The Secret to Sanity: How Smart Resource Planning Transforms Travel Management

Let’s be honest—managing a travel program isn’t just about strategy; it’s a daily balancing act of supplier negotiations, stakeholder expectations, and operational fire-fighting. The workload can feel relentless and lead to burnout, and yet, one of the most critical success factors—resource planning—is rarely discussed openly in our industry. Why? Because in travel, we’re wired to ‘just get on with it.’

But here’s the reality: without a clear resource plan, even the best-laid strategies become wishful thinking. Effective resource planning isn’t just about hiring more people; it’s about making sure the right expertise is in the right place at the right time. It helps translate bold strategic goals into actionable workstreams, identify bandwidth gaps, and make the case for support where it’s truly needed.

If you’re constantly juggling priorities and feeling stretched thin, it’s time to shift the mindset. Let’s stop viewing resource planning as a luxury and start treating it as the game-changer it really is.

So what’s the secret sauce to gain sanity and plan for the right resources? Well, it requires you to step back and look at things holistically. Sometimes chess players have to stand up to see the whole board from a different perspective. Block time – it is worth it! If you’re operating on your own, ask a peer to support you.

• Write down all the tasks on your plate, both strategic and tactical.
• Be honest about the full scope of your workload.

• Use a four-box model to classify tasks by:
  • Urgent and important – Handle immediately.
  • Important but not urgent – Schedule and focus on.
  • Urgent but not important – Delegate where possible.
  • Neither urgent nor important – Eliminate these.

This exercise will highlight how much time is consumed by low-value tasks.

• Prioritize tasks that contribute to long-term strategic goals.
• Communicate with leadership about what you can’t deliver without additional support.
• This creates clarity around trade-offs and helps avoid burnout.

• Stop – Drop tasks that are neither urgent nor important.
• Start – Focus on high-priority tasks that align with strategic goals.
• Continue – Maintain tasks that are valuable and aligned with business priorities.
• Ask yourself:
  • Does this task move the program forward?
  • What’s always pushed aside despite being valuable?

• If you identify gaps in bandwidth or expertise, consider:
• Can someone within the organization help?
• Is short-term or long-term support needed?
• What level of expertise is required (operational, strategic, or specialist)?
• Offload low-value or administrative work to a Travel Management Company (TMC) or third party where possible.

• Present leadership with two clear choices:
  • “We’re okay with leaving some tasks undone.”
  • “This work is critical—how can we resource it?”
• Be clear about what’s at risk if additional support isn’t provided.

• Burnout is not an option.
• Being clear about what you can’t deliver is just as important as what you can deliver.
• Set realistic expectations with leadership based on available resources.

• If leadership approves additional support, consider:
  • Does the expertise already exist internally?
  • Are you looking for short-term help or long-term ownership?
  • Do you need a hands-on operator, a strategic leader, or a subject-matter expert?
  • This ensures you hire the right person rather than just filling a seat.

• Travel managers don’t need to master every trend (e.g., AI).
• Instead, focus on connecting internal and external experts.
• If a trend doesn’t align with your company’s strategy, park it for now or explore it in a low-stakes way.

Resource planning isn’t just an operational exercise—it’s the key to turning strategy into action without running yourself into the ground. By taking a structured approach to assessing workload, prioritizing effectively, and aligning resources with strategic goals, travel managers can gain control over their programs instead of being controlled by them. The days of simply “getting on with it” at the cost of burnout need to be left behind. Instead, let’s embrace resource planning as a fundamental pillar of success—one that ensures not just efficiency, but also sustainability and impact. The question isn’t whether you have time to plan your resources; it’s whether you can afford not to.