“The system you build is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.”
W. Edwards Deming
My first real professional experience was at Walt Disney World. In my final year of college, I did my senior design project with their hotel maintenance crew on the night shift. It was an eye-opener into what happens behind the scenes to keep things humming. As an industrial engineer, Disney was a dream playground: process optimization, simulation modeling, scheduling, analytics, service design – it was all there.
Years later, I returned to Disney to take a course on service excellence. I was leading Corporate Transformation at FirstBank then, and we knew service had to be reimagined. That course tied the dots for me; from what I’d seen in college to the system that quietly powers great service.
If you lead teams, deliver services, or have ever wondered why public restrooms often fail, this one’s for you.
Here are five principles I’ve learned (in theory and practice) about what it really takes to deliver service excellence:
1. Service excellence requires a systems approach.
You can’t fix one part and ignore the rest. You install new toilets, but don’t educate the cleaners. You train the cleaners, but don’t fix the plumbing. You buy fancy equipment, but skip the maintenance plan. It all matters.
2. If it’s not set up right, it can’t be maintained right.
This is where Total Cost of Ownership comes in. Buy well. Install properly. Document the maintenance process. Otherwise, you’ll spend more fixing, replacing, and blaming. Most maintenance failures start at setup.
3. Mindset orientation isn’t optional.
Filter for the right profiles, then invest in orienting them. At Disney, staff aren’t just employees – they’re cast members. Everyone’s part of the show. That language sets expectations and frames behavior. But mindset isn’t just about exposure, it requires explanation and reflection. That’s why real study tours include debriefs, not just site visits and selfies.
4. People need tools.
You can’t ask a cleaner to do magic without gloves and supplies. You can’t expect a teller to shine without proper access rights or product information. Uniforms matter too – they shape behavior and reinforce the role. Systems should equip, not frustrate.
5. You either invest in knowledge or operate with guesswork.
Zeal without knowledge is chaos. And people won’t always say when they don’t know, they’ll just act on instinct. Train well. Provide guides and checklists. Build feedback loops. Clarity and competence go a long way.
Which of these principles resonate most with you? Where have you seen service shine (or fall apart) and what made the difference?
Yours in possibility,
TKO
P.S. If this topic speaks to you, I recommend the book Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell, former EVP at Disney.