12 minute read
Future
ANALYSIS
Rehan Khan Principal consultant for BT, an educator and novelist
Signals and noise
Iwould like you to take a moment and sit back and contemplate the real world wherever you are – the local café where the gruff-looking man sits in the corner adding three sugars to his morning tea, or the Ash trees that shed their leaves covering the pathway on the street where you live, or the whirring sound coming from the Metro that runs by overhead. How do you sense and interpret the world of humans and things you encounter? What new understanding do you formulate from observing and being in the world of experiences? What connections can you formulate between things that, on the face of it, might appear disparate? Are you able to somehow join the dots between them?
When we try to break down the setting in which we find ourselves, the outer and the inner, we can soon become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of rich information and experiences around us. It’s in these moments that we learn to focus our attention on what’s important and ignore the superfluous. Timothy Wilson, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, estimates that our brain receives 11 million ‘bits’ of information in the form of sensory experiences each second. Yet despite receiving so much input, our minds can consciously process just 40 bits per second.
In other words, the brain is constantly making choices – what chunks of information to process and what to ignore. One way to instruct the choices our mind makes, according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, is to look for positive signals “because the better your brain is at using its energy to focus on the positive, the greater your chances of achieving your goals”.
He cites a number of studies that suggest that picking up on positive signals can help you make better decisions, be three times more creative, generate 37 per cent more sales, improve your health, increase your productivity by 31 per cent, make you 10 times more engaged and 40 per cent more likely to get a promotion. Achor suggests we make a distinction between a signal, something we should pay attention to, and noise, something we should ignore. He explains that information can be identified as noise if it falls into any of the following categories: • Unusable: The information will not change your behaviour; for example, reading about a natural disaster on the other side of the world, unless you plan to help the victims. • Untimely: Information that you do not plan to use immediately and may change by the time you use it, such as currency rates for a holiday destination you are planning to travel to in six months’ time. • Hypothetical: Where the information is “could be” as opposed to “what is”, such as a five-day weather forecast that has a 53 per cent chance of being correct. • Distracting: In which the information you are receiving distracts you from your career or personal goals. If it does, then it is noise.
When we have limited attention and need to make a choice between a signal and noise, then directing our mental gaze to what is currently occupying our attentional space becomes crucial; otherwise, we run the risk of senseless mind wandering. Bringing attention to what we are thinking about in the moment is a process called meta-awareness. This is one of the best practices for managing our attention. The more we notice what is occupying our attentional space, the faster we can get back on track when our mind wanders, which it does 47 per cent of the time.
11 million
‘bits’ of information, in the form of sensory experiences that our brains receive each second
Fahd Hamidaddin CEO, Saudi Tourism Authority INTERVIEW
Explainer: How has Saudi’s tourism sector coped with the Covid-19 crisis?
How has Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector handled the pandemic? Partnerships have been at the heart of Saudi’s mitigation and recovery programmes across the hospitality ecosystem, including close collaboration between the private and public sectors to create new and innovative ways of working together. At the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), it has been our role to create a framework for the ecosystem to support local businesses in the private sector in the wake of Covid-19.
Over the past 12 months, our summer and winter domestic campaigns supported the local travel and tourism sector and provided opportunities for growth and development, even during the international lockdown. Throughout the Saudi Summer campaign, which ran between June and September 2020, average hotel occupancy was at nearly 50 per cent, with peak occupancy for some destinations at almost 100 per cent. Despite increasing visitation to target destinations by more than 30 per cent year on year, our comprehensive approach to traveller safety meant that we did not see a corresponding spike in Covid-19 cases. STA continues to work with Saudi’s hospitality players, to provide the tools, learning and insights they need to increase their business opportunities.
The kingdom is investing in large signature projects like the Red Sea project
Has this year been better than 2020 – so far? While borders have remained closed, our key focus has been on building a solid foundation to welcome guests back into the kingdom.
Our opportunity is unique. Saudi is a new leisure destination on the global stage. We are the authentic home of Arabia – a bold claim – but founded in multiple touchpoints and experiences, from our people and stories, to our hospitality and beautiful, iconic locations around the country.
We are in the process of developing an international network, a global community dedicated to driving awareness about Saudi and all the beauty, diversity and hidden treasures the destination has to offer.
In 2021, we have successfully launched a domestic winter and an international brand awareness campaign, reaching audiences in 26 countries and 13 languages – our biggest such marketing initiative ever.
We launched our ‘Tourism Shapers’ programme, a new initiative to equip the local private sector with the support needed to navigate and manage the evolving tourism landscape. We also engaged the international tourism trade through our ‘Journeys in Arabia’ programme, which introduced travel and tourism companies around the world to the experiences that make Saudi a unique destination.
Amid the uncertainty that the past year has brought us, our strategy has been developed with one objective in mind: to achieve 100 million annual visits to Saudi by 2030, made up of both domestic and international travellers.
Saudi will continue to invest in developing new destination projects to support the local tourism ecosystem.
The kingdom has pushed for increased domestic tourism – have you seen that taking off? The tourism sector is thriving, driven by Saudi’s domestic market. Our launch of ‘Saudi Summer’ in 2020, a campaign designed to encourage Saudi nationals and residents to discover their own country, played a key role in supporting the local tourism industry. As the largest domestic tourism campaign in Saudi history, we saw a 33 per cent increase in spend on hotels,
restaurants and recreation/cultural activities compared to the same period in 2019.
Domestic tourism represents a huge opportunity for Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is investing more in tourism infrastructure than any country in the world today, not only in the large signature projects like the Red Sea project, Qiddiya and Amaala, but also in training, skills building, visitor experience management and, of course promotion.
Our activities are encouraging more Saudis than ever before to explore their own country and inspiring more and more young people to consider careers in the sector.
Any particular segment within the industry that is faring better than the others/has more potential? While countries around the world adopt new strategies to return to normalcy, the global appetite to travel, explore and seek adventure outdoors has increased. Travellers are rethinking how they want to spend their vacation time and are considering visiting bucket-list attractions and lesser-known, less crowded destinations.
Saudi has an incredible range of diverse landscapes and experiences. Part of the beauty of Saudi is the unexpected. Dramatic mountain areas, lush valleys, sweeping desert dunes and pristine untouched coastlines perfectly meet the needs of the post-Covid traveller.
And for those travellers keen to pair nature and the outdoors with new discoveries, Saudi’s top sites o er rich culture and heritage experiences that are authentically Arabian. From snorkelling among the unspoiled coral reefs of the Saudi Red Sea, to exploring more than 100 tombs dating back to the Nabataean era in AlUla, there is something for every adventure seeker and cultural explorer in Saudi.
Looking ahead, when do you expect Saudi’s tourism sector to recover? And where is it headed longer-term? Saudi introduced the fi rst international tourism e-visa in September 2019. By March 2020, we had issued more than 400,000 tourism visas, clearly demonstrating an innate curiosity in the kingdom and demand in visitation amongst a global audience. When travel safely resumes and borders reopen, we are confi dent we will see a surge in leisure arrivals once again.
In the meantime, we will continue to use our time to proactively prepare for visitors to return. We will engage our global trade partners, empower and upskill the local private sector and support the development of the wider ecosystem so that we have a healthy, safe and robust tourism sector for tomorrow.
There is so much about Saudi for the world to discover. We are ready and we look forward to welcoming our guests safely back into the kingdom. D uring a recent leadership workshop, I asked the question: “What is the main driver of success for an organisation?” You can imagine the range of answers I got. “It’s about having an amazing product that is di erent,” said one. Another o ered: “It’s all about having great people”. While others gave answers such as “great service”, “lowest prices”, “clever marketing”, I simply nodded in agreement, supporting every answer.
The reality is that all of these answers are perfectly correct in varying proportions, depending on where the organisation is in its evolution. It also depends on the competitive environment, the market and changing customer dynamics. But what is it that binds all of these concepts together and ensures they are executed e ectively?
I believe the common denominator that determines the success or failure for any organisation, is its culture. Vision and mission describe ‘why’ an organisation exists. Strategy outlines ‘what’ should be done and ‘when’. Structure details ‘who’ will do what. But it’s the culture that shapes ‘how’ things will get done.
Management guru Peter Drucker was credited with saying: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. In corporate language, culture is o ten defi ned as ‘the way we do things around here’. It’s possible to ‘read’ the culture of an organisation from how it interacts with customers, media, suppliers and its own people. For example, the experience you get in Spinney’s is quite di erent to what you get in Carrefour. That’s driven by a clearly defi ned brand to set context and culture to execute it consistently at every touch point, every day.
Within the definition of culture as ‘the way we do things around here’, there is a clue. Culture in essence is a combination of the values and
Alan’s Corner
Alan O’Neill Change consultant and speaker
It’s the culture within an organisation that ultimately shapes how things will get done
behaviours of its people, the leadership style, the processes and the rules they live by.
It’s very encouraging to see huge brands like Disney attribute so much of their success to culture. They proactively defined their culture and continue to embed it right across their organisations. And if an organisation of its size can do it, then a more nimble SME should certainly be able to do that too.
I was invited to kick-start a culture change project for a family business in Dubai. With a level of maturity and openness, they acknowledged that their culture needs a refresh. As they examined past successes and failures, they concluded that those results were more to do with execution than the quality of the plans.
Culture Change Tips
Every organisation has a culture, whether you realise it or not. You may not be able to define it or even have planned it. But you do have one. There will be elements of it that are good and some that are holding you back. I am an avid supporter of organisations taking charge and shaping their own culture. Consider these steps in doing just that:
1. DO AN AUDIT OF YOUR CURRENT CULTURE Firstly, conduct focus groups of your own people, customers and suppliers. Think carefully about what questions you want to ask. You need to address the softer issues such as behaviour, processes and leadership. From the findings, carefully design an independent and anonymous culture survey rather than a generic one. Resist selecting a partner just because of the software they use. Engage a company that understands culture and helps you to ask the right questions. That will ensure you get quality insights as a result.
2. DESIGN A NEW CULTURE, USING ‘VALUES’ Use the feedback and insights to design a new culture, built on a set of values that respect the heritage of your brand, the ambition of the key stakeholders and the changes in your environment (such as competition, customers’ changing needs, employee expectations and so on). Do not use generic words from a Google search that any organisation could also claim. Make them your own.
3. USE THIS ‘GAP ANALYSIS’ TO PLAN YOUR CHANGE PROGRAMME There will of course be a gap between your actual culture and your ideal – there always is! Use these insights to develop a plan and a structured change programme. This is better when it is facilitated by a third party, to share best practices, to challenge you and keep you on track.
THE LAST WORD A proactively defined culture impacts your customer experience, how engaged your people are to your brand, your marketing, internal controls and how decisions are made. In other words, everything that happens in your organisation is shaped by your culture. And remember, others can copy your strategy but nobody can copy your culture.
Check back in here over the next few months and I’ll go into more detail for each of my 7-Steps to Profit.
