News Disney updates its legendary Four Keys model to include a fifth key

[durangojim]

Seems to me that Disney could have just started the "inclusion" key without all the buzz. Reminds me of do gooders "Look at me, see what I'm doing! Don't you think I'm fantastic!" No, I think you're glory hounds. Just shut up and do it.

Disney’s version of a humblebrag

 

[natatomic]

I’m trying to think of how this would work when a CM does a 4 Keys (well, 5 Keys) wall with a leader. These happen fairly often. Is a CM supposed to say, “Over there, I see a white cast member pin trading with a little black boy. Over there, I see a straight CM offering directions to a lesbian couple.” How else could one point out inclusivity? I suppose one could point out when a CM is getting down on the same level as a guest in a wheel chair, but that’s already something they point out as a Courtesy key. Being inclusive already IS part of being courteous.
I don’t know, this just seems far more awkward and divisive to notice people by their identities instead of just noticing them for being PEOPLE. And I can’t imagine actually having to specifically point out an example of one race talking to another race, or someone talking to someone else of a different sexual identity. Why isn’t, “I see that CM pin trading with a child, and over there I see that CM offering to give directions to that couple,” good enough?

 

[No Name]

>Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency
Also knows as Avoid Lawsuits, Avoid Lawsuits, Convince Them to Pay More and Save Money

I think Inclusion falls between "Avoid Lawsuits" and "Convince Them to Pay More"

I always saw Inclusion as being inside Courtesy. Are you really acting courteous to someone if you are excluding or treating them differently in a negative way?

Are you really acting courteous to someone if you don’t put their safety first?
Are you really acting courteous to someone if you lower their entertainment value?
Are you really acting courteous to someone if you hold them up in line?

They‘re all inside Courtesy.

 

[The_Jobu]

Meanwhile, in the office of the Diversity and Inclusion Executive:

"Man, I really earned my 400k today. I should go on vacation, maybe Universal."

 

[Djsfantasi]

Or is this really just a part of “courtesy” that has been whored out for political posturing?

And therein you reveal your true agenda. Inclusion is political and therefore is bad. Particularly since it doesn’t reflect your political values.

It is not political. It is cultural. And many people believe that it should be part of American culture.

 

[bayoubelle]

And therein you reveal your true agenda. Inclusion is political and therefore is bad. Particularly since it doesn’t reflect your political values.

It is not political. It is cultural. And many people believe that it should be part of American culture.

Disney is and has been inclusive. This is their Mickey Mouse version of relevancy bologna and yes, it is political.

 

[Djsfantasi]

Disney is and has been inclusive. This is their Mickey Mouse version of relevancy bologna and yes, it is political.

I respectively disagree. The concept is MOST DEFINITELY NOT political. One’s interpretation is.

 

[The_Jobu]

I respectively disagree. The concept is MOST DEFINITELY NOT political. One’s interpretation is.

From an academic point of view (I know... BOOOOoo...) politics shape culture and culture shapes politics. They're inextricable.

 

[Joel]

And therein you reveal your true agenda. Inclusion is political and therefore is bad. Particularly since it doesn’t reflect your political values.

It is not political. It is cultural. And many people believe that it should be part of American culture.

If inclusion requires large scale societal changes, as many are calling for, then it is unavoidably political. Let's not kid ourselves here.

 

[Djsfantasi]

If inclusion requires large scale societal changes, as many are calling for, then it is unavoidably political. Let's not kid ourselves here.

So are you implying that Disney is calling for large change societal changes?

 

[Djsfantasi]

If inclusion requires large scale societal changes, as many are calling for, then it is unavoidably political. Let's not kid ourselves here.

You are implying that Disney is proactively championing large scale societal changes (LSSC). I doubt this. Their response is reactive. Nothing more.

 

[Jon81uk]

I’m trying to think of how this would work when a CM does a 4 Keys (well, 5 Keys) wall with a leader. These happen fairly often. Is a CM supposed to say, “Over there, I see a white cast member pin trading with a little black boy. Over there, I see a straight CM offering directions to a lesbian couple.” How else could one point out inclusivity? I suppose one could point out when a CM is getting down on the same level as a guest in a wheel chair, but that’s already something they point out as a Courtesy key. Being inclusive already IS part of being courteous.
I don’t know, this just seems far more awkward and divisive to notice people by their identities instead of just noticing them for being PEOPLE. And I can’t imagine actually having to specifically point out an example of one race talking to another race, or someone talking to someone else of a different sexual identity. Why isn’t, “I see that CM pin trading with a child, and over there I see that CM offering to give directions to that couple,” good enough?

As you say inclusiveness should just happen, you shouldn’t be able to point it out. But it’s important for when it doesn’t happen. Hopefully the occasions of CMs favouring the white child or the straight parents are very very rare. But it’s important people get the right training to help prevent unconscious bias as well as conscious prejudice.

 

[Thelazer]

This from a company that was so inclusive, I think 80% of it's work force is LGBT etc.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Seems to me that Disney could have just started the "inclusion" key without all the buzz. Reminds me of do gooders "Look at me, see what I'm doing! Don't you think I'm fantastic!" No, I think you're glory hounds. Just shut up and do it.

There are some things that should be left unsaid. Actions speak louder than words.

 

[Brer Oswald]

And therein you reveal your true agenda. Inclusion is political and therefore is bad. Particularly since it doesn’t reflect your political values.

It is not political. It is cultural. And many people believe that it should be part of American culture.

It isn’t that “inclusion” is political. It’s the need to outline the implied in an article to counteract recent negative political attention they’re getting. It isn’t slick.

These things don’t really bother me. But I can at least see why some others are.

 

[Amidala]

I think Jenny Nicholson pretty much hit the nail on the head w/ this one in her twitter thread (link here). I don't think it's an inherently bad thing to emphasize the importance of inclusivity in CM training, but the Four Keys are (were?) a priority ladder, and inclusivity doesn't make sense as a "rung" on that ladder. Like that twitter thread says, the four keys "aren't used as an expression of values but as a tool to remember how to rank priorities in customer service."

I also think it's worth adding that Traditions, Welcome to Ops and other CM classes already do cover many of these issues in depth (e.g. How to make guests with disabilities feel welcome, how to identify would-be thieves without slipping into subconscious racial/economic profiling, etc.) The Welcome to Ops visuals very pointedly include guests of varying races, levels of physical ability, etc.

IMO this is lip service that will draw positive word of mouth on social media without requiring any decisive action on the company's part. As a former CM who has seen MANY coworkers attempt to report sexual harassment, racism, homophobia, etc. to the upper management and fail to elicit a response (even after multiple complaints) I also think it's a little hypocritical to suggest, however indirectly, that the onus is 100% on CMs to drive diversity initiatives.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Inclusion meaning they will hire CMs with obvious/visible piercings and tattoos now?

This probably isn't about you.

 

[natatomic]

As you say inclusiveness should just happen, you shouldn’t be able to point it out. But it’s important for when it doesn’t happen. Hopefully the occasions of CMs favouring the white child or the straight parents are very very rare. But it’s important people get the right training to help prevent unconscious bias as well as conscious prejudice.

That still doesn’t make sense. I used to work in a roll where I got to pick a young child to help with an introduction, so I probably ended up picking out about 6 to 12 kids a day. Are you trying to say that ANY time I picked out a white child that I wasn’t being “inclusive,“ and that I was being racist? Would I be required to pick out a child of another race every single time? Wouldn’t that mean that I was then excluding white children? If a leader and cast member were observing me during a “5 keys walk,” and they saw me pick a white child, would they use me as an example of not being inclusive? I can tell you right now, I picked kids of all races, but I never picked a child BECAUSE of the color of their skin. I picked them if they were celebrating a birthday or if they were Make-A-Wish, or if they were wearing a costume or outfit that matched the theme of the attraction, or if we had a great interaction while they waited in line to get in. Sometimes I picked a kid totally randomly. To think that a leader and/or fellow CM might see me pick out a kid and speculate if my motivations are based on race and nothing more is absurd and offensive. It would be a judgment call on nothing but speculation of a single moment in time. What if the time previous I picked a child of a different race, but they didn’t see it?

 

[Jon81uk]

That still doesn’t make sense. I used to work in a roll where I got to pick a young child to help with an introduction, so I probably ended up picking out about 6 to 12 kids a day. Are you trying to say that ANY time I picked out a white child that I wasn’t being “inclusive,“ and that I was being racist? Would I be required to pick out a child of another race every single time? Wouldn’t that mean that I was then excluding white children? If a leader and cast member were observing me during a “5 keys walk,” and they saw me pick a white child, would they use me as an example of not being inclusive? I can tell you right now, I picked kids of all races, but I never picked a child BECAUSE of the color of their skin. I picked them if they were celebrating a birthday or if they were Make-A-Wish, or if they were wearing a costume or outfit that matched the theme of the attraction, or if we had a great interaction while they waited in line to get in. Sometimes I picked a kid totally randomly. To think that a leader and/or fellow CM might see me pick out a kid and speculate if my motivations are based on race and nothing more is absurd and offensive. It would be a judgment call on nothing but speculation of a single moment in time.

No you are giving an example of perfect service, choosing a child based on the interaction, or at random. There is no need to pick a different race every time or something like that. You are waaay overthinking this.

Your post agrees with mine that inclusiveness should just happen.

There will be a tiny number of bad eggs in every company who make decisions for the wrong reasons and it will never be easy to weed them out. Those who have bad motives or the let their beliefs take priority and for example only ever pick white kids even if you watch them do their job all day every day. Hopefully those sort of people will already have been got rid of.

There will also be people in between where they don’t even realise they are doing something wrong. Such as assuming Dr Smith is a man just because they have a qualification. Those sort of small assumptions can be improved through improved training, but will likely never be noticed if a manager was just walking past and observing for a couple of minutes.

This is why your post about observing a single point in time is completely irrelevant as inclusion needs to be embedded into every employee.

 

[Brer Oswald]

No you are giving an example of perfect service, choosing a child based on the interaction, or at random. There is no need to pick a different race every time or something like that. You are waaay overthinking this.

Your post agrees with mine that inclusiveness should just happen.

There will be a tiny number of bad eggs in every company who make decisions for the wrong reasons and it will never be easy to weed them out. Those who have bad motives or the let their beliefs take priority and for example only ever pick white kids even if you watch them do their job all day every day. Hopefully those sort of people will already have been got rid of.

There will also be people in between where they don’t even realise they are doing something wrong. Such as assuming Dr Smith is a man just because they have a qualification. Those sort of small assumptions can be improved through improved training, but will likely never be noticed if a manager was just walking past and observing for a couple of minutes.

This is why your post about observing a single point in time is completely irrelevant as inclusion needs to be embedded into every employee.

I picture Dr Smith as a man because the only Dr Smith I know is my male dentist, and that’s who I picture.