Nicole Mahoney is an entrepreneur, speaker, and podcast host with a passion for business. She’s the Founder of Break the Ice Media, a PR and digital marketing agency specializing in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry, and also serves as the CEO of Travel Alliance Partners. In her weekly podcast, Destination on the Left, launched in 2016, she interviews tourism professionals from all over the globe on creativity and collaboration.
On this episode of Destination on the Left, I explore topics related to creativity and collaboration in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. I share more about my 3C framework for collaboration, which is based on my extensive research that proves organizations that collaborate benefit from fresh, innovative ideas, improved brand reputation, operational efficiencies, and increased trust.
What You Will Learn in this Episode:
- More about inspired collaborations, including the Ohio Birding Collaborative and the Poconos Mountains Community Caring Project, and how they successfully navigated their partnerships
- My personal experience of collaboration in the construction of a baseball stadium in my very first job in the travel and tourism sector
- Why collaboration in our industry allows for creative problem-solving and operational efficiency
- Why cathedral thinking has a huge impact on how we approach collaboration
- The three collaborator types and how each can work together
- How the 3C framework for world-changing collaborations works and the importance of evaluating long-term impacts
Working Together as Collaborators
We’re digging into the world of collaboration and its impact on the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Drawing on my own experiences and research, I explore the three types of collaborators: promoters, doubters, and protectors. I discuss why successful collaborations require effective communication, commonality of goals, and a commitment to seeing the partnership through difficulties and obstacles.
I genuinely believe that coopetition, as I like to call it, can create fresh perspectives and lead to powerful influences within the industry. By looking back at examples from the distant past, such as Thomas Cook’s collaboration with a railway company in the 19th century, and more recent ones from my own career and those shared by guests on this podcast, I highlight how collaboration can have a lasting impact on the tourism industry.
Long Term Planning
I also want to stress the importance of committing to long-term projects and embracing the concept of “cathedral thinking,” where a project may not be completed within one’s lifetime but still aims to change the paradigm of the industry.
Collaboration is a catalyst for innovation and growth in the travel industry. By fostering effective communication, finding common goals, and committing to long-term projects, industry professionals can create collaborations that leave a lasting impact on the industry. To learn more about collaboration and its role in the travel industry, check out the latest podcast episode hosted by Nicole Mahoney.