In Real Life—Preparing for “What If”

My first night managing Splash Mountain was …interesting.

SplashMountain in the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort

I had just joined the park management team twoweeks prior. For the past several years, I had worked in operations learningand development, designing and facilitating training programs across the WaltDisney World Resort. However, as part of a management shake up, the L&Dfunction was significantly reduced. While most of my team was let go, I movedinto park operations—specifically the busiest corner of the busiest theme parkin the world. I then had two weeks to train on all of the area attractions,including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (roller coaster), Tom Sawyer Island(free-floating rafts), Country Bear Jamboree (southern bears) and, of course,Splash Mountain (the most popular ride in the park).

This limited schedule, combined with theupcoming Easter holiday, meant that I didn’t have a chance to do muchadditional training. Sure, I had worked in park operations for years prior, butthis was a new area with new stakes, and a new set of “what if” situations. “Whatif” situations are almost always dependent on a manager’s experience and tacitknowledge. I had never managed a location with this volume, scale, orcomplexity before. So, while I knew how to be a Disney manager and focus oncritical considerations like safety, customer service, and efficiency, I hadyet to experience the specific challenges this role could bring. This is whythe first night became so interesting andso important in my professional development.

Things went sideways almost immediately when Iarrived that night. To be clear, no one was at fault. It was just the technicalnature of theme park attractions. We began to experience disruptions thatcaused delays, in-show exits, and ultimately the closure of the attraction forthe evening (along with me making a phone call to an executive to explain why Ihad lost the busiest ride in their park for several hours). While I knew exactlyhow to handle the guest side of the problem, I was not yet fully versed on thetechnical and procedural components of this world. Therefore, I had to lean hard on the cast members to get the jobdone. That night, the majority of the people in the mountain were collegeinterns who had been in their roles for less than 6 months. But, in thetoughest of circumstances, they performed exceptionally. Why? After all, thiswas not a normal evening in the Magic Kingdom. Despite their limited tenure, myteam was ready for the “what if.”

The Importance of “What If”

We spend the bulk of our training time focusedon the normal stuff—how we expect things to operate day-to-day. And that makessense. However, we often glaze over or completely forget the other side ofbusiness—the times when things go inevitably wrong. These are the make-or-breakmoments for any organization. We have an opportunity to show our customers justhow agile and resilient we are as a team as well as how much we care abouttheir experience. We can often rely on our experienced employees to get usthrough these moments thanks to their tacit knowledge, but these people won’talways be around to save us. They certainly weren’t there that night at SplashMountain.

So how do you prepare for “what if” withoutlosing focus on the regular day-to-day?

Onboarding

“What if” moments should definitely be acomponent of the onboarding experience. However, because this knowledge isunlikely to be applied in an employee’s early days on the job, it should notoverwhelm their training agenda. Rather, “what if” moments should be exploredfor awareness to help the employee understand what could happen in the future and how their resources, including peersand managers, can be leveraged to overcome the problem. If a “what if” momentoccurs during the employee’s onboarding, the trainer should make sure toinclude the employee in the discussion to provide exposure in context ratherthan relying on simulation or discussion alone. In my case, new cast memberswere regularly brought into the downtime procedure at the attraction despitetheir inability to play an active role. This paid major dividends when I neededthem months later.

Reinforcement

Because “what ifs” are not likely requiredknowledge to get an employee started in their role, reinforcement is a criticalpart of their overall learning experience. Once they are settled on the job,refresher activities should be layered into their experience so that, when a “whatif” occurs, they have the knowledge and confidence necessary to act. As aDisney manager, an important part of my role was providing reinforcement oncritical topics, including safety and customer service, to the cast. Forexample, I conducted daily huddle conversations with the team and addressedspecific topics based on the current needs of the operation. Rather than justtell people what to do, I asked questions and drew the information out of thegroup. In addition, I regularly approached cast members while on the job andasked them a quick set of targeted questions to make sure they couldimmediately recall important knowledge. For example, I would drill the team onwhat to do if they heard a strange noise (stop ride motion). These simplereinforcement activities made me confident that my team would be ready when a “whatif” moment occurred, and they certainly were that night.

Resources

It takes time to build up the knowledge andexperience necessary to perform under pressure. Therefore, simple, on-demandresources are another essential part of preparing for “what if.” Employees whodo not explicitly know how to handle a situation should definitely know where to find help in the moment of need. This cantake many forms, from an online help tool to a printed job aid. I benefitedgreatly from this type of on-demand performance support that night. During mytraining, another manager had provided with me a set of directions fornavigating the paths throughout Splash Mountain that I could access on myBlackberry. This was critical in helping me find my way (literally) during myfirst night.

Coaching

We can always do better. Training and resourcescan help us comprehend the basics, but coachingis a much more timely and contextual means of improvement. This is especiallytrue after a “what if” moment. Success should definitely be celebrated, but opportunities for continued learning must also be identified. This is where frontlinemanagers play an especially critical role in workplace learning, as the L&Dteam will likely not be there for the “what if” moments. The manager mustassess how an employee handled the situation and address any opportunities forimprovement. This should be done quickly and through discussion, not justdirection. The entire situation should be explored so that the full context isapplied as part of the coaching experience. In my case, I broke down the eventsof my first night with several peers to get their insight into how I could havedone better. Needless to say, my future Magic Kingdom “what ifs” were mucheasier to overcome. 

My first night managing Splash Mountain not only grewmy respect for the cast members, but it also reinforced the importance ofpreparing for the “what ifs.” This focus continued throughout my time at Disneyand now into my L&D work. Be sure to challenge your team, includingoperational partners, on how they are preparing your organization for theinevitable “what ifs” in your business. They probably won’t involve a talkingrabbit, but they’re still out there.