The Secret Sauce of an Awesome Company Rooted in Trust and Transparency

October 10th, 2019 / By: / Published in: Blog, Traverse19, Tripactions

Interview with Nina Giovanelli, VP of Business Operations @ TripActions during the TRAVERSE 19 Conference.

During TripActions’s TRAVERSE 19 conference, Tullio Siragusa chatted with Nina Giovanelli, VP of Business Operations at TripActions. When asked about the ‘secret sauce’ of an awesome company, here’s what Nina had to say. 

Ingredients of the ‘Secret Sauce’

“Our mission at TripActions is to empower the human condition,” Nina revealed. “We have a set of values that are all about the user.” Nina is a firm believer that having a clear vision and set of values that the company can rally around. She also stated that creating a great company culture is indeed what should be done if they are to attract equally great people to join their team.

Nina Giovannelli

The Most Important Ingredient

Tullio also asked Stephanie what she thought the most important ingredient of the secret sauce was, to which she responded: “…I’ve seen our company grow from 80 employees to over 800, and I’ve discovered that culture isn’t just one thing that starts from the top and flows all the way down. I think it’s something that everybody is responsible for.” She highlighted how important it was to create an environment in which everybody shows up and they know, without hesitation, why they’re there and what they’re trying to achieve. “They are the ones contributing to the culture this way,” she stated. 

Three-pronged Mission

“Move people, business and ideas forward. This is exactly what TripActions is for,” Stephanie elaborated, when asked about the company’s three-pronged mission. What this means, in a nutshell, is that TripActions is a company that enables other companies and their travelers to get where they need to be to have that meeting or in-person sales conversation by focusing on creating great travel experiences that allow them to travel hassle-free and achieve their business objectives in a seamless fashion. 

Environmentally Conscious Travel

Tullio also touched on the topic of TripActions being an environmentally conscious company, and on whether this is something that most team members shared along, to which Stephanie responded: “…with our carbon data impact product, we really foster this joint idea and effort to make sure that travelers, travel managers and their companies have the data they need to make decisions that are aligned with their company culture and their beliefs, as it pertains to their impact on the environment.”

Transparency Builds Trust

TripActions recently announced that they will openly share their satisfaction scores publicly.  They are the first company in travel to implement this, when Tullio asked why they were doing this, Stephanie made it clear that this is an extension of their culture of transparency and no need to hide anything mindset. What a refreshing approach to building trust with customers!

Lessons Learned

Finally, Tullio asked Stephanie what sort of lessons learned had been encountered during the journey of building TripActions. Stephanie said that ‘proactively encouraging vulnerability’ is essential in the pursuit of becoming aware of what needs to be learned in order to improve and grow – both personally and at the corporate level – in every imaginable way. “Having these human moments when we reflect on what we could’ve done better makes you want to support your colleagues, thus fostering an environment of wanting to learn and grow together, regardless of “who happens to be in the room.” 

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