaurant a little way down the street,” the waiter responded. “Why don’t you order your food, and I’ll run down there and get you some.”

Despite our protests that it wasn’t necessary, he did exactly that. Within 10 minutes, he had arrived back at our table, cake in hand. He had wanted our lunch to be perfect, and thanks to him, it was.

I needed to find out what was in the employee Kool-Aid.

“I really like my job,” said more than one person. Others said, “They spend a lot of time training us on the traditions of Disney; they let us make decisions to make things better for our guests; they put up our picture if they catch us doing something extra to help a guest, particularly if it’s a child; they try and make it fun for us.”

Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson, the authors of The Disney Way, have built their careers on studying Disney. “Walt Disney insisted that every employee is the company in the mind of the customer,” they write. “Because Disney insisted that customers be treated like guests, great customer service has become a standard feature of the total package the Disney Company offers. And wrapped up in that package is a gift of creativity—in product, service, and process—that makes even jaded adults smile with childlike delight.”

Posted in several places around Disney World parks is this quote from Walt: “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing, that it was all started by a mouse.” In other words, what he created came not from something cataclysmic or untouchable but from something common, coupled with a well-exercised imagination and a fine attention to detail.

In his best-seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes a simple method, called the Broken Windows hypothesis, which New York’s Police Department used to fight violent crime. They relentlessly addressed small problems, such as broken windows and graffiti and people trying to skip out on subway fares. Crime rates dropped. They discovered that minor, seemingly insignificant quality- of-life crimes were tipping points for violent crime.

Perhaps something similar applies in business. If we relentlessly address the details—the seemingly insignificant aspects of customer service, for example— I think our businesses will become more successful. It’s the simple things that astounded me at Disney World, which are missing from so many of my daily customer-service experiences.

If cast members were talking to one another when I approached them, they stopped instantly and turned their attention to me. Every time. Although thousands of people cycled through restaurants I visited, I rarely saw garbage on the floor or an empty table that wasn’t quickly being cleaned.

One night, when we waited briefly in line at a restaurant, a cast member came over and sat down next to my children. She asked them about their day and drew them pictures of Mickey Mouse on napkins. I discovered later that her shift had already ended, and she had stayed those few extra minutes to make them feel important.

The experience was unforgettable, and it’s not rocket science. It’s possible for any company. As Walt would say—it’s just a dream away.

Kathleen Martin is a freelance journalist based in Halifax. She can be reached at masthead@ns.sympatico.ca

Progress Media.ca’s site is designed to help business owners and CEOs grow their businesses more effectively.

Train for Success

In these trying economic times, the training budget is a sure casualty. Even in good times, most companies today spend less than 1% of their payrolls on training. World-class organizations are spending 5% or more of their payrolls on training.
There are two elements to consider when setting up your training processes: hard skills (job processes) and soft skills (culture and attitude). Most organizations do a fair job of teaching the hard skills of the job. The soft skills are at best glossed over, or at worst completely ignored. It is important to create a customer-centric culture in good economic times; in times of economic uncertainty, however, it’s a necessity.
How much soft skills training do your employees receive? Is it reserved for the higher level “professionals?” Success comes from unleashing the talents and ideas all employees, not just the so-called "professional" managers. The attitude that "the front-liners are non-professionals," translates into behaviors that damage organizations.
The Walt Disney Company sends every new employee through a multi-day Traditions course on the Disney culture prior to on-the-job training. But remember… training alone is not the answer. All training must be reinforced through focused experiences and continuous feedback.
During your next rounds of budget cuts, try to maintain the core elements of soft training that instill your culture, vision and values. Economic times will get better. Will you be ready for the up turn with a core group of employees who radiate your culture? Or will you be trying to catch up to the world-class competition?