Choose Infrastructure Over Procedures
This is a re-vamp of an article I wrote in 2017 and was posted on my old blog. I saved the original text, updated it slightly, and have reposted it here because I think the idea is more relevant than ever.
Often when we are faced with a problem in business the first thing we look at is what kind of procedure or policy we need to prevent it from happening again. Why did we have this problem? Who didn’t do their job? What kind of checklist do we need to develop?
There’s another option that should be in your toolbox: an infrastructure update.
There’s no question that you can learn almost everything you need to know about running a great business from Disney, and I love studying how they do things. I read books about Disney, listen to podcasts about Disney - I’ve even attended a Disney University class. I was excited to visit Disney World with my family, not just for the obvious family time and vacation reasons, but also because there was a huge part of me that was really excited to see how all of the lessons I learned come together in one place.
One of the greatest stories I had always heard about the Disney Parks is that they are impeccably clean: that there is an army of staff walking around constantly picking up even the smallest bits of trash.
Well, it’s true. Disney World was an incredibly clean and tidy place. Even the garbage cans were clean and shiny. And, to be fair, I did observe a lot of employees walking around with long grabbers ready to pick up litter from the ground. However, here’s where I finally found the example I was looking for: I rarely saw the cleaners having to pick up any garbage because there was rarely any garbage on the ground!
The ‘Secrets’ of Disney
One of the so-called “Secrets of Disney” is that there are garbage cans everywhere. In fact, you are never more than 30 steps in any direction from a garbage can, so there’s really no need for you to ever litter. Because the cans are so easily accessible people just naturally use them, which means that the park stays incredibly clean without the staff needing to do anything other than wipe down the cans and change the bags. Apparently, Walt Disney himself used to spend time just sitting in Disneyland, observing people interacting with the park. He watched people use the garbage cans (or not) and counted their steps. His observation was that most people would be willing to walk 30 steps to use a garbage can; much more than that and he saw that people would litter - not because of spite or malice, but due to laziness and inconvenience.
This infrastructure change means that the hard-working cleaning staff can easily stay on top of their work. Rather than facing a tidal wave of trash each day in which they are always behind, they instead get to maintain a clean facility.
Later in the week, I spent a day at Universal Studios. It was also very clean, but not as clean as the Magic Kingdom. There was still an army of cleaners on the grounds picking up trash, but there was a difference: fewer trash cans. When I needed to throw something out, I had to scan for a trash can, find one, and then break away from the family to throw my garbage out. Not everyone did that, and as a result, more people dropped their waste on the ground.
I love this example on so many levels. First, it recognizes that people are all inherently lazy and want to do the minimum amount of work possible (both visitors and staff). It's also a neat bit of social engineering: because there are so many garbage cans available, you see a lot of people using garbage cans. Because you see people using them, you are more likely to use them yourself! Finally, because the park is so clean you also want to help keep it that way (check out Broken Window Theory for more on this idea).
Disney takes the 'magic' a step further by making sure that the cans themselves are spotless. I'm a bit of a germophobe, and I hate touching the flapper doors on most garbage cans. But I saw so many maintenance people wiping and cleaning the cans at Disney World that I had no problem popping trash into them!
What Are Your Trash Cans?
Some managers, when faced with a garbage problem, might place signs asking people to throw out their trash. Others might demand that all staff members pick up at least 20 pieces of garbage an hour as a performance requirement of their job. They might create a log sheet where each employee must sign off that a can was checked/cleaned and when.
But how many managers would decide to add twice the number of garbage cans that are 'necessary' and place them closer to each other to avoid the problem in the first place?
Where can this idea fit into your business (or life)? Perhaps you have a staff room sink that's always full of dishes and the cupboards are plastered with signs asking people not to leave their dishes there. What if you bought a rack to put beside the sink for people to put their dirty dishes in? What if you invested in a dishwasher for your staff room?
Maybe you have a more serious issue, such as expense reports not being handed in on a regular basis. Perhaps you could include an expense claim form in the envelope that contains your employees’ pay stub at the end of each month. Or perhaps you could move the entire expense system over to one that scans and sends emails to the accounting department. Use the credit card, snap a photo of the receipt - and done! There might be a bit more work for the accountants to put everything together up front, but perhaps they save time in the end because they no longer have to spend their days tracking down folks and begging them for receipts. Do you even need an expense form? Maybe everyone attending a conference just gets $100 a day for expenses, and they can choose to pocket the excess and eat at McDonald’s or add their own money and eat at Alinea and return happy, content, and with a great story.
The Path Of Least Resistance
Above, I used the word ‘lazy’ to describe people. People aren’t really lazy, though. Like nature, people will choose the path of least resistance in order to solve their problems. If their problem is that they have a handful of garbage, they will seek to conserve energy and find the easiest way to get rid of that garbage. If the easiest way is to drop it, then that’s what they’ll do. If the easiest way is to put it in a bin, then that’s what they’ll do. The problem isn’t the visitors to the theme park and it’s not the efficiency of the workers: it’s a lack of focus and creativity by management.
What problems are you facing in your business or your life that could be solved by changing your infrastructure item instead of a behaviour?