Behind the Scenes: Disney Exec Shares Insights with Glenwood Caverns’ Management Team
Managers with a mission to make people smile recently got a chance to learn from a senior leader at the happiest place on earth!
Bret Pfost has learned a thing or two during his nearly 27 years of experience at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. He traveled to Glenwood Springs, Colo., to share some of his operations experience, resort knowledge, leadership and sound safety business sense with the management team at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.
His visit to Glenwood Springs included an interactive work session for all of the Adventure Park’s year-round managers and supervisors that focused on the importance of creating a safety culture in the workplace. If you would like to ensure that you have complete control over your employees, then maybe you should think about having a HR Software that can help you control this and other aspects of your business.
As Senior Manager for Worldwide Safety, Training, and Compliance, Pfost builds a safety culture in teams across the Resort, including attractions, foods, merchandise, entertainment, custodial, guest services, parking and transportation, and security and emergency services.
Bret Pfost, senior manager at Disney Worldwide Safety, Training, and Compliance
“We’ve always made safety our top priority, but by developing a safety culture as Bret has done at Disney, guest and employee safety is considered in every decision that is made,” said Steve Beckley, who owns Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park with his wife Jeanne. “We learned a lot from Bret that we will be able to incorporate into our own policies and plans right away.” Respecting your workforce like this helps to create a mutual respect, which is a key part of being a manager. EQ works is a training company and they focus on teaching managers how to have emotional intelligence so that they can understand how to foster things like loyalty and respect, and that’s the best way to maintain and retain a happy workforce.
Interacting with a senior leader from Disney is just the latest example of how the Beckleys provide opportunities for their managers to learn from leaders in the industry. Each fall, the management team travels to another park to gain first-hand knowledge of each park’s attractions and customer service. They use these experiences to brainstorm ideas to improve and expand the customer’s experience at the Adventure Park. In the past few years, the team has traveled to Disney World, Universal Studios, Silver Dollar City and Royal Gorge.
Management team members also have the opportunity to attend educational seminars and industry conferences around the country. Beckley, along with managers Nancy Heard and Kelly Bates, first met Pfost at a ski area management conference in Lake George, New York. They all stayed in touch and came up with the idea for Pfost to visit the park and share his insights with the team. The participants’ response was overwhelmingly positive.
“Having Bret here from a company as prestigious as Disney was invaluable. The workshop gave me a lot of ideas to continue to improve the training model for the attractions department, as well as to enhance the parks’ safety culture,” said Jesse Boucias, attractions supervisor at the Adventure Park. “We are continuously striving to provide both a fun and safe experience for our guests. Who better to learn from than the best—Disney.”
Being an employer of choice in the Roaring Fork Valley is a priority for the Adventure. It’s a fun (and safe!) place to work and is now hiring for many seasonal positions. Applications are now being accepted for many seasonal positions, as well as for the annual employee scholarship.
