Travel managers have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become corporate heroes – but will only enhance and widen their role through better self-promotion and building cross-departmental relationships. That’s the conclusion of workshops staged recently (and independently of each other) by two European associations: the Institute of Travel Management in the UK and the Association of Swiss Travel Management.
“As we rebuild from the pandemic, now is the time to take advantage of the strong tailwind from 2019 that opened doors and drove senior connections/widened networks,” states Future Role of the Travel Manager, a report published by an eponymous taskforce set up by ITM.
Travel managers have come through an ordeal by fire over the past two years – or, more accurately, ordeal by firing. While a small minority were made redundant when travel volumes collapsed at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, those who remained in post saw their work assume greater strategic as well as operational significance. “It opened up an opportunity for travel managers to engage with different departments within their organisation,” the ITM report says. “All the buyers on the taskforce talked about the widening stakeholder group who had more interest in the travel programme.”
Lotten Fowler, general manager of the Swedish Business Travel Association, which also follows this topic closely, agrees. “The visibility of travel managers increased dramatically, which gave an opportunity for those who took it,” she says. “The importance of travel management became more obvious to companies. Safety: we need to speak to the travel manager. Sustainability: we need to speak to the travel manager. Work/life balance: we need to speak to the travel manager again.”
Fowler says the pandemic and the cultural changes which accompanied it, such as remote working, only served to accelerate a shift in focus for travel management from procurement to human resources that had already started pre-Covid. Relevant non-Covid HR issues cited in the ITM report include Brexit, the European Union’s Posted Workers Directive, diversity and employee wellbeing.
There are also responsibilities beyond HR. ASTM president Dominic Short points to “even more emphasis on sustainability” thanks to increasingly mandatory requirements for emissions reporting and accompanying action plans to curb carbon output.
Perhaps less obviously, both Short and Fowler believe travel managers will have to gain more control of their technology, especially data management and integration with internal, non-travel reporting systems as their companies continue to move towards digital admin processes. “Many companies are on a patchwork of systems,” says Short. “You need to be able to move fast when someone in IT, normally without warning, says ‘On the 21st of the month at 2.15pm we’re going to pull the plug on your existing technology.’”
The ITM report, meanwhile, sees opportunities widening for travel managers along two axes. The first is a more strategic approach to travel. “Many travel programmes will have been focused on or measured predominantly on cost with no wider internal support or conversation on the value of a trip, the return on investment [or] how the trip aligns to the organisation’s strategic agenda,” the report says.
The second axis is a wider deployment of travel managers’ talents beyond their core travel function. “The travel manager holds a diverse and multifaceted set of skills not only related to being the subject matter expert on travel but someone who can also act in a consultative capacity benefiting internal divisions as they understand the new meaning of travel within their department.”
As an example, says ITM head of programme Kerry Douglas, “If another department has training sessions for new teams or staff around issues like conflict management or stakeholder engagement,” that training could involve the travel manager.
ITM stresses that travel managers “must take charge and not wait to be invited” to enhance their roles. With regard to acting more strategically, for example, “many businesses may believe the travel team is here to solve the ‘how’ not the ‘why’ and this is where the importance of articulating value, expertise and remit is key.”
Likewise, the principal conclusion of the ASTM workshop was that travel managers must improve their communication with internal stakeholders. “Doing a lot of self-marketing within your company these days is important,” says Short. “Talk about the value you’re bringing and make sure you keep repeating it to the key stakeholders within your company.”
Those stakeholders are likely to be unusually receptive as businesses profoundly rethink how and where they deploy personnel; how and where they meet; and financial and environmental prudence.
According to ITM, many businesses are forming interdisciplinary taskforces to grapple with these big issues, and travel managers cannot risk being forgotten. Therefore, says Douglas, “buyers need to push to be part of those working groups. Travel needs to have a seat in each of these conversations because it is relevant to them.”
Ironically, this opportunity to shift towards an advisory role is being impeded by the current flare-up in day-to-day logistical challenges caused by flight cancellations, lack of travel management company staff and other disruptions. “Travel managers are being pulled more on to the operational side,” says Douglas. “The challenge is trying to create the space to be more strategic.”
Distracting as it may be, however, perhaps the continuing need for operational support provides a safety net for travel managers. As was the case during the pandemic, someone is always needed to clear up the mess when travel disruption inevitably but unpredictably hits the fan. But if this core operational work ensures travel managers will always survive, the widening range of strategic tasks they can potentially add to their portfolio suggests they are nicely positioned to thrive as well.