Applying Disney's customer service ways in health care: Merging magic and possibility?

When a person looks to the leader – the standard -- for long-term diversified success, where customers and its workforce are mostly satisfied, one may choose to focus on “the happiest place on Earth.”

Since the 1920s, the Walt Disney Company has become one of the biggest Fortune 500 American companies in the world. Some see it as a role model that can provide business insights and best practices to prepare leaders and employees, applying proven service concepts and methods to strengthen MUSC’s workforce and maintain its position as a leading health care organization.

Such was the case for new MUSC Physicians (MUSCP) leader Elliot Blackman and MUSC Health Ambulatory Services executive director Sean Nelson. Both had an opportunity this past April to attend a professional development course at the Disney Institute in Lake Buena Vista in central Florida.

Blackman, who came to MUSCP in a newly created role as chief operating officer in March 2023, relocated to Charleston from Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, where he worked in business operations. Prior to that, he served in health care administration and as chief operations officer with the U.S. Air Force before retiring in 2019.  

A fan of business and leadership literature, Blackman recently read business journalist Ted Kinni’s book, “Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service” from the Disney Institute. The Walt Disney Company established the Disney Institute in 2005 to help prepare professionals using successful customer service concepts. It’s considered a leader in creating cultures of excellence built on good experiences. Both Blackman and Nelson attended the three-day “Disney’s Approach to Quality Service” program, which allowed them and other participants to be immersed in all things Disney.

“Reading that book got me interested in exploring what other offerings were available through the institute and gave us the chance to see how Disney built its culture around the guest experience and how it became the driving factor in how Disney personnel make their decisions,” said Blackman.

The training focused on quality service through three lenses: designing the culture, delivering quality services and recovering from service failures. Each day featured classroom work and field excursions, with walk-throughs in the parks so participants could observe specifics like strategies in park design, cast member or employee interactions, service failures and corrections. With intentionality as a theme in the training program, Blackman noted how helpful it was to see it in action as employees made decisions that led to positive outcomes.

Another concept introduced during the training was Disney’s five keys – safety, courtesy, show, efficiency and inclusion. All of those customer service principles support guest satisfaction and serve as the foundation of the company’s culture.

According to Blackman, these keys are reminiscent of MUSC Excellence – a workforce initiative introduced in 2006 that helped improve patient and employee satisfaction and established quality measures across the enterprise. He sees many common themes with MUSC Excellence and some Disney concepts that can be applied and updated to take service to the next level, he said.

Aside from MUSC as a participant, Blackman cited people from 10 other types of businesses at  the Disney Institute training, including real estate, small businesses and other health care organizations.

He also emphasized that MUSC is obviously not trying to become Disney, but it can learn from best practices and ideas that can be easily applied to health care.

Another fact about Disney that resonated with Blackman is the organization’s longevity. “They’ve developed a culture that keeps sustaining, maintaining and improving. It is so much easier for employees to deliver great service in a place that naturally encourages and nurtures them. The Disney experience is first class in everything they do,” he said.

And with the launch of OneMUSC, MUSC’s five-year strategic plan, department goals, other initiatives and the enterprise’s projected growth for health care services around the state, the timing could not be better.

Blackman and Nelson have taken their new experiences on the road, talking to hospital leaders and managers around the MUSC enterprise, discussing customer service concepts and strategies and how they can be applied.

“Disney offers a simplified message and common purpose: ‘We create happiness.’ How can we learn from them to better engage frontline leaders and care team members to build a culture that revolves around MUSC’s service priorities? When talking about hospitality and customer engagement, there’s nobody that does it better than Disney. We’re focused on learning from other industries outside of health care to help us get to the next level, especially as MUSC continues to grow its presence around South Carolina and beyond. Right now, the possibilities can be a win-win for patients and care team members,” he said.