Positioning Travel Management You'll best demonstrate the value of travel management if you position this function as a contributor to the achievement of organization goals and strategy, rather than a support function or policy enforcer. To gain support, you and your staff should be perceived as professional, credible and the equal of others at similar levels within your organization. Organizational prejudices can sometimes make this hard to achieve. Common culprits for negative attitudes toward many travel groups can include an underappreciation of the challenges involved in travel management, disregard for the travel industry, and a lack of organizational focus on travel management. Travel groups also sometimes attract anger that results from problems beyond your control - late flights, hotel errors, lost tickets, and a host of other issues. Proactive Efforts To gain the fullest support for your efforts, you should work to ensure that travel management is viewed as an important part of the organization's overall financial strategy. In addition, you and your staff should be perceived to play a key role in containing costs and improving efficiency, while improving the quality of the travel experience for everyone in your organization. Wherever possible, your department should seek to play a consulting role - constructively assisting managers throughout the organization in improving group travel performance, and offering valuable advice and assistance. By doing so, you'll go a long way towards winning support for your initiatives from your peers, which will only benefit you when you seek support from senior and financial management.