Communicating
Hotwire now had its new destination — it would diversify into other travel bookings. But that was just the start to transforming the company.
“In some respects, identifying the strategy is 10 percent of the job, and 90 percent of the job is making sure it’s clearly understood and having excellent processes to get the job done,” Grosse says. “That’s what ends up making you win or lose.
“Job No. 1 is to make the message really simple. It’s really easy to fall into the trap of complexity because most of us work in complicated businesses and complicated industries, and it’s very easy to fall into the nomenclature of the industry or tons of acronyms and three-letter words. To boil that down to something that’s simple and understandable is by far the most important thing.”
Once the message is created, use as many venues as possible to communicate it to people. E-mail, company meetings, department meetings and face-to-face meetings all work. Also walk around the halls and talk to people to see if they understand what’s going on and to just generally connect with them. Doing this creates an open environment, and people will trust you more.
At the same time it can’t be just you doing the communicating, so you have to make sure your broader management team takes communication seriously, as well.
“Part of it is meeting with them frequently and walking the walk and setting the tone,” Grosse says. “Part of it is being very clear in terms of expectations around making sure it’s in their goals and what you want them to accomplish more formally. And part of it is just making sure you have the right people in place to do that well.”
He says it’s also important to touch base with your key people on a one-on-one basis.
“Make sure you reach out and be there for them as well as communicate the important issues to them, at the very least, on a weekly basis,” Grosse says.
Keeping the team cohesive through communication is crucial to making sure the organization adjusts as the changes occur.
“Things change for us all the time,” Grosse says. “There’s a lot going on — it’s very competitive, so as a result, you want to make sure you’re on top of things because as good as you may be doing in the current week, you can’t assume that’s going to continue into the weeks and months ahead.”
