Page 105 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

86 The Disney Way

A Common Focus Is Essential

For many of us, the word team conjures up images of a football field or memo-
ries of the Little League games we played during our school years. In sports,
teams have always aroused emotions of intense loyalty and enthusiastic support.
By adopting the team concept, we can transport this loyalty, enthusiasm, and
commitment associated with the playing field to the business arena. What’s
more, companies find that when management successfully brings together a
diverse, multitalented group of employees to work together in a complemen-
tary fashion, the team members both challenge and support one another in a
winning synergy that constantly improves the organization.
But to back up a bit, it’s important to lay the preliminary groundwork
for successful teaming—namely, to instill in the team a shared sense of pur-
pose and commitment.
At Disney, team commitment is fostered in many ways, including the
storytelling technique described in Chapter 2. And on movie projects, where
teamwork is essential, Disney deviates from the norm in that collaboration
is not just a one-time thing, with the participants gathered for one particular
film. Many of the teammates are staff members who have worked together
before. This is especially true when it comes to animated films, which demand
special, well-honed skills. Most important, all the participants have been
trained in Disney traditions. Knowing exactly what is expected of them and
what the company stands for further strengthens the team spirit.
Besides in-house training, another way to develop a common focus is
through a mission statement. A written statement of a team’s mission and
goals is a necessity to communicate the direction to all team members.
Teams can be crippled by the corporate policy manual, which often dis-
tracts them from accomplishing their mission. Any new employee—and many
well-seasoned ones—would have trouble absorbing all the policy regulations
that these weighty tomes contain. Moreover, burying any kind of mission state-
ment inside what is bound to be a deadly dull recitation of rules and regulations
virtually guarantees that it will be overlooked or quickly forgotten.
Not long ago, we were chatting about policy manuals with a well-known
business leader who told us the following story. Years ago, as a new, young
department head, he was approached by an old-timer who offered to get
him a copy of the company’s newly prepared, 150-page policy manual. The
young man thanked him, weighed the policy statement book in his right
hand, and then sat down at his typewriter and came up with a new version.