Page 185 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

166 The Disney Way

discover they don’t need to be afraid or ashamed of making mistakes. The
focus at Men’s Wearhouse is to celebrate successes and mistakes, learn
from them, and move on. And, most of all, employees know that this is a
place where, like Four Seasons, The Golden Rule is an implicit working
principle throughout the organization. “If we take care of them, and that
means training and nurturing them, they will take care of the customers,”
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Eric Anderson, director of training, told us in our interview with him.
If an employee isn’t performing well in the organization, the reaction of
Men’s Wearhouse leadership is to blame themselves and figure out a way
to achieve a win for the employee and the company.
Training is an integral part of the fabric of this uncommonly paternal
organization. There are no training budgets and no training measure-
ments. Training is happening all the time, at every level, both formally
and informally. Everyone, from senior-level staff to sales associates in the
over 500 stores, must be committed to practicing the skills that will help
them and their fellow team members grow and excel.
One could debate whether or not it’s possible to train people to
possess “emotional intelligence” (admittedly an overused term accord-
ing to Eric Anderson), but it is a coveted trait of salespeople at Men’s
Wearhouse. It’s about developing sensitivity to others, and honing a skill
for “reading” the customer.
The formal training and development here affords employees numer-
ous opportunities to learn in a classroom environment, some 40 hours per
year. Upon their arrival at Men’s Wearhouse, new Wardrobe Consultants
typically receive two days of new-hire training by their district managers.
The goal is to immerse employees immediately in the culture and the team
philosophy. The next step is out-of-store training, Suits High, a more spe-
cific regimen that takes place after two to eight weeks on the job.
But the biggest and most anticipated learning experience of all is yet
to come. Suits U (officially Suits University) is a week reminiscent of leav-
ing home for the first time or going off to begin college. And, for some
Wardrobe Consultants, being on a plane for the first time in their lives is an
experience they will remember forever. The week-long training is filled with
energizing classroom activities, and vacation-like fun takes place on a beach
in California. This perfect mix of education and team-building is exclusively
for employees approaching their one-year employment anniversary.
And they are about ready to meet the man of the hour, Men’s
Wearhouse’s legendary and masterful teacher, Shlomo Maor. We were