Episode 20: How Critical the Cast Members are to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

Welcome to Episode 20

We want to again look at the upcoming Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge in this more abbreviated Business Magic Moment format. In it we look at how the Cast has to support the experience of delivering Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. You can find the podcast here on Podbean and here at iTunes.

In Episode 19, we spoke about the 6 Ps and about the Promise behind Galaxy’s Edge. In this podcast we want to focus on the first of the four delivery systems, People. At Disney these are your Cast Members. They include not only the front line individuals who you interact with, but those behind the scenes that make the magic a reality.

Resourcing Your Employees

I’m fascinated by this video below showcasing Cast Members the new costumes for Galaxy’s Edge. Take a look:

Note the following:

• A Cast Activities team put this together. This was the cast’s idea.
• Management and front line were involved–even walking the runway
• It got people excited about the new land.

Training & Developing Your Cast Members

I mentioned this page fold from The Disneyland Line, an internal magazine available to Disney Cast Members. Note three things from the following photo:

1. Way back in the summer of 2018 they were informing Cast Members about the stories of Star Wars. They can’t assume their employees know all about Star Wars. You have to find opportunities to inform and educate them.
2. There’s a postcard that serves as an invitation and ticket to visit Pixar Pier before opening to “exPIERience” the attractions, retail and food & beverage coming to Disney’s California Adventure. They can’t talk about it, if they don’t know about it.
3. There is an article on the right talking about the new Aspire program Disney is offering all of its employees. It’s a $50 million investment with annual funding of $25 million to support full and part-time Cast Members in their career development, whether it’s a college degree or vocational training.

Souvenirs for Your Organization:

• Are you staffing your organization with people who have the right attitude and the critical thinking skills needed?
• How are you using the implementation of new products and services as a chance to reward your employees with new growth opportunities?
• What resources are you providing your employees to set them up to do their job successfully?
• What “role” are you asking your employees to play?
• What efforts do you have in place to train and develop your staff? What things can you not assume? What things must they be able to experience themselves? What must you do to develop them long term?
• How are your employees–especially those behind the scenes supporting your front line staff?
• What are you doing to treat your employees as assets and not liabilities?

To really see all the details coming to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, be sure to subscribe to our website. There you will see under the Overview section videos of Cast Members finding out they’ve been selected to work at Galaxy’s Edge. There’s also much, much more. It includes interactive maps, hundreds of photos and images, and details about the most anticipated Disney theme park experience.

You can know more about these concepts and how it can tremendously effect your customer experience by checking out our new book, Lead With Your Customer. You can read more about the book here, and you can order your copy today here.