The art of serendipity
HUGO SLIMBROUCK , SPECIALIST IN GLOBAL DESTINATION AND VENUE MARKETING , DISCUSSES INCENTIVE TRAVEL AS A BUSINESS AND MOTIVATIONAL TOOL IN A POST COVID-19 AGE
ow healthy is your human capital post Covid-19 ? Many industries have suffered from Covid-19 and bringing their people back together will be a major requirement for companies on the road of recovery .
Initially an invention to boost sales , incentive travel has been an established business tool for many years , not only used to reward outperforming channel partners but increasingly also for purposes linked to motivation and engagement , employee satisfaction , teambuilding and loyalty .
Covid-19 has taken its toll on the wellbeing of our business communities . Individuals have become more distant from a common purpose and in some cases working remotely has had an exhausting influence on the mental and physical states of individuals .
We may have saved many hours in traffic . But we also have had to cope with new stress factors such as solving ‘ new ’ digital challenges , and the insecurity of being furloughed or put on part-time work .
Teams have had ‘ Teams ’ to help communicate with colleagues and partners , although people of the same team have sometimes not actually been working at the same time . Zoom fatigue , trainees being sent back home and ever more tasks being added have all created pent up needs for a break . Companies should probably be looking at responsible , motivational in person activities again .
Time for a boost In this recovery period , many personal development and management tools are proving their business case . What better way to motivate organisations than by using travel and event incentives ? By creating an incremental revenue , business incentives pay for themselves , so they should not present any budget issue . Now is the right time to use them .
Organisations need energy boosts . Those with a healthy company culture will have the advantage of picking up fast again . Those with cross company learning programmes will not have stopped communication and educating during Covid-19 .
Where do we go from here ? First , digital is not going away . A new destination has been put on the global map and its name is ‘ Cloud ’. Whatever we will do in the future in terms of business events and incentive travel will have a heavy ‘ Cloud ’ component to it . Pre , during and past the event . The way organisations will have to energise through business events will always be a combination of a destination ( local , short haul or long haul ) and online .
In the way we bring together colleagues and leadership , the personal connection and teambuilding , the
Above : Hugo Slimbrouck
appreciation and connectedness will require coming together in the real world . It is the only way that really works , and the past year only proves that .
Now is the time to build trust again by communicating and merging valuable contributions with trust in the organisation . Why ? Because it is time to boost common goals and values again with personal initiatives , drive , and competitiveness . Job satisfaction and loyalty need to be rewarded and motivated .
Just as families have been feeling the need to travel again , breathe a different air , eat the local food and enjoy the visual eye candy of a destination , the same is true for the meetings and incentive industry . Engaging audiences , either digitally or physically will remain an important task for any organisation . Most likely , these audiences will be more local or regional than previously . But smaller ‘ live ’ audiences will be complemented by larger ‘ online ’ participation which creates new opportunities .
In an interview with the Swiss Convention Bureau , Sebastien Tondeur , CEO of the MCI Group stated : “ What is certain is that post Covid-19 , 10 % of our professions will disappear and 100 % of our jobs will be different from what they used to be ”.
Dépaysement I have always found ‘ Dépaysement ’ to be a beautiful word in the French language ; it means more than just its literal translation in English of ‘ change of scenery ’. We need to go away to focus , to absorb , to energise , to reward dedication and , most of all , to let serendipity play its beneficial role . Going to inspiring places with different people who are willing to exchange their interests , their knowledge , and share their dreams , will create just those kind of moments of serendipity that benefit both themselves and their organisations .
ISSUE 113 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 47