It is vitally important for firms in the tourism sector to have open and effective lines of communications with their employees, said a panel at ITB Berlin 2024.
Sitting on the panel were Madlen Schwing from the Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt; Bonita Groupp, CEO of textile firm Trigema; Eliza Reid, author and first lady of Iceland; and Gitta Brückmann, vice president corporate social responsibility for the EMEA region at Marriott Hotels. The subject of the panel was ‘Leading the Change: Corporate Culture in [the] Future Workforce’.
All of the panel spoke about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and of how their businesses had been forced to adapt to quickly changing circumstances.
Brückmann said the biggest lesson learned had been around communication.
She said: “As with many industries, the Covid-19 pandemic was a shock to us. It made us realise that conversation is still key in our people business. We had to make sure that we were talking to the individual associates to see if they had issues.”
Brückmann spoke about the measures that Marriott Hotels had put in place to help employees, chiefly around the areas of mental health.
She said: “We offer help in this through online workshops. Everybody has their own way of dealing with fear. But I’d say it’s crucial to communicate with team matters, no matter the level. The other important thing is mentor programs. Some employees are very outspoken when they have an issue, but other needs to be invited through different channels.”
Reid spoke about diversity in leadership, one day before International Women’s Day. She said that it takes a number of different viewpoints to stop everyone from thinking in the same silo mentality.
“That,” she said, “is how we get innovation, creativity, and development. I don’t like to generalise, but I think societies tend to value male leadership characteristics as opposed to female. It’s a small example—and I do hate to generalise—but women are less likely to speak or they will apologise for speaking.”
She added: “That’s why it’s important to have a lot of people so that someone will say, ‘I like that point.’ That’s why I say all types of leadership are important. We tend to stick with what we know so when we form teams and committees, we should go for something different. In travel and tourism, where there is constant change, diversity is incredibly important in how we tackle those challenges.”
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