SITE news

It is a matter of trust

By Tes Proos, president of Site Africa

Many people say love makes the world go round. Well, that may be true, but I am going to argue that TRUST is, in fact, what makes the world go round. Trust is the glue that keeps relationships together. This applies to any form of relationship.

What happens when trust is broken? It normally leaves a sense of fear and disappointment. Mending trust is probably one of the most difficult things to do. The advent of Covid-19 has resulted in a situation where we are stuck with global disappointment… and broken trust.

There is so much information out there, perhaps too much. Social media has literally taken over our lives. How do we distinguish between what is true or false? Fake news is nothing new to us, so we have to be supervigilant to not assume everything we read on our social media accounts is true. So, take care before you share. Check the reliability of your sources.

I recently attended the SITE Young Leaders Conference. It was fascinating to hear our future leaders’ take on social media. One person stated that Facebook was probably the least trusted form of social media in his region while LinkedIn is probably the best trusted, being dedicated to professional people. Twitter was not exactly top of the list either.

There were many collaborations at various levels prior to Covid-19. How many of these collaborations have collapsed due to lack of trust?

That said, it has been encouraging to see how many people, organisations and associations have pulled together in recent times, to figure out a way to beat this crisis. Leadership has popped up from unexpected sources. We can all learn something from each other.

In fact, you may be in that situation yourself, having been furloughed or even laid off. Perhaps you’ve had to close your business… either way; it’s not easy to pull yourself through this. We need each other - a shoulder to lean on or even just an ear to listen.

I have a challenge for you: Why don’t you reach out to someone you know that’s in the same boat and just start a

conversation. Do it once a week. Invite someone else into your circle. You will be amazed how empowering it is to actually take on a supportive role – even if you are at the receiving end of this crisis.

As they say, “never waste a good crisis”. You might even surprise yourself. It is through small initiatives like this that leaders have risen from nowhere and these are the people that will help guide our industry through this mess. Share your stories. Someone will take something positive away from your experience.

Global Covid-19 protocols are a key factor that will make or break trust.

The bottom line is that the government has developed trust in our industry. Without that trust, we would still be in level 2 or 3 lockdown. It is up to us now, to make sure that trust is not broken.

The challenge though, is that bookings are still not pouring in. Whilst the rest of Africa still has some of the lowest rates of infection, the rest of the world is back into a downward spiral. Trust is broken yet again.

In Africa, we are currently working on aligning protocols between countries, so that our travellers can have a sense of confidence across borders. Many trips to Africa are multi-destinations, therefore it is critical to not have conflicting protocols. It only confuses the traveller and breaks down confidence. They would rather NOT travel than risk being stuck in a country under quarantine for two weeks at their own expense.

In fact, these protocols need to be aligned globally, so that our governments, airlines and suppliers sign off on the same page in order for travellers to trust again. As long as there is no trust, there is no business.

So, where do we go to from here?

• Firstly, the alignment of protocols is key. We cannot have people unnecessarily detained or quarantined due to misunderstandings on testing requirements.

• Encourage people in your community to adhere to regulations, even erring on the side of caution. Wear those masks and keep sanitising. It is all for our own good. If we want our governments to trust us, we need to do our share. We all want to get back to business sooner, rather than later.

• Share protocols across borders, be it venues, hotels, restaurants, airports and aircraft. Look for common areas and opportunities where protocols can be improved or streamlined. Let’s make this a global effort so that trust can return in what we do. Set up committees – find people who are up for the task. Align those protocols within your own community, and then share it externally. If everyone does this, it should have a snowball effect and within a few months we can all sign off the same protocol page on a global scale.

As Jerry Springer said – look after yourself, and each other!