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In 2015, we visited the Disney Institute to learn how the perennial favorite directs the efforts of its massive workforce into such a consistently delightful experience. In a bright, lively conference room decorated with Disney characters, the team watched a brief video sharing a story about a young visitor and her doll named Belle, which summed up the company’s approach better than any presentation ever could:

A little girl and her mother were walking through a Disney theme park and came across a construction area that had been fenced off. To her mother’s dismay, the little girl flung her favorite Disney doll, Belle, over the fence into a muddy and inaccessible construction zone. Disney employees were notified about this travesty, but when the doll was discovered, it was dirty and damaged. The staff attempted to replace the doll, but it was an older model that was no longer available. Realizing that handing a muddy Belle back to her owner would take the sheen off the Disney experience, the staff set about bringing Belle back to her former glory. The doll was attended to by a makeup artist, wardrobe specialist and hair stylist and the good-as-new Belle was photographed as she attended a celebration with other Disney princesses. Finally, the doll was reunited with her owner, who also received a photo album documenting the day’s adventures. 

You don’t have to be a “Beauty and the Beast” fan to see why this story is so captivating. It’s just, well, magic. But what made it possible? Why did a problem so simple turn into solution so powerful? Because the Disney staff threw out the script, set aside prescriptive rules and policies and employed a different approach: a “customer-centric” one.

Being consumer centric is simply “caring about the people you’re serving.” Putting customers first is second nature to Disney employees — this story, while enough to put a smile on anyone’s face, is just a day in the life there.  And in the past few years, more and more smart, forward-thinking companies have begun transitioning to a “customer-centric” culture like Disney’s. It’s a worthy goal, and ambitious one. It’s also one of the biggest challenges a company can undertake.

But there’s little question that it pays off. Consider Southwest Airlines and USAA that have held top spots in various consumer experience rankings since 2008.  Southwest celebrated its 43rd consecutive year of profitability, which means they’ve turned a profit every single year since the Ford administration, since two years before the release of “Star Wars.” Between 2011 and 2015 alone, USAA saw its net worth grow by $7.8 billion.

Creating a customer-centric culture isn’t easy and doesn’t happen fast. But it pays great dividends, not only in the form of good news to shareholders but also in the quality of life for employees. Here are three ways to go about it:  

• Communicate a clear sense of what matters most and how it is measured
• Motivate and reward employees to make consumer-oriented changes
• Sustain a consumer obsession by connecting employees with customers 

There’s one unavoidable fact about affecting company-wide cultural change: It only works if it involves all employees. That’s why it’s critical that companies clearly — and repeatedly — articulate their goals and commitments.

In many cases, companies do this by establishing a consumer promise or charter, a succinct explanation of the customer experience they’ve set out to create.  They're not only designed to assure customers but also motivate employees, inspiring them to go that extra mile through personal passion instead of passive compliance. 

The Container Store, heralds its “employee-first culture” on its website: “We’ve found that if you really and truly take better care of the employee than anybody else (instead of just myopically focusing on the shareholder), your employee will take better care of your customer than anybody else. And if those two are ecstatic, then wonderfully and ironically, the shareholder will be ecstatic, too!”

Motivate and empower employees to make consumer-oriented changes

Creating a positive customer experience takes more than great products — it takes motivated and driven employees. (We’ve all gotten great coffees from grumpy baristas.) Luckily, there’s an easy way companies can ensure friendly service: by hiring friendly people. You can teach skill. It’s harder to teach attitude. For example, American Express started seeking out candidates from the nursing and hospitality professions, instead of exclusively looking for those with call center experience. (AmEx also recruits individuals on the basis of their problem-solving skills, figuring that those individuals will prove best at dealing with customers on the phone all day[1].)

Sustain a consumer obsession by connecting employees with customers

Companies that are exceptional at creating a consumer culture don’t simply make promises. They keep them every day, living out their charters while finding new ways to connect employees with customers.  In the early stages of a customer-centric transformation, employees need tangible examples of what they’re expected to do. Companies can present that information in spreadsheets or presentations or thickly worded PowerPoints. But people often prefer stories — and that’s why the best consumer companies collect and distribute tales of customer interactions that represent the intended experience. 

To accomplish this, we share real consumer stories and pre-recorded consumer calls with our leaders to build empathy and reinforce the need to sustain the effort.  We also launched an interactive traveling exhibit, that uses virtual reality technology, to immerse employees in different consumer experiences.

Transforming any company’s approach into a customer-centric one requires ambition, time and attention. But curiously, the process can be both complicated and simple. Yes, it involves fundamentally reshaping a culture, rewriting rules that will touch every employee from the uppermost reaches of management to the front lines. But at the end of the day, it’s also matter of wisdom, warmth and common sense. Those are traits that can’t always be taught in seminars or training sessions, but they can be found and cultivated. And when they are, they can be key to not only an exemplary business but an exemplary life.

[1] Seven Steps To Create and Sustain A Consumer Centric Culture, Sam Stern, Forrester, September 22, 2015.