Bhavna Mittal: Career Growth, leadership and empowerment in the Travel Industry

I am someone who loves to wear my own engine clothes and honestly if you told me 11 years ago when I left India to go study at Oxford that someday I would work in a European tech company and I would show up every day, adorned in my culture and I would feel comfortable that is a game changer for me. Hello, I'm your host Liam and you're listening to Behind the Journey. On this show we dive deep into the world of Get Your Guide by chatting with our leaders and innovators about their stories, ideas and strategies. If you're new here, Get Your Guide is a market leading app dedicated to connecting millions of travellers with unforgettable experiences around the world. Ready to start a new career journey and shake the future of travel? Visit GetYourGuide.Careers. Now we have a very special guest joining us today. She's been with Get Your Guide for almost seven years and currently lead the supplier enablement pillar within our care organisation. It's great to have you here, Bavna. Let's start with a short introduction to you and your role. Thank you, Liam. I'm Bavna. I lead supplier enablement here at Get Your Guide. This is a workstream that has three teams that provide end-to-end support to our global supplier base and of course our winning aspiration is to be a trusted and innovative partner for all of our Get Your Guide suppliers and internal teams. We want to ensure that we provide world-class support to the suppliers who help us make unforgettable experiences possible and it also aligns with our company-wide aspiration to become an undisputed leader in travel experiences. So we really make sure that our teams, my teams make sure that our suppliers feel supported across their life cycle, that they feel empowered to thrive on our platform and can effectively serve our mutual customers. Great. Thank you so much. And what inspired you to pursue a career in the travel experiences industry in the first place and how has it evolved since you joined? I would say that it's been a mix of inspiration and also life as it happens. For context, I come from a very small town in India and I never really imagined that I would have opportunities to see multiple countries and experience different cultures and working in the travel industry has given me an opportunity not just to experience this on a personal level but to be a part of that movement that actually connects customers who are eager to explore the world. And I think what Tulia inspires me is to bring, you know, being a small part in making travel experiences seamless, dress fee and unforgettable for our experiences. So when I look at our mission to unlock the most unforgettable travel experiences, I'm able to see the impact that my teams and I are having, making sure that we are not just facilitating transactions but we are creating memories and really broadening perspectives. This purpose continues to inspire me every day. Great. Thank you so much. So let's talk about your journey with us. It's an interesting one. Four roles if I'm correct. Yes, officially four roles and if you include the time that where I have also served on the ERG, it kind of brings it to five and considering that I'm going to close almost here seven, it has kind of felt like I have been restarting a new job every one in a half years which has kept the momentum in me and it also allowed me to see different aspects of get your guide and shape our supplier experience. So for example, when I joined get your guide, we were around 500 people and now we're almost double that number. So what I can say about my journey is that as I said, it has felt like starting a new role every one and a half years but it has also meant that I have experienced two different departments, two different offices and believe me moving from to buy to Berlin is life changing, not just for your career but also at a very personal level. And the get your guide has been instrumental in making sure that I've had these experiences in my life. Great to hear. And for those who don't know, so the ERG, the Employer Representation Group is made up of a new internal team every year and they serve as advocates for their fellow employees ensuring everyone here feels safe, supported and heard. It was also very fortunate to be on the same ERG as Babna which is when we kind of first really closely worked together I would say. So let's start at the beginning because you mentioned Destination Manager in Dubai back in 2019. So how did you find that role and how did you then grow from there? So I had been working in the travel industry prior to get your guide as well and I had worked in the hotel sector and the next step was let me go out and experience what are the companies out there doing for travel experiences. It was still kind of like a new evolving industry and I wanted to be a part of that entrepreneurial journey if I can say that's how get your guide started. I started in sales. I started managing two countries soon. I was managing 11 and then the pandemic stopped at the pandemic happened and as we know travel stopped the world kind of stopped but get your guide did not stop at that time. We really doubled down and said how is it that we can use this time to make our product better and that's when I kind of transitioned into a project management role working closely with our sales team and our product teams continued that stand went on to then lead one of our supplier support teams and today I'm meeting the entire work stream and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to say that like thousands of suppliers reach out to us and we try to make sure that we can support them at scale. Yeah that's great thank you so much. I also want to talk about your personal journey and how it shapes the person you are today so could you just tell us more about your cultural background maybe how it inspired your career choices and any challenges you faced along the way? That's a very interesting question and it can be an entire podcast on its own so I'll try to keep it brief. I used to be a dentist so for me to move from being a doctor and transitioning to the tech industry on its own was a very big change. As I mentioned before I am Indian I am someone who comes from a very small town in India and growing up I felt I was always ambitious but I did not know how that would actually play out which meant that across my life I have remained very open to anything or everything that life throws at me and believe that making that career transition very early in my career really built me up and helped me build resilience if I can say that and allowed me to take on multiple roles within get your guide. That's really inspiring thank you for sharing now you talked about leadership so I'd love to discuss your leadership style like first of all what was your transition to becoming a people manager like? So this on its own is a very interesting journey I would say that the first taste of it was when I was chair of the ERG and I think Liam you might remember that because you were on the same ERG and that time it kind of meant like bringing nine people together from very different perspectives very different skills and strengths and making sure that we were collaborating to move forward so I genuinely believe my experience on the ERG set me up for success when it came to people management because none of you were reporting to me which made it more difficult to make sure that things are getting done but yeah that was kind of my first taste but moving to people management I think it's been a very interesting and a journey full of learnings because what happens is that when you transition you have to move away from doing to delegating yeah that on its own is a muscle one has to build also when you manage individual contributors it is also very different from what I do now which is managing managers yeah you have to know when to step in when to provide clear expectations and also leave that room for people to thrive and build upon their own ideas yeah that makes sense and do you think it made it more challenging moving into a people manager role position and also changing department at the same time I would not say it made it more difficult I would say it kind of made it more interesting why do I say that because prior to this I was in project management which meant that you know I was running projects for our global sales team 80 plus people and suddenly I felt like I have people to work with me I do not have to do everything alone and I think that was it really deep and you become a people manager you realize the real value of collaboration you realize the clear value of understanding what does your team really stand for and what is the impact you want to drive so I can never forget the fact that being just one person suddenly I was managing a team of nine and I could see month over month how the impact just it kind of like exponentially increases and that's where you realize the power of people the power of coming together and how when a team gets together like the possibilities are endless yeah that's great thank you so much and the big great to hear a little bit more as well if just tell us a bit more about your leadership style how would you sum it up or how would you describe it well I think you have experienced it so you know that yeah well for the listeners maybe give them an insight as well I would say that I am someone who is very direct I'm someone who really focuses on problem solving I really believe in understanding strengths and nuances of each person and as a manager, I believe it's my responsibility to then work with them to find an alignment in what they do day to day with those strengths. Also I think I'm someone who really values clarity, accountability because I believe that if I do not give that accountability, that freedom to fail to my own people, then they cannot thrive. And lastly I would say that as Get Your Guide has organically grown, we have seen our performance bar also elevate. At the same time while maintaining a high performance bar where we at a stage where we say we tell our people we have to aim high and follow through, we have been able to segment that and balance that with the culture that has also evolved with it. The inclusivity I saw at Get Your Guide in 2019, I see it's still now. We have a guiding principle about building bridges, have we improved in how we do that and we connect across teams and departments, yes, but the single base of assuming good intentions, valuing other people's opinions and their input and remaining open to feedback is something that I have embodied and that's something also that I expect from my team. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. I've worked with you as well closely for a long time and there's one word that you didn't use. I think empathy. I think you're a very empathetic leader within the ERG and not just for the ERG but I think also for what was a difficult time we were in the midst of COVID as well at time so that's something that I wanted to have because you hadn't mentioned it. Also it would be great to hear if you maybe could share, maybe talk about successes there and learnings but maybe if you could share, maybe where you felt maybe you made a mistake as a manager and what you learned from them. Oh Liam, I have made so many mistakes. I continue to make mistakes and I think that's how we learn. Yeah. But I think a common mistake that I made and which I believe other many new managers also make is trying to mold your team members into a single approach or style. Yeah. Where does that come from? It's because it has worked for you. You have been an individual contributor and you believe this approach works. And when you move to people management, you have to realize that effective leadership is not about creating copies of yourself, right? Yeah. I'm sorry. People are their best when they are authentic and hence it's very important to recognize and nurture each person's unique strengths. And I do think that building that muscle took me time. It is something I try to hone and improve all the time because especially when you want to come in as a leader, you want to help your people and you come from a mindset of like what can I do to help you fix it? Instead we need to move in a direction where I can support you. What is your plan? How can I make it easier for you or can I give you some guidance? Yeah. That's great. Thank you so much. And I want it to come back as well to another topic. Get your guide. It's a very, very open feedback culture obviously and it would just be great to hear about how you approach giving constructive feedback especially on occasions where maybe it's not easy and it can be difficult, especially when you're a new people manager or even if you've been doing it for a while. So just be great to hear what is your approach to that. I would say number one is that discussing how someone likes to receive feedback is something every people manager should do in the first one on one with the person. Why is that important because that's when you understand a) how do they like to receive feedback? Is it written? Is it verbal? Yeah. Are they the kind of person who want to hear it in the weekly one on one or they want to hear it real time and then from your aspect you shared how is it that you provide feedback? So for example, I am someone who is very direct. I prefer to give feedback in real time. It can be straight after a meeting. It can be in a dog. So I think really finding that balance on how someone likes to receive feedback is very important as a people manager, but second is it is a responsibility to give feedback that is clear and actionable and aligned because when that does not happen, we are not fostering the growth of our people and that not only effects impact, it affects our people's motivation and it affects their drive. So I think this is one piece that people managers should not be afraid of. Sometimes feedback can also lead to conflict and that is also fine because that's when you learn to understand each other's style and find a balance till you reach a stage with your direct report where they feel comfortable giving you feedback and also receiving feedback because they know it comes with good intentions and it comes to foster their growth. That's interesting because you just picked up on something that I also wanted to ask you about and it's still on the feedback topic, but maybe a piece of feedback that you've had that was constructive, maybe from a team member, maybe from a people manager, just how you kind of take that feedback yourself and how you then kind of process that action it and take it forward. So in general, when it comes to feedback, I follow a practice of asking for feedback. Anytime I have an important presentation, anytime I release a dog, I personally slack my stick holders and say, "Hey, don't just comment on the dog and the business proposal, tell me what I could have done better." The second thing that I try to follow is that sometimes you need advice and not just feedback, which means reframing and saying, "What could I have done better to, how would you have handled it?" And I think that gives you tips because the moment you separate yourself from that feedback, it kind of hears and you listen to it as a best practice and that makes you reflect on how you could have done those things differently. So I am someone who likes to receive direct feedback, real time feedback, similar to how I like to give it. And it goes into, of course, I get regular feedback from my managers, from my stick holders, also from my direct reports. So yes, I've had my journey on doing versus delegating, so when someone you are a problem fixer so to say, "Can I be a little bit more patient sometimes?" I think so. So do you have any advice that you would give to women and women of colour building their own careers? I think the first thing that I would say is believing in yourself and I know that sounds very generic, but I think especially for women and women of colour, sometimes we think of our careers in the context or construct of our gender, of our ethnicity. And I think firstly it's very important to separate that and think of yourself as an individual, what is the value that you bring, what are the skills you bring, taking that into account and then navigating the biases that come in. And biases exist in every workplace, in every society, but I think a lot of times women what they do is the X is difficult for women of colour or these are the biases for women. I think I prefer to separate myself from that, judge myself as an individual and then tackle those biases one by one, that is one. The other is I think having a very, very strong support network really helps, and get your guide coincidentally like most of my ex managers and even my current manager is a woman. I can say that my four roles at get your guide happen because I have had the support of some very strong women who not only saw what I brought to the table, but because they were women they could tell me also how to navigate different biases and make sure that like my value and my impact as an individual is clear, they spoke for me in rooms where I was not there. So I think it's kind of become like this cycle for me because I've had women back me up and now I believe as a woman of colour it's my responsibility to back up other women and other individuals in the workplace. And the next thing I would say is and here I want to call out get your guide as well because I've experienced real authenticity and inclusivity. I am someone who loves to wear my own engine clothes and honestly if you told me 11 years ago when I left India to go study at Oxford that someday I would work in a European tech company and I would show up every day, adorned in my culture and I would feel comfortable. That is a game changer for me. Great, thank you so much. So look ahead, let's talk about the next steps for you, your career, what are some of your maybe short term and long term goals and what drives that motivation for you to keep growing. So looking ahead I would say short term goal is to continue building and strengthening supplier enablement and get your guide. We say we have the winning aspiration for providing world class support and I want to see it happen next year and particularly excited about leveraging new technologies including AI, how we want to transform support for supplier so that it is scalable but it is also seamless and basically make sure that my teams are completely aligned with how the company wants to win in our company we have a company strategy we have cluster strategy and when you work in operations sometimes the connection can get lost. So I think my most important, mission and responsibilities to make sure that the 30 people I have here in Berlin with me understand what they do every day and how it connects to the company strategy and beyond that honestly, Liam, as I said, I've been here six plus years, I have said yes to opportunities, I have said hell yes to problems and when you do that, I think growth just follows. And I think it's always hard to predict what might come because I often think if I look one, two, three years down the line from where we are today at the end of 2025, there'll be teams, roles that don't even exist today that who knows what the future can bring. That's one thing that I've always loved about working at Get Your Guide. So finally, we have a bit of a tradition on the podcast to end with the subject that we love the most, which is unforgettable travel experiences. So with love to hear, what is your most memorable travel experience that you've had? I would say my most memorable travel experience has been a trip to Georgia, the country, not the state, with my sister and my best friend for my birthday in 2019, and I remember going for this wine tour there where we learnt exactly how wine is made and I remember wrapping up that evening sitting in a small local restaurant, trying local cuisine. And I remember sitting there and thinking how grateful I was for the people that I had in my life, for the relationships I've made. And the fact that I get to experience different countries and different cultures with them, it kind of like came together this freedom, companionship and love, if I can say that. So yeah, and I feel like in this way this experience makes me reflective and think of like I am one of the millions of customers that we serve at Get Your Guide. And there is someone else sitting in a restaurant in Georgia or another country having this unforgettable experience and they used our product, our platform to book the experience. So I think that's my most memorable experience and it makes you think about travel as a whole and how it's about connections made, cultural emotion and moments of gratitude, which of course always comes with the people we experience, these experiences with. Yeah, no, I completely agree, that's great and I love hearing when friends and family have used it and it's gone well and they've had a great experience even if I'm not present with them on that trip. It's always special when I hear someone has booked something so memorable. BAFTA, thank you so much. We've come to the end already so thank you so much for sharing your story and your insights with us. Honestly, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming and taking the time. 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