It’s been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. If so, then Disney should be blushing.

That’s because all over the country, business executives are signing up to learn the “secrets” of this entertainment giant’s success through the famed Disney Institute seminars.

The Disney Institute began in 1986 and offers a variety of management training seminars and workshops onsite at Walt Disney World in Florida. But most well-known is the “Disney Keys to Excellence” program, which has been taking Disney philosophies “on the road” since 1995.

In the form of two different one-day workshops, Disney Keys to Excellence and Team Creativity: Disney Style, the Disney Institute brings its parent company’s success strategies and best practices to participants across the world, which they then can adapt to their own organizations.

The program is designed for any size business, and for nearly any level of management, from the newest member of an organization to the company’s top level executives. Additionally, the seminars are designed to work for companies across industry lines, from health care and government institutions to retail, automotive, finance, manufacturing and others.

To do this, Disney Institute works with chambers of commerce, colleges and universities. The result is a day of training that combines Disney Institute programming with the sponsoring organization’s reputation and expertise in the community.

The Keys to Excellence program recently was held at Northern Illinois University’s Naperville campus. This program focuses on four core topics: leadership, management, service and loyalty.

“The Disney Keys program is world-renowned and provided Northern Illinois an opportunity to work with the Disney organization to help area business and organizations learn successful strategies and business principles they can adopt or adapt to their respective organizations,” said Donna Mann, director of credentialing programs for NIU Outreach, an arm of the university.

“We help to identify and provide education and training needs of businesses, organizations and community leaders throughout the region,” she said. That arm of NIU reached out to 130 people who attended the seminar, including business owners, business and departmental managers, and human resources professionals, said Mann.

And working with an organization like Disney left event planners with little worry.

“Disney is a class act so we knew what to expect from Disney and our participants,” said Mann, “(including) the quality of the Disney program and its practical application to all sectors of the business community.”

One attendee was Valerie Johnson, human resource manager for the city of Elmhurst.

“I decided to attend the Disney Keys Seminar because of the Disney reputation for leadership, development, and great customer service,” she said. “I personally have enjoyed the Disney World of entertainment from vacations to movies. Their proven, time-tested and consistent delivery of outstanding customer service made them a sure pick for a development training seminar.”

And as far as Johnson was concerned, Disney delivered a day was “filled with great ideas.”

“Disney worked their magic by showing us how they infuse their values into practice by the power of story,” Johnson said. “It starts with developing leadership excellence, then cast excellence, with the goal of guest satisfaction, which gets financial results and repeat business.

“Bottom line is companies have to achieve the right talent fit, the right people in the right positions,” she said. “Corporate culture should be created by design—well-defined and clear to all. Disney has achieved and sustained this great corporate culture and built a lifetime of loyalty from their guests and their cast members.

Tinley Park real estate broker David Kress was looking for information on the Disney Institute’s three-day seminar in Orlando when he ran across the one in Naperville. He attended, he said, hoping the local seminar would give him some insight as to what he could expect from the longer program.

“Since the main focus of our business is service, I am always looking for ways to improve upon the service that we provide to our clients,” he said. “I found it to be extremely informative. There were key points discussed such as service standards, the culture of your company, training your employees and the company’s relationship with their employees.

“Each topic offered something that was useful to my firm. I would highly recommend it.”

To learn more about upcoming Disney Keys to Excellence events, Team Creativity, or other Disney Institute seminars, go to www.disneyinstitute.com.