Everything You Need To Know About Checklists (with Former EVP of Disney, Lee Cockerell)

Audio Transcription

Checklists, when properly used will absolutely improve your life and overall level of excellence that both you and your business are able to deliver. During this podcast, the former Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World Resorts explains how he and his team used checklists to keep all 40,000 team members that he managed on task.

Dealing with People and Executing Checklists

1. Dealing with people that pretend to do checklists
2. Be intense with your people when it comes to safety
3. Dealing with people in an area that is not safety related
4. 8 hours of traditions training
5. Training, testing and execution
6. Enforcing the training
7. Training, testing and enforcement
8. Managing hundreds of bathrooms and keeping them clean
9. Cleanliness is a big deal

Checklists Save Lives and Make Bathrooms Clean

1. One To Do List and One Day Planner for One Life
2. The importance of using checklists
3. Without checklists people fail
4. It’s not possible to have success without checklists
5. Dealing with people that refuse to use checklists
6. Checklists get better over time

 How to Keep Great People

1. Retaining hourly employees
2. Retaining high skill people
3. Retaining top executives
4. If people don’t perform, letting them go
5. If you feel bad, keep bad people and just don’t let them come to work
6. Checklists for on-boarding
7. Watch performance during the first 90 days
8. Your best day is your first day
9. Most people cannot visualize greatness

We have exclusive business coach interview today for you, with lee cockrell, the former executive vice president of walt disney world resorts, to use to manage over 40,000 people and 1 million customers per week. We’re talking about checklists and important of checklist using checklist. How did lee cockrell cockerell mouse? How did lee cockrell do it at at disney world with checklist, but chub? You manage a small business. Why do people in small business fight so much against the use of a freaking checklist? There’s multiple reasons, but one of the main things I see is that this happened with the concrete company. Okay with checklist through my dad, he was old school old school, maybe where you guys are busy at the end of the day that they know I get it I understand your tongue have to create an emblem in, and it’s not going to be perfect on the first try, but revise it and make it better. Every day everything you need to know about using a table meeting checklist with leacock roll. Here we go, let’s just say that I’m one of those guys who didn’t actually do the checklist, I just pretended like i, did and that’s a lot of paper. So interstellar movie, disney and I pretended like i, checked off a check list, go ahead and deal with me. What would you say to me if I pretended that I did your check? Oh yeah, I mean i, would ask you first and then I would keep interrogating. You like you, do a teenager till you get to the truth and they lie about 12 times before you get there and then probably would tell him the consequences of that. Do you realize that people can get food poisoning and die from this kind of sucks? When do you understand that it, when the temperature is not a hundred and sixty degrees or more and bacteria is growing and 12 people die and you’re the responsibility for that and by the way, let me tell you again, I’m going to give you one chance. Do, this again you’re terminated and there won’t be any more red mornings, because when you get into safety, you’ll start to see how you deal with your kids when they do something unsafe. If you’re not going to be real nice about it, you’re going to be real firm when they run into the street, you probably have a talk with him. They won’t forget for the rest of the options or when they you catch him one day driving without their seatbelt on you or, but it’s just like in the disney one of these. It’s amazing.

What disney is it that it’s so clean, it’s so clean if some of it is always a clean walkway, it’s beautiful as pristine, but thousands of people will not come back if there’s just stuff later everywhere. How do you deal with that guy? Well, there’s pretty serious training upfront about when you join the company, go through 8 hours or what’s it called traditions training, then cleanliness of friendliness and all of her hammerdin and you learn about the characters. Walt disney. In the pride we have in the publix love of disney and then when you get to the workplace, so you get very clear training testing and then our managers know there. We expect them to enforce the training, so a business coach or manager have no problem dealing with employee not doing what they’re supposed to be. This type of managers are wishy-washy, they let it go. I don’t want to cause. Our managers are very that’s. How we get consistent disney by training, testing and enforcement. Training test is training and enforcement close your eye too. So let me ask you this year:how many bathrooms were you in charge of, like hundreds and the average small business owner had can’t keep one click? What is the difference is in the checklist and enforcement. What what is it I think? First, it’s your values. Cleanliness is a big deal. That’s one of the r values of the clinic even bought disney said before he died. He said even after I’m gone. If you all will keep this place clean and friendly everything will work out. Just fine, you didn’t talk about technology., clean and friendly, and today, when you say you stand for something, if I let us, then you got to do it and it’s worked into all our train is working to our systems. It’s worked into our inspection systems. It’s worked into, I mean even met. Exactly I would never walk over a piece of paper pick it up when I do it and when you have 72000 floyds wake up in the morning. No, that’s your job! There’s nothing on the ground will antifreeze the same document of creek. What are you going to do when is the temperature check list? So what you’re saying is a bathroom and there’s a bad? How many bathrooms, if you have on your phone, was at 5? Did you manage to resorts in for theme parks in 20 hotels and for theme park, 2, bathrooms hundred hotels, hundreds of bathrooms? Do you have a checklist for how to clean the bathroom too ugly? We haven’t proven the checklist on an airplane kind of important gallipots. What’s up, people put it on the ice or not the ice in the last 30 minutes, yes or no yeah, and then, when you think about other checklist, hospitals have proven recently that checklist reduce infection rates in all kinds of issues, wash your hands checklist. When you go on how to edit a video quickly and so that, when the interview with you, we can get it edited put into the right to in a format.

There’s a big checklist there too. In your business coach mind, is it possible to make the magic happen at disney or any other business without checklist? I mean is so complex. If you don’t have triplets one day, you’re going to show up and you’re not going to have one of the cameras with you, you don’t believe that’ll ever happen, it couldn’t happen. It will have thoughts of money. People gets distracted, they had a problem at home this morning and death in the family it doesn’t get on. It gets left out all the way in houston and I show all a shop for weddings before checklist before I knew this stuff I show up there so excited to dj down in houston and I’m like oh, no there’s no mic stand so I thought I’ll just go, buy one. So I go! Oh, no! There’s no amplifier and I just kept having with me. She never would go with me or the cup they got there. No one knew I was so nervous and I remembered that point I’m like i, am never going to a dj wedding or event without a checklist and now I’m insisting upon it and I just noticed it. That’s not a natural behavior for people. So what would you say right now to the business owner who says that are staffing company or are we don’t use a check list? Because it’s all up here? What would you say that guy I’d say first of all, you’re not going to ask you in an excellent way and second, what’s going to happen today? You’re not there can they come to carry on, and you know I used to work for an outside the catering, and where you learn when you get everything on the truck and when you get to the side a hundred miles away to do the dinner. If you don’t have a check and you start to open the boxes and you don’t have the chicken or he don’t have the plates, are you don’t have the table clause that that’s where I really learned about checklist, make sure everything’s on the truck before you head out, and this is a checklist. Basically, it’s all been time how long it takes to clean that bathroom, 12 minutes, 8 minutes 6 minutes, because the manager was spending there they’re done, and everybody knows this is how long. So we know that person should only be in there for 12 minutes and I should be in the next bathroom within 8 minutes. Just expect that checklist, yeah I mean it’s always improving. When something goes wrong. Cuz it wasn’t on. There are people checking it off and not really doing it drive nation.

We come back. Lee cockrell, explain to us all how to get how to keep great employees, how to keep great, the world’s only business school without the bs and I’ll be the sea. All right. Also welcome back to the show on your radio. It is hump day have been reaching out to us and have said hey. What’s this whole free photo thing, you guys are doing getting kind of explain what we’re doing here for the way to say thank you to all of our listeners who do in fact own businesses. So we have an awesome back in team at thrive, yeah we’ve got color is search engine optimizer, tographer zeiner’s, video ographer, and for the first 100 listeners who are also business owners. We are going to give you guys a free set of family photos right. Free family photo session. Yes and clay. Walker label actually wear the same sweater that you and your family, where we going to get in your pictures with you. If you don’t have to do the family photos, you can actually get team head. That’s right! Yeah! You had shots for yourself for your family photo session. One photo session very high quality, studio level, photography the family photo session or headshots. We are business taking us up on the officers 97 left, if you want to do it, just email us info at thrive time, show.Com, just email us to info at thrive time show.Com, and we will shoot those photos for you. Let’s see those pretty mugs are free to go see the pretty much the mugs of the pretty people are you talking about is all well okay for you how to keep great people, it’s really hard to find really good people, but when you do find good people, how do you keep them, how you treat quality employees? Well, how do you treat high-level employees in a way that makes them want to stick around because it walt disney world resorts, when lee cockrell manage that the facility that over 40,000 employees, that over a million customers a week, he managed the number one tourist destination on the planet and I’m telling you could not have done it if he was not able to keep his great peoples? How do you retain hourly employees? How do you deal with people that don’t perform? How do you on board new people? What kind of performance indicators do you need to watch during the first 90 days? Lee cockrell breaks it all down for you on this exclusive interview with lee cockrell, the former executive vice president of walt disney world resorts is when you ultimately hire somebody. How long do you want them to stick around like? What’s in your business coach mind, a good amount of time in today’s economy, with today’s young people, today’s workforce, all those different variables? How long do you think it’s real small business are the country? What is a realistic amount of time? You think I should go to the track, somebody and keep building. We have to work forces. We have college kids 10,000 twice a year and I work for 6 months, they’re high energy.

They are quick learner as they are just perfect. Disney little cast members out there taking care of the gas, and then we have people you’re not going to be making up rooms are clean, bathrooms cooks. We want them to stay long time, that’s yeah years and years and years and we’re happy they stay and if there, if we can get them qualified, they can move up to be the management or sushi out for shaft for supervisor. That’s fine, but basically, what’s the half of the night part time we have part-timers which work 2 or 3 days a week. Cuz there are four they want to go. Then we have the college gaza turn over after 6 months, and then we have their kind of the core staff, which is the other 40% and actually need them to stay. Because of this other group. Turning we need the people there being a good role model for them and teach him, and so are no I mean when I heard exactly who I’m there for them to be 20-30 years. If I can get him there, which was not a good fit, what if someone is just netzero, they made it through the system if pill 232 question and they all the time. How quickly do you know if they’re not performing we just so you know I talk about people perform. That’s not my problem. We talk about those people who just don’t fit, and people don’t I just wanted to hear more on that, because I talk to so many business owners were like you, no cash. This guy he’s got a wife and performance you’re going to slowly get off track. They had people that we’re not performing. Customers are not come back because the service was so bad. They keep saying this business coach person got a wife and kids and I was there. I am actually said what about your wife and kids. You know what I tell him:okay, cable, but let him stay home and pay them, but don’t want to come in if you feel sorry for that your ministry foundation or put them in a place where they can do the job, move them into a job and if they don’t do it there.

But when you did on board people and they did come on board, you did to give a checklist extended, 90 days that how long you said 90 days or how long on each job as a different checklist from the learning part 2 on the job to our problem is after 90 days. We can’t easily get rid of your if union contracts we have so you got a 90-day probationary. Trying to figure out if I should go for any reason, and that’s why we tell the managers watch performance in the first 90 days if they start coming to work late in the first 90 days and not showing up having a bad attitude. Yes, miss him! Don’t get over the 90 days, hey if you’re, not good in the first 90 days, he’s going to get worse, so I can tell you it’s not going to get better. Your best dale be the first day, i, absolutely love where you just shadow someone and you figure it out. I mean it’s very detailed. You got to learn how to run this cash register. How to flip this show us you can do it. Even the managers have to be may go test it before they give the keys to the restaurant, where they can become the manager they get 3 hours. One on one with two other man just showed him questions at them, make sure they know the temperatures. What time they open. How you do this? If there’s somebody has a heart attack? What do you do? Where’s, the respirator, what kind of like we, can’t, turn you loose on a thousand dinner, is:unless we know you got your act together, only obsessing on question, because I see it all the time and small business where there’s like the person is the receptionist doesn’t know how to check the voicemails doesn’t know how, where the passwords are say, doesn’t know what to say and there’s no system but just like we will just over time, she’ll figure it out. I never tried, and they just came in and threw them on the desk and talk phones, first, hiring people which one of your two books deals with that more so, as far as how to bring on the right people and I both have a section in there about how to keep people. This one has one in there. That’s it. Then one of the rules is a high, the best cast and talks about how to hire the best cast with setting up questions with obstacles. Listening to the answers, hiring people who overcome obstacles listening to how they solve issues. When you ask him a question, they can explain how they went all the way, even if took him 2 weeks, trying to custom around while the other four people answer. The question took him an hour and they gave up you can we can all be, are interviewers because the young business coach people today they go on the internet, they learn, they want to work at target. They they go on and say target interviewing and all the people that tell you exactly what they’re going to ask you, here’s what you need to say:disney, you ain’t at so when you put the obstacles and those are not standard. Questions asked in a nurse. She might say, tell me about a time you had to deal with a really sick patient and she wasn’t doing well and her husband was coming in every night, giving you a hard time and list of what she did. What was the outcome and she went through this dude that got the chief nurse involved and she sat down with her husband.

Talk to him. Did this and that need to go out. That’s personal goes all the way. That’s the one! I want not to want to see all these people, you know they coming out of their pan the bottom, and so it’s amazing what people will cuz people can only tell you what’s they know they can’t make it up. Cuz I can’t even visualize that greatness. They cannot visualize grape tribe nation. We return lee cockrell’s going to be breaking down for us specifically. What greatness looks like in the world of business and I loved this interview with lee and I’ll. Tell you why? Because he explains that in a great company the agenda should be 90% the same every week and every week you should do the same thing over and over and over making it better and better and better with no new ideas, sound like you would just executing the system comes from mailing it. It’s real. Rehearsing it in becoming rigorous about executing a high-quality sister, but you can’t nail anything like they just so. Therefore, you can’t make any money I’m so excited for lee cockrell to break down what excellence looks like in the world of business. Need to hire a business coach? Call us today.