Author Archives: Genevieve Matthews
Focus on Attraction not just Recruitment
Do you talk about your team? Do you mention them on your business website or showcase them on social media? Do you share their skillsets, expertise and amazingness? Do you have team meeting shout-outs, or go around the room and recognise someone on the team that’s been helpful, fabulous or done something special? Do only…
Enhancing Staff Training in the Tourism Industry: Embracing Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learning Styles
In the dynamic and customer-centric tourism industry, providing effective staff training is essential for delivering exceptional experiences to visitors. However, not all employees learn in the same way. Recognising and catering to different learning styles can significantly improve the training process, and in turn the customer experience. In this article, we’ll explore how visual, auditory,…
Prioritising Training for Tourism Teams
If I said to you “Your tourism team is going to be entered into Sydney half or marathon in September”! What would you say? Maybe: Weirdly when it comes to sports fitness, people are more knowledgeable around what they should/shouldn’t be eating (not that we follow it). They’re even more aware of what level of…
The Power Duo: Enhancing Business with Customer Journey and Employee Experience
In the world of business, there are two indispensable elements that I am truly passionate about the Customer Journey and the Employee Experience. These two pillars work in harmony to foster engagement, retention, productivity, and overall satisfaction. Furthermore, they’re instrumental in identifying areas for improvement and uncovering untapped opportunities, which may require ongoing attention or…
Dealing with High Anxiety and Stress
Being skillful at dealing with anxiety and stress is very empowering, because rather than be driven by your negative emotions, you can tap into positive emotions and transform the way you look at life, react and respond to situations both at work and at home. This helps our ability to make decisions, deal with…
10 Reasons You Need to Map Your Customer’s Journey
In today’s competitive business landscape, understanding and enhancing the customer journey has become paramount, especially in the tourism industry. By delving into the intricacies of each touchpoint for your customers, we’ll explore the key benefits of having a customer journey map, shedding light on how it can optimise the customer experience, drive engagement, and provide…
10 Reasons Your Tourism Business Needs An Employee Experience Framework
A thriving tourism business understands that its greatest asset lies within its employees. Nurturing a positive employee experience has become essential for attracting and retaining top talent, driving productivity, and fostering a culture of innovation. In this blog post, we delve into the benefits of implementing an Employee Experience Framework, exploring how it can enhance…
Building out your Tourism Team Training Plan
Worked through Lisa’s big concerns about getting staff off phones for training this morning. Every minute counts. She’s short-staffed, everyone is under the pump, she’s doesn’t know where to begin when it comes to building out an effective short or long term training schedule for her business. Is the tourism business you’re in not investing…
Struggling with Current Tourism Challenges
Struggling with the Challenges facing the Tourism Industry right now? We call it the Leadership Upgrade Experience, where we focus very specifically on decision-making, problem-solving and action-taking. Instead of being erratic, avoiding and reactive – home your skills to be about quality decisions, strategic problem solving and confident action-taking. Whether it’s the sleepless nights…
Being Clear on the Plan and Planning for Clarity
I was engaged in a thought-provoking conversation this morning with a business owner who had recently revived their tourism venture post-Covid. Their business had undergone significant changes, such as new staff, revamped systems, and altered partnerships. They were in the process of finding their footing once again. During our discussion, the business owner posed a…
Unlocking Success in Business: Mastering Self, Others, and Business Leadership
While my bestie is lounging by the pool, I find myself deep in thought this morning. The topic that has captured my attention is “Roadblocks.” It coincides with a recent training session I attended, where the central themes were goal setting, momentum, and commitment to action. In the realm of business, we often become our…
Improve Leadership Confidence leave Self Doubt at the Door
Claire and Sarah both struggling with self doubt this week. It hinders our ability to make decisions, have conversations, stay focused and so much more. Here I share a couple of strategies for being able to leave the ‘self-doubt’ at the door! Have a great weekend! Gen …
Embracing Self-Confidence: Unleashing Your Full Potential
Self-doubt and self-confidence are two opposing forces that shape our lives and determine our success. In a world filled with challenges, it’s easy to question our abilities and lose sight of our potential. However, by cultivating self-confidence, we can overcome self-doubt and unlock our true capabilities. Today, let’s embark on a journey of self-discovery, where…
Being a Connected, Courageous and Purposeful Tourism Leader
Conversation about “connection” and how as tourism leaders are we potentially now people pleasing as a way to not offend or upset staff or possibly avoiding giving the required performance feedback that is critical for business growth. Are you as leader maximising opportunities across all areas of attracting, converting and delivering the tourism experience? Is there…
Unlocking Your Unique Selling Points: Standing Out in the Tourism World
In the realm of tourism, where competition is fierce and marketing is paramount, articulating your USPs (Unique Selling Points) has become a topic of great significance. Every business needs to identify what sets their product or service apart, what makes them special, and how they can be seen, heard, and noticed amidst the crowd. One…
Is Expectation v Reality Letting Your Guest Experience Down?
This morning I caught up with one of my nearest and dearest who had ticked off a bucket list world tourism experience. As I’d not personally seen it and been there, I was living vicariously, as we can nowadays with the immediacy of social media, whatsapp and facetime etc. So in conversation as we were…
What kind of Coach and Trainer Are you?
I recently had the opportunity to watch my friend Lynn have a horse riding lesson. She is very fortunate to train with one of Australia’s Olympic Horse Riding squad members. The training style was quite unique and really inspiring because Emma, the trainer, actually hopped on Lynne’s horse first and spent 20 to 30 minutes…
Deft Problem Solving in Your Tourism Business
Good morning and hello from Gen at The Art of Extraordinary – Talking Tourism today with a situation with Andrej & his wife in their restaurant business and Kate with her reservations team. We can sometimes make assumptions in leadership that our staff know why certain ‘procedures’ are important, however please never assume. Be really…
Are You Caring For Your Casuals?
It’s no secret that motivation is an essential ingredient of success in any tourism business. But what motivates each of us is different, and this is especially true when it comes to our casual team members. In fact, research has shown that there are 6 human motivators that have an enormous impact on our behaviour…
Success Comes Through Curiosity
My family and I were recently having a mini farm staycation, poop scooping and all, and it got me thinking about your tourism experience. Are there things you don’t offer because you think a customer might not want to do them? Here’s where poop scooping comes into it… my daughter is horse crazy and whenever…
Case Study:
The training was engaging and we had a great group to work with throughout the program. I feel better equipped to manage my stress at work. I am now more focused and better at setting priorities.
Wildlife Coast Cruises
Jess Patman
and Brett Lacco
Case Study:
I learnt a lot about communication and adaptability. Particularly how to find middle ground with people. I learnt a lot about how to deal with challenging behaviours with external stakeholder relationships.