Disney made extra 1.3 million dollars in one year and more every year thereafter: all because the bartenders spoke up and management listened.

It’s a story that has become Disney legend. In the 1990s, Judson Greene, then head of Disney Parks and Resorts, launched what he called Performance Excellence. A continuous improvement plussing process was one of the initiatives rolled out in alignment with PE.

At the Epcot, World Showcase, United Kingdom pavilion, guests visiting with children would approach the Rose and Crown Restaurant host stand and ask for fish and chips. The host would ask if they had a dining reservation? Usually, they did not. The hosts, to try to accommodate the guests, would direct them to the Rose and Crown Pub.

In the pub, bartenders would reluctantly take the guest’s order and then direct the guest to wait in the corner of the pub. The guests, with their children present, would refuse to wait because they did not want their children in the pub.

Pub bartenders, empowered by the Plussing Process, spoke up. Management listened and directed them to count the number of times this situation occurred. After a few weeks of substantial requests, management placed a rolling cart outside the restaurant. Sales were brisk.

The rolling cart was replaced by a temporary structure. Sales continued to climb.

The temporary structure was replaced by the permanent building in this .

That building generated over $1.3 mil in business in its first year of operation!

This large, unexpected increase in profit would not have happened if management hadn’t encouraged the bartenders to listen, hadn’t themselves listened to the bartenders and hadn’t applied the Plussing Process to better serve the guest need.

Walt Disney called this plussing. He once said of his people, “They need to grow. They need to outdo themselves. They need to keep plussing.” With the Fish and Chips building, they did. The revenue was unexpected and welcome. And the best part, the guests were pleased with the addition. More money and happy guests is perhaps the ultimate plus.

What about you and your organization? Are there issues the frontline notices that you do not? And even if there are, how would you know? Perhaps it’s time to find out.