Page 183 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

164 The Disney Way

■ Schedule follow-up sessions with employees to reinforce skills learned
in a formal training environment.
■ Ask employees to engage in regular 360-degree evaluations.
■ Institute development plans in place of performance appraisals. Work
in partnership with employees to create their own plans.

Team Appreciation at Its Best

All the members of the Global No-Frost team were experts in their fields,
but many were philosophically far removed from a culture that endorses
teamwork. It isn’t easy, we have discovered in our consulting work, for
people who are used to working within a hierarchical, conservative structure
to adjust to a completely different work environment. Describing his experi-
ences throughout the project, Jerry said, “I could see people’s expectations
grow and grow and grow. They were pushing themselves on all levels.” In the
end, people said that they had never felt so fulfilled, so satisfied by any job.
One situation that Jerry faced involved the cultural differences
between team members. Even though everyone had a sense of commonal-
ity about the work, there were nevertheless differences of behavior and
attitude. So we initiated another two-day training session for the team
and called in two professional advisors to enlighten us about national
differences. They warned the non-Americans that Americans could be
brash, sarcastic, and loud. Then they warned Americans that Indians and
other Asians often hold back, watching and waiting for signals from their
superiors before they contribute anything. On the other hand, Brazilians,
they said, can be argumentative and noisy. Gradually, we established
what you might call cultural assimilation, a trained awareness and respect
for national differences. It was still a gradual process, but knowing what
to expect from another member often smoothed the way. It kept people
from being offended and created an empathy and appreciation of others
that continued to grow throughout the process.
Jerry also felt that he didn’t want his team members to know each
other only on a nine-to-five basis. To foster the sense of a team identity,
he organized after-work events. “Fairly early on, we developed a work
hard and play hard environment,” he explains, “lots of parties involving
families. We had barbecues, cookouts, and trips to local fairs.”