Make Yourself Available to Staff

As a leader, one of your top priorities is to be available for staff members to see you. When I was at Disney World, I made it clear anyone could come and see me. If they were not getting their problem solved at the local level, the could bring it to me. My responsibility was to get things right. Every cast member should have a work environment where they felt comfortable and safe. If an issue came to me, I wasn't looking for someone to blame, I only wanted to take care of the problem. Word began to spread that Lee Cockerell would take care of it if you had an issue. Cast members had several ways to get in touch with me. This was how I kept up with the responsibility of creating a culture people wanted to be a part of. Bill Marriott told me, "When in doubt, go in favor of the employee." Over time, this is how you build trust. Sure, someone may take advantage of you every once in a while. But don't punish everyone because someone might take advantage of you. Take care of the people first. Then take care of the paper. Make yourself available to staff. Believe it or not, the first step of making yourself available for staff is to get organized. You have to have your time under control so you can devote yourself to your biggest priorities like making yourself available.