Prevention, protection and preservation
Mind your Ps and Qs (31)
Instability and complexity, ambiguity and adversity cause havoc to the carefully honed systems, plans and behaviors of communities, their citizens, corporations, customers and employees. What’s going on brother…climatic disasters, aviation snafus, collapse of the international order, a digital coup, trade wars…quality-of-life on the ropes?
Over the years few individuals or industries have been emotionally ready, nor done the work to be truly prepared for the intensity of competition, climatic crises and changes, including modern variations of the depletion and dismantling of the commons – the social commons, the cognitive commons, the economic commons, the knowledge commons and the informational commons.
Why? You could say it has been a matter of despair, as well as distance, detachment from, and the superficiality of knowledge about the evolutionary trajectory of change, the nature and implications of the associated risks, and the means to mitigate them.
It’s all well and good to demand a more focused approach to risk management, but it’s difficult to employ when the timing, likelihood and severity of risks are difficult to predetermine. More so when even the four core types of resilience - financial, operational, organizational, and external - or adversity quotient of the decision-makers whose knowledge about the world’s interconnectedness, willingness to adapt and courage to act (pivot or persevere) with verve and haste escape our attention.
Witness the efforts to improve the sustainability of travel and tourism (net zero for hotels, for example) that have garnered the most attention over the past decades. Progress has wavered and has been helped or hindered by a wide range of forces tied into the economic, political, social and cultural values, beliefs, ideologies, and pre-dispositions of governments, corporations, and citizens. Consider the tale of how Uxua (a hotel in the Bahia, Brazil) overcame political hostility which exemplifies how sustainability can be a painstakingly slow undertaking in a wide range of different and complex contexts. Clearly, everything must change, and it starts by reworking community relations at multiple intersections, including insurance and sustainability.
Similarly in regard to human rights, natural disasters (fires, floods, eruptions, hurricanes and other extreme weather events), strikes, uprisings, terrorism and political instabilities, or more general backlashes against tourism…community life disrupted by destination life. The repercussions and ramifications for customers (visitors), corporations, communities, and citizens can be immense, as revealed in examples provided in the links, and further revealed through the reasons why travel hasn’t brought the world together.
While “an ounce of prevention may be better than a pound of cure, it`s not generally glamourous and, therefore, tends to be implemented less than optimally.” Consequently, we “experience the short-term prevention costs but don't individually experience the long-term benefits…”
The problem: A lack of urgency, resources, and “thick knowing”…very evident these days as the economic golden rule – do no harm – slides into oblivion.
Knowledge that is rich in detail and color, far beyond that which can be quantified or aggregated.
Knowledge that needs to be dug out, on site, by all the people intimately involved with the phenomenon they are concerned about and wish to influence.
Knowledge that challenges prevailing assumptions, informs intuition, provides rich perspective, and then can be used by astute decision-makers to intervene deeply to influence, question intent, or to integrate activities.
In response to crises, too many leaders make decisions based on “thin knowing” rather than intimate experience. Consequently, decisions (usually based on some form of less-than-precise cost/benefit calculations) tend to be expediently political and impersonal, thereby driving out commitment. Only when they are infused with humanity – energy, ideology and culture – can we expect organizations and industries to come alive, be truly responsive and responsible. Responsibility to care not only for the well-being of visitors, through consumer protection for example, but in many cases for the local citizens and workers who deserve to benefit from tourism`s community shared value so ardently promoted by Destinations International.
Interventions to break the vicious cycle and ensure that organizations and communities become more responsive and responsible to employees, citizens, visitors, other stakeholders and shareholders will require, initially, that organizations and communities-as-destinations clarify and communicate their purpose with greater precision. Unfortunately, too many are engaged superficially, inconsistently, and opportunistically. They wanted the badge of virtue signaling and activism support without undertaking the work.
For example, it might require highlighting material sustainability, ESG and all eight dimensions of QoL issues that directly affect value creation. As Colin Mayer contends: “The purpose of a company is to produce profitable solutions to problems of the people and the planet and to minimize profit from creating problems.”
“Strength isn't measured by victories,
but by the caliber of the challenges you're willing to face.”
By articulating their purpose (supported through their principles) responsible organizations (such as The Social Hub) and communities-as-destinations are more likely to be clear about what they can and cannot do about social and environmental challenges while providing long-term returns for their shareholders and benefits for stakeholders.
It will also encourage them to be candid about the what, when, where and how associated with managing (identifying and resolving) their vulnerabilities especially through scenario discovery. In doing so, such preparations will provide the groundwork and framework for preventing and protecting the preciousness of their human assets (visitors and citizens, their built and cultural heritage, their fragile, sacred, and protected areas, as well as their financial and a wide range of other resources).
While such actions might necessitate encouraging people to find better ways to travel and do it in more conscious and conscientious ways (because the mobility eco-system needs to change) they`re unlikely to have much of an impact, or provide immediacy as transformational activities rarely proceed as anticipated or in accordance with plans.
For instance, too many destination leaders pay sufficient attention to the emotional and behavioral signals within their organizations that might indicate confusion and a lack of clarity as to how best to proceed. In order to get everyone back into action mode, priorities may have to be adjusted, a more compelling vision about transformation activated, collaboration and co-creation employed and required, experimentation nurtured, and people’s knowledge and skills upgraded.
As previously noted, some prevention and protection practices and policies are coming under attack from the populist revolts and culture wars against climate change, the continuing emergence of the anti-ESG movement, organizations backing away from DEI initiatives, and the changing rules associated with organizational health.
All isn’t lost. Tourism ministries, NGOs, DMOs and visitor-serving enterprises can learn to lead in an age of outrage, play more prominent roles in prioritizing prevention and protection, like Naxos Wildlife Protection, and the Destination Stewardship Center that hopefully will remain focused on accelerating sustainable and inclusive growth for all.
As was carried out during the International Year of Eco-tourism, it`s essential that Destination-in-Action assessments (outlined in my e-book, Astonish! Smarter Tourism by design) be conducted on a regular basis, to determine whether the aims and objectives regarding prevention and protection are being achieved…whether the policies, rules and regulations in place are being enacted and followed…whether the policies, rules and regulations are sufficiently robust or need to be revised.
Wherever concerns and risks are being highlighted within tourism clusters, communities-as-destinations and the organizations therein should be advised to focus on protecting the commons and investing in innovation to find viable solutions through carefully conceived risk-taking in order to mitigate any inherent risks and a desire to achieve ESG and DEI objectives…all of which need to be more thoroughly detailed and incorporated into and enacted through the concept of community shared value.
In many ways this is what Sister Nancy would call a celebratory Bam Bam achievement…but only if only we rise up to counter the rise and power of tone-deaf, authoritarian regimes and remain determined optimists.