Friday, November 20, 2009
Disney Legends recall Walt Disney and the 'Yes, if....' way of management
Theme Park Insider: "Walt Disney didn't create or build the theme park industry, contrary to what some folks have claimed over the years. What he did, veteran attraction designer Bob Rogers said, was to create and manage the team that built the theme park industry."
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Walt's dedication to a positive, encouraging management style was very evident in the high regard with which his coworkers speak about him in this article. His focus on accepting the situation as it is, working out what needs to be done to fix it, and then executing on those fixes is a model that most managers look to emulate, but few actually pull it off as well as Walt did. It's incredibly difficult to find any indication of failure in this system, as the Disney company has produced amazing end products that push the bounds of innovation and creative storytelling. The theme parks constantly push their cast members on the mentality of the Disney Difference, and I believe Walt's philosophy and leadership clearly developed what sets Disney apart from everyone else.
The Disney Company is one place i would love to end up working- especially for some of the reasons laid out in this article. Walt's style lives on in the company (just look at these five panelists), which makes it a great place for creative work without the risk of complete failure. The company itself, like its theme parks, seems to be a place of opportunity. I feel there's a lot to learn from Walt's management method as well. The idea that criticizing an idea after its been done doesn't help- coming up with a solution does, is wonderful, and should be a key management aspect for everyone.
With all the negative press Disney gets these days, I wonder if this management style is still prevalent in their creative endeavors. I know I respond well to positive management (in fact, I'm often more motivated to do well as disappointment is more motivational than anger. I blame my guilty Catholic-Jewish upbringing) but it seems like many Disney employees now hate their time there.
Has Disney really become a heartless corporation? We still hear stories of teams pouring their hearts and souls into the projects they're working on - "The Princess and the Frog" is a recent example. But previously, Disney fired their entire 2D animation department, getting rid of senior animators to hire fresh graduates who could do 3D animation. It seems a bad environment overall.
Please remember what your company stands for, Disney. We all grew up with it, I don't know if we can take this downward turn.
Working in a creative industry, it is our job as management not to stifle and simply criticize ideas, but rather to facilitate and encourage growth. This is why Walt's philosophy of constructive criticism is especially important. Often we are faced with budgetary and time constraints (though Disney probably encounters these less) and when ideas are presented we either say, "YES, we can do that BUT it will require extra labor" or "NO, we can't BECAUSE we don't have the extra labor". This sets forth the options and it is up to the highest levels of management to decide if the needed change in resource allocation is appropriate or not. The same process applies when considering an artistic idea.
The Disney Corporation these days seems to be trying really hard to shrug the ugly marks it's racked up recently. While I do not know the details, it seems like this new direction of management is intended to counteract and probably reverse the many rumors and jokes about how places like Disney Land may be the happiest places on earth, so long as you do not work for Disney. The idea of a management style that is founded on "yes if..." and "no, but..." it something I would really like to see embraces more in the theater world, especially when it comes to things like budgeting.
I would love to see the "Yes, if..." rather than the "No, but..." management style in creative companies. This management style made the original Walt Disney a success and respected among the public. The recent Disney management style is much more of a "No, and I'm going to take your little dog too..." kind of negotiating.
This reminds me of the article which David Holcomb has us read about the power of the positive no. There are ways to be critical or constructive while saying anything. It's a key requirement in management to know how to manipulate that to make everyone working around you their most effective.
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