From Disney to the OR

OR Excellence 2022 will kick off in Orlando on September 29 at 1:15 PM ET with an opening keynote from author, educator and former Disney executive Dennis Snow. He’ll provide ideas and strategies for delivering top-notch patient-centered care gleaned from his long career of helping the Walt Disney World organization provide experiences that created a lifetime of memories and passionate brand loyalty among its guests.

In his previous life, Mr. Snow taught Disney cast members and other execs how to center on service excellence, and is the coauthor of two books that share his philosophies: “Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service” and “Lessons From the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career and Your Life.” “While I lived these principles during my 20-year Disney career, I’ve found they apply to any organization that wants to deliver an excellent experience,” he says.

Mr. Snow’s philosophy emphasizes the importance of looking at everything you do through the lens of your customer (in our case, patient) to ensure your facility and the experiences you provide speak to them on a deeper level. That means everything from the appearance of the facility to the tone of voice staff members use when speaking with patients on the phone. He believes every detail of the care you provide either advances your facility’s brand or detracts from it, and encourages creating moments of “WoW,” seemingly small acts of service that add up to something special. That, he says, is when the magic happens.

Mr. Snow is ready to help you define your service culture, hire the right people and communicate effectively with your team to make it all happen. He will show you how to hold staff members accountable and “walking the talk” of service excellence.

“I find that healthcare professionals, including surgical leaders, are very passionate about the patient experience as well as the team-member experience,” says Mr. Snow. “I’m looking forward to connecting with that passion and sharing some best practices from my Disney background in building and sustaining a culture of excellence every day.”

Known for highly entertaining presentations that impart real-world action items that can be immediately applied in the workplace, Mr. Snow’s philosophies can help surgical leaders and staff generate new ideas, develop closer team engagement and increase the likelihood that valuable service-focused concepts will become embedded into daily actions. “I hope attendees come away with specific principles and ideas that they can implement when they return to their facilities,” says Mr. Snow. “I’ll be focusing on practical approaches rather than theory.”