Products and issues: The company is one of the UK’s leading financial protection insurers; they sell Income Protection, Critical Illness cover and Life Insurance. They employ around 1000 people in administration and sales offices around the country. In 2010 new sales were up by over 20%.
Background: Successful and well respected by customers and the industry. Growing the business in 2011 and onwards required even more focus in a challenging economic climate.
Problem: Employees struggling to cope with increasing demands and workloads. Everyone was very busy and working hard but it was identified by the internal Learning and Development (L and D) team that some teams and key personnel found it difficult to keep all the ‘plates spinning’ and, if appropriate, which ones could be dropped.
Solution: Following discussions with the L and D team and a number of business managers, we designed and delivered half day workshops focused on key principles – clarity of goals and applying on a daily basis, prioritising and planning. This was supported by individual follow-up sessions in the workplace to ensure the principles were applied effectively to their role. The follow-up session was also used to help them use Outlook (organisational tool used by the whole organisation) more effectively in their day-to-day work. This programme was delivered to key teams – Sales, Marketing and Customer Services – and open workshops for individuals from different parts of the organisation.
Results: Programme is ongoing, but results and feedback so far indicate a 15-20% increase in productivity. Additional benefits are teams working in a consistent manner, feeling more ‘in control’ and generally less pressurised employees.
This programme was developed for a corporate organisation but the principles and personal coaching are relevant for all sizes of organisation and employees.
