jsl_web_admin, Author at SearchWide Global

A NEW Vision for the TRAVEL Industry

6.11.202005.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

“It is difficult, but it is possible.” -Althea Gibson

We stand with these industry leaders and are ready to do our part.

-Mike Gamble, President and CEO, SearchWide Global

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Read the letter here:

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SearchWide Global is a full-service executive search firm primarily for companies in Destination Organizations / Hotels & Resorts / Venue Management / Experiential Marketing, Tradeshow & Exhibition / Industry Associations / Sports & Entertainment. Specializing in C-Level and Director level executive searches for companies ranging in size from Fortune 500 corporations to mid-sized public and private companies and associations. Founded in 1999, SearchWide Global headquartered in St. Paul, MN, USA and operates worldwide.

After 8 Months as a Digital Nomad, Here’s What I’ve Learned

3.11.202005.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Elizabeth McHeffey

Having the opportunity to travel, while keeping your career intact is not something that everyone can do, but with more and more jobs relying on technology, the trend is not slowing down. In fact, according to a recent Forbes Article, “7.3 million Americans describe themselves as digital nomads”. This is an “increase of 2.3 million from the previous year”. With the increasing trend, the article quotes that 44% or almost half of nomads are working a traditional job, meaning they are not freelancing or self-employed. With Millennials in the lead, the second largest generation of digital nomads are Baby Boomers (56 – 74 years old), which may be a surprise to some.

While being a digital nomad myself, I met people from all demographics. From young bloggers and digital marketers a few years out of college to couples in their 30’s traveling with their toddlers while making a living in Research or IT, to the Baby Boomers in sales, photography, or journalism. Everyone had a unique story to tell and a different timeline on their nomadic lifestyle: some for the summer, some on the road already for years with no plans to end their nomadic lifestyle. One commonality among all was a collective passion for exploration, freedom, nonconformity and unique experiences. However, that freedom must be shared with discipline and hard work to stay on your career path.

So, after being on the road for eight months, I have a few tips for those considering becoming a digital nomad, or perhaps those that already are and need a little guidance.

Strive for Balance

Balancing your workload with business travel can be a challenge, and the nomadic lifestyle is no different. So, whether you are working 5 hours per week or 25 hours per week, you must be very self-disciplined. Most nomads are moving around all the time and not on a relaxing vacation, so it is important to set aside time daily, weekly or monthly for work. When you are working, make sure to make those hours count and be as productive as possible, so you can spend your other time on the road exploring. Productivity and efficiency are key!

Prepare for Plans to Change

Unfortunately, with life on the road comes uncertainty. The plan that you had very rarely ends up being the outcome. That is the best part about being a digital nomad: you don’t have a set plan; time is limitless, and your boundaries are endless. But that can cause issues when you need to get your work done or have a strict deadline. WiFi and outlets are not a guarantee! Once leaving the big cities and driving through the winding backroads in the plains, deserts, and mountains, we rarely had WiFi. I relied on coffee shops for internet, but that also meant working during their hours, so if you get to a city at 6PM and they closed at 3PM, you are out of luck. If you are camping off the grid and you are able to use a hotspot to connect to internet, make sure your laptop is fully charged, because there won’t be any outlets at your campsite in the middle of that cornfield in Idaho. When I could, I would try to find shops open late or early in the morning on the weekends. While everyone vacations and sightsees on the weekends, I had the luxury of hiking the flower-blossom covered mountains of Glacier National Park on a Wednesday, while many are working traditional workweeks.

Set Goals and Communicate

Being a digital nomad is an unmatched opportunity and experience of a lifetime. Set goals for yourself and ask your boss to set goals for you as well. Like many things in life, being a digital nomad is not something that you can truly plan for, so having open communication and an employer that is adaptable to change was a huge part of making my journey successful. Moreover, if you can make it an opportunity for your personal evolution and exploration, coupled with professional growth, while also achieving something for the organization you work for, it will be a win-win from all angles. I am lucky enough to work in the travel and tourism industry and had the opportunity to fulfill a dream while visiting many destinations and clients that we work for along the way.

Now I am back in a traditional sense of workspace and workweek, but I am grateful for the experiences digital nomadism has granted me. Hopefully, these tips allow some of you to take a leap of faith to drive through the rugged and desolate Badlands in the VW van of your dreams, roast marshmallows under the moonlight and sleep among thousand-year-old Redwood Trees. And if not, then go after your passion and work towards that goal!

Elizabeth McHeffey is our digital nomad. During her travels she’ll be diving into topics and trends surrounding the generations in the workforce, stopping along the way to meet with industry leaders that are making waves and reinventing how we work. What we’re calling, “The Remote Route.”

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The DNA of Tomorrow’s Destination Leaders Podcast with Mike Gamble

1.15.202005.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Our President & CEO, Mike Gamble had the pleasure of being a guest on the DMOU: Destination Marketing Organization University podcast with host, Bill Geist. DMOU features the brightest voices in the Destination Marketing field, sharing innovative case studies and evolving philosophies.

Bill is also the Chief Instigator of DMOProz; a resource for Destination Marketing Organization Professionals everywhere. Since 1995, they have provided cutting-edge consulting and speaking services to the tourism and hospitality industry with a focus on Destination Marketing and Management Organizations across North America.

In this episode, Bill sits down with Mike to talk about his perspective on what the future looks like for destination leaders.

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Work-Life Balance

11.15.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Elizabeth McHeffey

“Work-life balance” has been an ongoing discussion ever since the digital age revolutionized our ability to remain connected, and it is a concept that Millennials and GenerationZ prioritize. The term “work-life balance” is a bit unfitting in my opinion, in that it would imply that there is a perfectly even distribution or a trade-off of both work and life. As Gary Sherwin with Visit Newport Beach says:

“The term work-life balance is challenging…it is all LIFE!”

And he is right: it is all life. Instead, my colleagues, peers, clients, and friends tend to prefer work-life harmony, work-life immersion and work-life flow. And the ultimate goal of this harmony is to make your career and professional life blend effortlessly with your personal life. Because at the end of the day, it is all life! Let’s take a dive into the evolving workplace within our travel and tourism industry and see what types of initiatives organizations are offering surrounding this topic.

Flexible Work Hours

Work flexibility in the past meant coming in late for the occasional doctor’s appointment or because you had to bring your kids into school, but this has been redefined in recent years. Millennials and GenZ-ers are looking for less compartmentalized and traditional work hours and more fluidity. Maybe Alisha, is just not a morning person. Or maybe she wants to ski that morning and come to the office from 12-8. Or maybe she wants to go out to lunch and take a yoga class midday to re-center. Why? To gain the work-life flow that she is craving.

Companies like Visit Newport Beach, Visit Wichita and others have initiated 9/80 workweeks and are prioritizing flexibility. Colleen Costello with Visit Newport Beach talked to me about how her office works an hour longer each day to allow for every other Friday off. She shares that this elevates productivity in her personal life when she has the days off and her professional life when she is in the office.

“It frees up your life in a way that you didn’t know you needed. Those Fridays, both of them, end up being your most productive days of the week.”

Susie Santo with Visit Wichita explains, “As far as set hours, there is a lot of flexibility amongst our staff. They do not need to be 8-5 at their desks.” She continues, “I really looked at what are the barriers that would prohibit one of my employees from being the healthiest and best they can be. Is it time? How do we create a more flexible workspace? Really trying to instill that ‘Okay, you can get up and work out if you want to work out in the middle of the day’. Or trying to be more mindful around scheduling meetings and people working out in the morning.”

It is certainly a paradigm shift in traditional thinking, but according to this Forbes article, working untraditional workweeks or workhours can ultimately benefit the company. The survey results reveal that only “7% of workers say that they were most productive in the office during regular hours.” I don’t know about you, but that number is shockingly low to me. Of course, flexibility is not feasible for all industries or positions, but for those that it is, companies may want to reconsider work schedules to allow for work-life immersion and to encourage employees to work around their productivity peaks. Win-win for all!

Flexible Workplace

Piggybacking off of the previous section, flexibility in where you work is also a big factor surrounding that harmony of work and life. Whether you are simply working remote on Fridays or you are a full-time digital nomad, flexibility in the workplace is important to many I have chatted with. According to this Article, over 4.8 million Americans consider themselves digital nomads and 17 million are aspiring to one day be ‘nomadic’. This number may be a bit inflated and could include part-time remote workers, but either way it is a high number that does not look to be slowing down.

Personally, having the ability to engage in the digital nomad lifestyle has been a life-changing experience. It has been an opportunity to remain with my company and continue on my career trajectory, while fulfilling a personal passion to explore North America. In my experience, it has allowed me to have freedom and flexibility, inspiration, an active and healthy lifestyle, all while immersing myself in the diversity of our nation, growing my network and meeting people from all walks of life. Traveling while working absolutely puts an emphasis on productivity during those hours that you are working because you don’t know if Wi-Fi will grant you the ability to finish a project tomorrow. All in all, it blurs those lines of work and life more so than I have experienced in the past, creating a unique flow.

Evolving Benefits

Other ways that Millennials and GenZ-ers look to companies to provide improved work-life immersion are through benefits programs. Many organizations, such as non-profit Destination Marketing Organizations, are sometimes simply not able to offer extremely high salaries. So, some companies, like Visit Philadelphia, are listening to what Millennials and GenerationZ want and increasing paid days off to make their entire package more enticing and make their employees happy.

Erica Shurmur, Sports Coordinator with Visit Philadelphia says, “We all get a lot of PTO. They are doing a really good job making us all happy and keeping us happy with things that are not our salary.”

Other companies, like mine here at SearchWide Global, are listening to our generation and our desire to have a fulfilling and rewarding component to our lives. A more modern benefit is offering paid volunteer days, dubbed by many as “VTO” or volunteering day off. This allows employees to feel fulfilled personally without stressing about finding the time to volunteer after hours or need to take a vacation or personal day.

Another rising trend that aids in that harmonious relationship between work and life is family benefits. With Millennials currently between the age of 23 and 38, many have a family or are beginning to think about starting a family, so having comprehensive family benefits are a rising priority. According to this Forbes article, Dow Jones offers family-friendly benefits such as maternity leave, return-to-work benefits, parental educational counseling, and on-site daycare.

Lifestyle Support

Unfortunately, a lot of individuals that work within the hospitality industry just don’t have an option to work remotely and are instead working on-property at a hotel or restaurant, working long workdays. But this isn’t stopping some companies from bringing lifestyle support into the workplace and improving the work-life flow experience.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise being a resort property in a fairly remote location, many of their employees live in on-site staff accommodations. They have an employee devoted solely to investing in their colleagues and making their environment more supportive, malleable, integrative and fun. The Lifestyles Manager coordinates events such as white-water rafting, oversees their in-house employee gym membership program and their rental program, where employees can rent anything from bear spray to paddleboard to tents. He hosts events such as trivia night and paint night and encourages colleagues to sit down with Benefits Advisors to make sure they are taking full advantage of all benefits offered. They put a strong emphasis on improving employees’ lifestyle experience, bringing things into the office and allowing easier accessibility outside of the office.

“One thing that we do here, that is unique to our property, and that is recently picking up in our region is we have a program and a manager that is dedicated just to our colleagues’ lifestyles. They are called a Lifestyle Manager [Chris], and his sole job is to create the best possible experience for our colleagues.” Rebecca Kistner, Assistant Director of Talent & Culture explains. She continues, “His whole job is ensuring we have enough work-life balance, especially given the environment we are in….His events and programs are focused on well-being. Chris is taking a holistic approach on well-being; not just looking at the physical well-being, but the mental well-being. Ensuring that colleagues are utilizing their benefits and are aware of all our programs that we have available to them. Taking it as far as financial well-being – are colleagues aware of our pension program? He is taking a holistic strategy on well-being in general.”

Visit Wichita echoes the 360-degree lifestyle support approach by bringing those initiatives into the office, knowing that time is valuable to their employees outside of the office. Susie Santo explains,

“One of our big pieces that taps into wellness is that we have hired Life Coaches. We have a Life Coach that comes in twice a month and the team can sit down with them confidentially.” Employees have the opportunity to speak with this person during office hours about any goals, personal or professional, that they are looking to achieve; something that many would get too busy to do outside of work.

In closing, the immersion of work and your life outside of work is an everchanging and dynamic concept, that no doubt will continue to grow and evolve over time. Companies should continue to be forward-thinking and openminded about the immersion and blend of work and life and see how to make small, incremental improvements that work in today’s modern society. No need to make huge waves but start with small ripples and go from there. I’ll leave you with this last quote from Casey Adams Jones, Corporate Communications Manager, with Visit Philadelphia:

“As Millennials and Gen-Zers become more conscious about the importance of mental health, we are looking for organizations who encourage work-life flow. I say flow because the concept of balancing work and life, and even relying on the two to be “balanced” is not achievable for most. Pressures from work and life fluctuate. Instead of focusing on how to balance the two, it’s more effective to embrace that there will be a flow in life where work is more hectic than life and vice versa. There will also be moments where the two are coming full force. For this reason, our generations are attracted to employers who support us whether it be through offerings such as a flexible work schedule, working remotely, or a generous amount of paid time off.”

Four Tourism Industry Companies Partner for Success

11.13.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

November 13, 2019, (ST. PAUL, MN) – Four well-respected companies in the destination marketing (DMO) industry partner to better to serve clients with the collaboration and alignment of services.

The consortium provides a suite of services and long-time expertise to similar clients and helps DMO leaders operate more successfully and profitably. The partnership includes; SearchWide Global, CFO by design, Civitas, and Fired Up Culture.

“This collection of companies and their teams have earned universal respect in the DMO sector. We believe that our four companies can collaborate in a way that will allow DMO leaders to focus on what they do best, sell and market,” said Mike Gamble, President and CEO, SearchWide Global.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership. We are honored to work with these companies that we’ve respected for years. At CFO by design, we’re committed to strengthening DMOs and our industry by supporting executives and their organizations through financial accountability, board excellence and community alignment,” said Julie Hart, President, CFO by design.

“We are thrilled to be a part of such a dynamic team of leaders! Each company brings a degree of skill and talent to this industry that is simply unparalleled. At Civitas, we specialize in igniting local economies, creating jobs, and establishing stable funding for destination promotions and downtown improvements throughout the United States,” said John Lambeth, President & CEO, Civitas.

“We are inspired by this alliance! The level of excellence and specialized expertise each partner brings to the group is a perfect blend for the industry we serve. Fired Up! Culture is focused on elevating the DMO industry through strengthened culture, leadership development and building high-performance teams,” said Chris Ihrig, CEO, Fired Up Culture.

SearchWide Global is a full service executive search firm primarily for companies in Destination Organizations / Hotels & Resorts / Venue Management / Experiential Marketing, Tradeshow & Exhibition / Industry Associations / Sports & Entertainment. Specializing in C-Level and Director level executive searches and founded in 1999, SearchWide Global is headquartered in St. Paul, MN, USA and operates worldwide.

CFO by design works with clients to uncover opportunities to strengthen financial and organizational practices and priorities. They provide industry leading solutions to establish a solid operational foundation, exceptional community alignment and to provide accountability to stakeholders while allowing leadership to focus on the core of running the organization.

Civitas specializes in developing long term funding strategies for destination marketing organizations. Civitas is the nation’s leading firm in Tourism Improvement Districts. The Civitas team has helped form over 100 districts throughout the United States and in many cases have doubled or tripled the DMO budget.

Fired Up Culture innovative tools and solutions help companies understand how to care for their team members, foster a culture of excellence, and experience business breakthroughs like never before.

###

KARA RYAN | MARKETING DIRECTOR

SEARCHWIDE GLOBAL

680 Commerce Dr., Suite 220, St. Paul, MN 55125

P: (651) 275-1370

ryan@searchwideglobal.com

SEARCHWIDEGLOBAL.COM

Behind the Term Millennial

9.19.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Elizabeth McHeffey

Google the word Millennial and you will come back with an endless flurry of articles written about “how to deal with Millennials”, “how to manage Millennials in the workplace”, or “how to interact with Millennials”. Entitled, job hoppers, self-centered, easily distracted, and need constant praise are frequent adjectives listed. So, I set out on a quest to talk to tourism and travel industry Millennials about these stereotypes and what has shaped us, while also meeting with industry leaders within the GenerationX and Baby Boomer generations to see what the generation gap looks like to them.

To start, lets define the term Millennial. According to Pew Research Center, Millennials are defined as individuals born between 1981 and 1996 – or currently ages 23 to 38. And when talking with my peers, they agreed that they don’t jump for joy over the term that blankets our generation.

Maranda Tippin with the San Diego Tourism Authority says, “There is an unfortunate negative connotation, entitlement, and all of those aspects to [the term] Millennial that I always feel that I have to overcome when people know my age. You call me a Millennial and I take it negatively.”

Kylie Leslie with Visit Phoenix is in agreeance with Maranda, saying, “I think it is an interesting term because it is one that I think can have a negative connotation because people think of Millennials of not having great communication skills, always on their phones… But it has been gotten to a point now where the term has been used so much that people are realizing that not every millennial is the same. It is also such a big age gap. We are such a diverse generation.”

Let’s first dive into what shapes a generation – a big piece of the puzzle is the influence of environmental and economic factors. And arguably the biggest environmental factor that attributes to characteristics of the Millennial generation is technology.

We are the first generation that has largely grown up with computers and cell phones. This has not only created an ease of accessibility to resources but also an emphasis on efficiencies, data collection and analysis. We have the ability to Google ‘top visited cities in the United States’ and the answer will pull up in a millisecond. No need to comb through encyclopedias for hours at the library. We use and analyze data to streamline processes and make improvements – whether it is looking at your insight statistics on your personal Instagram account or improving SEO for your company.

Kimber Tabscott with Monterey Convention and Visitors Bureau points out that, “Data is a key word for our generation. It is something that has really fueled the whole generation. Everything has research and data behind it – it’s at the tip of our fingers, we aren’t spending hours at the library reading books and finding what we need – it’s available at the snap of a finger – and of course there is a [generational] gap. That’s a huge thing, so for the generations that have not embraced that it is going to cause a fissure.”

With answers at our fingertips, we have gotten accustomed to speed, which most likely leads to the stereotype of being easily distracted and having shorter attention spans. However, the positive side to this is that multitasking comes natural to Millennials. We are the generation that can easily sit in an overcrowded coffee shop with the hum of voices and revolving door of customers’ orders being shouted, while participating on a work conference call, texting back our clients, and going through emails.

Kylie with Visit Phoenix says, “We have shorter attention spans than others because we are so used to multitasking. I think most Millennials have a good work ethic because we are so used to doing things at the same time and being pulled into different directions. And that can be a strength for a lot of us because we don’t need complete silence to focus. We are able to focus in different environments – remote places and different work hours — and that is why we are interested in flexibility in the workplace.”

We communicate and collaborate openly. We have grown up using AOL Instant Messenger, texting, Gchat, Facetime and feel completely comfortable sharing personal pictures on Facebook and Instagram – always connected to our peers. TV shows have become much more open and less censored than previous generations, as have conversations on topics such as politics, sexual orientation and inequality in the workplace.

Randi Morritt with Visit Aurora says, “We are a generation of communicators. We will tell you about our dog, share all of our personal pictures, tell you where we live — we will tell the world everything.”

From an economic perspective, Millennials are faced with a great deal of debt compared to previous generations. According to this Forbes Article, the cost for a four-year degree has doubled from 1989 to 2016, even after inflation. Further, the average annual growth in wages was only 0.3% between 1989 and 2016. Concluding that the cost to attend a university increased nearly eight times faster than wages.

While some may say that we are job-hoppers, many Millennials might say that we have to stay on the grind and are entrepreneurial-minded. Having a “side hustle” such as an Etsy Shop or selling beauty products is not out of the norm for us. Once again, emphasizing the multitasker attribute.

Gina Archuleta with Monterey Convention and Visitors Bureau points out that, “We are super scrappy. Salaries haven’t really risen over time with inflation. You can’t support a household on one income anymore — you need two incomes. It is not an option to be a stay-at-home-Mom anymore. A lot of people think that Millennials are too out there or too creative, but we have to be with so many barriers. We just have to go for it because we don’t have another choice.”

So, are the stereotypes true about Millennials? I think it depends which way you look at it. It is important to remember that although entire generations can have similar qualities due to certain environmental or economic factors, each person needs to be treated as an individual. And in talking with senior leaders in the industry, they accentuate this notion.

Margie Sitton with the San Diego Tourism Authority says, “I guess I’m pretty simplistic. We have a lot of Millennials in this [Sales] Department and I find them to be hardworking, on time, and not as whiny as everyone claims they are – so I don’t look at them as a problem. We are in a business community and have a diverse group of people – guys, gals, straight, gay, all different generations – with a commonality that they just love this industry.”

Rachel Benedick with Visit Denver shares, “If you understand what shaped a generation or what shaped the parents of a generation, then you are going to understand the products of those generations. That is what you have to do as a leader. It is my job to understand each individual person and when you figure that out, it is really empowering. You can’t manage every person the same.” She continues, “You have to invest in and understand your people.”

Bottom Line: Each generation has similar behaviors or attributes that they may share due to the factors that they have grown up with. Furthermore, all generations that are just entering the workforce may be faced with larger scrutiny and overgeneralizations than those that are established in the workforce. It is important to take note of the factors that have shaped each generation, while not painting Millennials with one brush. By doing so would encourage a disconnect rather than a collaboration, and a lack of change rather than a larger creative growth. The great news is that industry leaders that I spoke with already do view their team as individuals, encouraging diversity, development, and individuality.

So, are Millennials old news? In the coming years, the conversation will be shifting to GenerationZ.

Striving for an Imaginative Company Culture

9.17.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Kara Ryan

Company culture is all the buzz, and for good reason. Studies show culture can make or break a company when attracting top talent, retaining the superstars, and can lead to a higher level of success versus companies without a defined culture.

If you’re striving for a company culture that sparks more creativity and imagination among your team, consider these suggestions to implement.

Strive to attract and hire passionate and creative individuals that work great with others.

2. Hire a diverse slate of people from all walks of life. Diversity has been proven to foster new ideas and generate new opportunities. According to Forbes, “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform their competitors by 15% and those in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform their competitors by 35%.”

3. Focus on empowering the entire team, not just the executive team to contribute to ideas and initiatives. Give everyone a voice. It’s been shown to attribute to higher performance ratings, lower turnover rates and leads to more initiative and innovation. Here are some ways to give everyone a voice.

Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.

4. Don’t work in silos. Break up the departments and allow individuals to work with different teams on new projects. Fresh dynamics lead to new ideas and perspectives.

5. Design an environment that inspires people. Somewhere that collaboration and innovation can thrive. Think meeting pods, gardens, treadmill desks or incorporating more natural light and plants has been said to increase productivity as well. Even flexible schedules and remote work opportunities. Anything to break outside of the traditional office or boardroom. Here are some of the most inspirational office spaces.

Motivated and happy teams lead to successful and productive companies. It’s an investment of time and energy that should be a priority for every company to stay competitive and relevant for today’s workforce.

The Rise of Millennial Travel

8.9.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Elizabeth McHeffey

While meeting with Millennials in different destinations across the U.S., just about all have placed a true prioritization on their passion for travel. With booking apps at our fingertips and social media influencers parading dreamy images of mosaiced mosques and fields of wildflowers, it’s no wonder that my peers and I have been coined the ‘wanderlust generation’. It is a part of our identity, our growth and self-discovery, and is much more than an annual all-inclusive, never-leave-the-resort vacation. Taking a spontaneous weekend ski trip is not out of the ordinary, and neither is a backpacking trek through the Himalayas.

We are traveling more than past generations – case in point, I’m currently exploring the country as a digital nomad.

In fact, according to an article published on Skift.com, Millennials are traveling an average of 35 days annually, while Generation X travels just 26 days, which equates to 34% generational difference.

We are also spending the most on travel compared to all other generations – $200 billion annually per Forbes. Moreover, our generation is blurring the lines of business and leisure travel, extending the short business trip that our other-generation colleagues are eager to hop on a same-day return flight from. Conference in Boise? I think I will stay an extra two nights to search for the natural hot springs in the region.

Why so? The digital age has been a great motivator. With the ability to book a flight on your smartphone in seconds, WiFi accessibility in even the most remote places (always connected!), and the influx of wanderlust social media influencers – it makes it hard to not get bit by the travel bug.

“Travel is so easily done, it’s in your face, travel is at our fingertips as a Millennial. I think that’s why we are more inclined to take a vacation, to take a month off and go backpack through Europe. The previous generations didn’t have the ‘in your face’, ‘this is available to you’ marketing. They probably didn’t know ‘oh, I could go skydiving this weekend’ or ‘I could go hiking through the forest’ or ‘I can visit the Amazon’. For us, we think, ‘that could be my vacation in two months!’” says Nani Almanza, Visitor Services Manager with Visit Monterey.

Additionally, Millennials are earning 20% less than Baby Boomers did at the same stage of life, according to this USA Today article. Coupled with much higher student debt and other contributing factors, many Millennials have adopted “live in the moment” or “bucket list” mentalities.

Randi Morritt, Director of Marketing with Visit Aurora and I talked about some of the travel patterns of our generation. “Many individuals in our generation [Millennials] feel financially burdened by significant student debt, and there’s data that supports the cost of higher education is greater now than ever before which is a shift from previous generations. With new headlines about Millennials ‘killing’ a new industry every day, I think we get a bad rep for holding off purchasing a first home or a new car. Instead of hurrying towards those larger financial goals, a travel goal can be achieved on a smaller scale that is more financially attainable.” She continues, “Millennials are choosing to travel and take part in unique experiences. We are a culture that collects moments rather than things.” Buy a house or experience the rich history of Savannah? Millennials have been choosing the latter.

For employers, it is important to realize that this generation and (more likely than not) future generations highly prioritize travel. Discussed in the previous blog post, Millennials look for flexibility and paid time off in an employer and may be more likely to negotiate PTO or remote workdays over salary increases. When meeting with the senior leaders of Visit Denver, we talked about their organization and how they have evolved and are continuously open to new ways of thinking, influenced by all their generations in the workforce.

Rachel Benedick, VP of Sales and Services says, “It is important, understanding over the years, the priorities of the younger generations. [Millennials prioritize] flexibility and time off….and they will take time off over money any day of the week.” Richard Scharf, President & CEO, emphasizes, “Especially in Colorado!” Rachel continues, “Our people take all of their vacation, they take every bit of it. And they go and they do things.” They have team members going to faraway places like Japan, Israel and Vietnam and have noticed that their Millennials are taking all their paid days off. Joking that it is a big contrast to them, who have more vacation time than they know what to do with.

And Millennials don’t just want to see a destination, they want to be immersed in it. We are travelers, not tourists, and desire to taste authentic cuisine and stay in historic neighborhoods, rather than Times Square-esque locations or cram onto a tour bus as outsiders gazing in. We want to collect memories to share with our peers, connect with locals and learn from our experiential explorations. Whether it be an Anthony Bourdain-inspired foodie trip, socially conscious opportunity to give back, or a spiritual retreat in Sedona, we want originality and authenticity. We want a curated, unique experience, a storyline, a central concept. The more that a destination can do so, the more likely we are going to be on a plane, train, car, bike or hovercraft to get there.

“We are kind of looking for more out of the norm out of our lives. We are traveling more, we are seeing more of the world, we are experiencing more.” shares Kylie Leslie, Destination Experience Designer with Visit Phoenix.

How Teams Communicate in 2019 – For All Generations

8.8.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Rachel Tomlin

In 2019, we are living in a world where communication and accessibility are more relevant and more important than ever. In the workplace, teams are having to navigate not only all the different forms of communication tools that are out there, but the different types of communication styles, practices, and techniques of their peers and managers as well.

Good communication is a key factor to a team’s success whether you are working remotely or in an office environment. This means finding the most effective ways to communicate with your team should be considered a high priority.

In the article 10+ Amazing Tools For Business Communication In 2019 the author dives into how communication for teams in the workplace is changing.

“The modern business world is evolving and so is the need of every modern workplace. With the increasing dominance of technology and automation in every industry, employees now have the freedom to stay connected to their work regardless of their actual location. Now a key effect of this modern workplace trend is that it has shown people the importance of team communication. It has made effective team communication an integral part of everything that we do.”

The focus on team communication continues to be a key factor in the workplace, and when you add in how the evolving methods of communication have now led to more questions than ever like “Can I use an emoji in that email?” Or “Should I add an exclamation mark over a period in order not to offend someone?” Or “Will this text get the same message across over a phone call?” we are now tasked with asking ourselves what the best practices are in 2019 to make sure a team is communicating effectively.

In the article 8 Simple and Effective Ways to Improve Team Communication, Mattis Le Cren, product owner at Azendo, lays out eight methods to create the best environment for your team’s communication efforts. These methods include fostering an open-door policy, encouraging two-way feedback, clearly defining roles and responsibilities, building team spirit, using time wisely, ensuring proper training, using the appropriate forms of communication, and utilizing online tools instead of having meetings.

“Communication is more than just talking face-to-face, although this form of communication should never be neglected. However, individual people and projects may dictate different types of communication. Technology plays a big part of our communication toolbox, and when used effectively, can save time and help team members work more efficiently.” Le Cren states.

He goes on to say “Normally a combination of methods works well on most projects, but the key here is how to increase the overall communication across the whole team. By implementing a few simple strategies, you should start to see an increase in team interaction.”

Identifying which of these eight areas need the most attention or may make the largest impact for your team is a good exercise to start down the track of better communication. For example, you may find that clearly defining roles and responsibilities may organically foster better communication through feedback and ensuring proper training for the roles affected. Training may then identify the proper tools needed to better collaborate across teams.

Katie Douthwaite, a writer for The Muse, lays out an approach in tackling the style of communication and how to be most effective in getting a message across in today’s workplace in this article. The strategies include using statements and not questions, maintaining confidence as you speak, giving clear directives instead of suggestions, adding deadlines, and repeating your requests. With many teams working remotely and generations sometimes feeling like they are speaking different languages to each other, these are clear and concise communication techniques that can be effective whether face-to-face or talking through email or an online messaging tool.

While we live in the ever-evolving, technology-driven world where new tools to solve our simplest problem tend to pop up every day, one thing remains clear; there will never be one answer or one tool to address communication across organizations. People will always be different, and tasks will always require unique approaches. As such, we will continue to rely on varying our types of communication through methods, styles, and technologies to connect with our teams in the most effective way possible.

What Do Rising Leaders in Tourism Really Want from Employers?

6.25.201905.5.2023 by jsl_web_admin

Written by: Elizabeth McHeffey

The ongoing, ever-changing discussion surrounding preferences in the workplace is one that is incredibly important in order to retain your team, you must first know what is important to them. To dive into this topic, I met with several focus groups from different generations within the travel and tourism industry to find out firsthand what is really important to them.

The most significant and interesting thing that I learned was that although all generations seemed to have similar priorities on the surface, once the conversation went deeper on each topic, there were key generational differences. Below, I’ll dive into more detail on what the Millennial-generation truly wants.

Unconventional Growth and Development

The word growth came up time and time again and while it seemed at first to be straight-forward, that word means different things for different generations. While GenX and Baby Boomers seem to search for opportunities with forwarding advancement in the typical sense, such as promotions and increased compensation, Millennials wanted growth in a less traditional sense. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder from a Manager to Director to Executive, Millennials seem to want more cross-functional growth, individualized development, and opportunities for collaboration without boundaries.

“I am looking for development. I want a company to believe in me, to invest in me, and not just to look at me as a number. The opportunity to be collaborative and to learn…. I don’t want to be in a box. I don’t want to be the Group Administrative Coordinator and these are the only things I ever get to do…I want to know that if I discover something that I am good at and I have a talent for and I can learn more that people will support that and really see me.”- Sabrina Siqueiros, Visit Monterey

“A lot of the careers that Millennials have, didn’t even exist a few years ago. You can be a blogger, you can be a social media influencer, you can be a content creator….there are so many different things that we can do….One thing that Millennials get a hard time for is that we move on from jobs quickly or we are picky, but there are so many career options available to us that you can’t really blame us for really trying to find something that fits well within all of our interests.” – Kylie Leslie, Visit Phoenix

“I feel like in some managements structures you only get to see three feet ahead of you. ‘Your job is only to complete the next three steps and then after that don’t worry about it, it’s not your job’. I think more millennials are looking to see what is down at the end of the road, what are we working towards. It is more of a curiosity.” – Randi Morritt, Visit Aurora

Due to technology, there are new job titles emerging constantly, thus endless career options available for rising leaders. In my discussions, Millennials seem to actually prefer to grow outwards rather than upwards, honing a diverse web of skillsets and growing expertise in a multitude of areas. This unconventional career trajectory and blurred duties due to the desire to ‘not be placed in a box’ is something that employers should be aware of and continue to evolve with if they want to retain Millennials.

Sense of Community

Culture is another topic that was discussed several times and is almost one of those “cliché” responses to the ‘what are you looking for in an employer’ question. It seems that this answer is defined differently from individual to individual. Although it encompasses likeminded values and the people, it goes beyond that for the generation of rising leaders.

“One thing I looked for was a sense of community and support in that you have people that care about you and care about your future. One thing that was very evident in my interviews, was that each person was independently passionate about what they did.” – Kylie Leslie, Visit Phoenix

Rising leaders are looking for more than just a nice team that gets along well. They want to work for a company that is supportive with likeminded and passionate individuals, spurring a positive and creative community-like culture.

“I look for fulfillment and I look around me to see if the people around me feel the same way. If you are going to work everyday and suddenly no one around you is passionate or fulfilled too, then it gets draining after a while. It is important to me that wherever I work, people are extremely passionate about what they are doing.” – Gina Archuleta, Visit Monterey

Flexibility and Modern Perks

It wouldn’t be an article about the Millennial generation without talking about ‘work perks’. For the senior leaders, they are looking for perks such as great benefits packages, while rising leaders had different perks in mind. The Millennials that I spoke to almost all prioritized workplace flexibility, such as remote options and flexible hours, as well as work-life balance.

Millennials want their leaders to focus on results rather than hours in a workday or a workweek: productivity and efficiency overclocked hours worked. Coupled with this topic was the concept of laidback workspaces, which the tech industry seems to lead the charge on. Although this was not a deal breaker for most, it was most definitely something that Millennials prefer and feel that the tourism industry is a bit behind the ball comparatively. It is important for industry leaders to understand that this is a preference and to consider evolving the traditional workspace to stay competitive and retain this generation.

“We think if you come in, work hard, do great work, then leave and go have your life. When we created the 9/80 work schedule, I said to the board, ‘let’s try something for 6 months.’ This was in 2007.” – Gary Sherwin, President and CEO, Visit Newport Beach.

Defining Experiences and Making a Difference

“My job has to have an element to it that makes me feel like what I am doing is really making a difference and is good. I love that we are beating the charge with the sustainability initiative, that means a lot to me, that is really important to me. Being able to give back to the community in certain ways, that has always been something really important to me to find those kinds of elements in a job.” – Kimber Tabscott, Visit Monterey

In my discussions, all generations seem to look for a job that had a rewarding aspect to it, although for many of the Boomers and GenXers, it was not their top deciding factor for choosing an employer. The words fulfillment and impact were used by Millennials a lot, prioritizing experiences that will define them and only them. They want to be the making an impact that is unique and individualized, intertwining their specific job duties with making a positive social impact; essentially checking two boxes at once.

Nani says it best:

“We are definitely seeking more experiences as Millennials. We’re seeking what our life experience is going to be, instead of just finding that job that is going to keep paying the bills. We are always, constantly looking for our next, ‘what is going to be defining Nani? What am I about?” – Nani Almanza, Visit Monterey