Walt Disney World Cast Members Embrace Cultural and Organizational Changes

CLIENT: Walt Disney World

ISSUE: Walt Disney World needed to communicate three major compensation and cultural changes to its over 60,000 cast members in Orlando, FL, including a cultural change to identify core competencies by which all cast members would be hired, paid and promoted.

SOLUTION: A pilot group of cast members representing the technical and administrative disciplines was identified and both discipline-specific and shared competencies were identified.  Representatives from both pilot groups were identified and became spokespeople for the competency campaign. They were showcased in all communication media including videos, booklets, laminated terminology cards, train-the-trainer modules, staged presentations, intranet sites and articles in “Eyes and Ears”, the internal newspaper for Walt Disney World cast members. Representatives were awarded pins, recognition and bonuses for participating in the two-year process.

OUTCOME: Identification and roll-out of the competencies were completed on schedule.