workforce

One of these is Fiona Michel, now Head of Global Human Resources in IAG’s Corporate Office, who took part in the Australian Leadership Program while running IAG New Zealand’s HR team.

"The program opened my eyes to potential I hadn’t previously seen in myself, and it challenged me to seek opportunities I might not otherwise have sought," she says.

"It gave me an objective view of where I am, what my strengths and areas for improvement are, and something tangible to work towards."

Fiona says the program also gave her a deeper insight into other areas of the Group.

"Because the participants come from across IAG, I had the opportunity to build a network of peers with people I wouldn’t normally deal with in my day to day work.

"The program also has a focus on fundamental skill building such as financial acumen, and you learn how to manage a portfolio, and because of that I would now be much more open to a secondment to a profit and loss business."

The Advanced Leadership Program exposes participants to a range of business scenarios to strengthen their executive competencies. Participants are required to undertake a project which will be implemented within their business units, undergo a ‘day in the life of a CEO’ workshop, and are asked to formulate the business and communication response to a crisis scenario.

"Some of the sessions were very intense, and the program provided us with a safe environment to learn some of these skills, such as fronting a media conference, rather than needing to learn these on the job," Fiona says.

"We also had some great, thought provoking speakers, who challenged us to think about and address controversial topics.

"And for me, one of the best benefits was that the program encouraged me to push myself outside my traditional boundaries, to know what I want, and to prepare myself for the next step."

However after one of many visits down south, he decided it was time to see whether a permanent move was viable.

"We visited the South Coast a lot, and we wanted to bring up our young children in a village atmosphere rather than in a big city," he said.

"I approached my manager about working more flexibly, and she asked me to develop a proposal which would work from a commercial as well as a personal standpoint, and which wouldn’t disadvantage the business or our customers."

IAG offers a range of flexible work options, from part time to job sharing to working from home. David’s proposal was that he work two days a week from home for a trial period – and three years later, he’s still doing it.

"When I first started working from home I contacted my main customers and they were comfortable with it. In fact many of my customers are outside Australia so it doesn’t matter where I am when I talk to them, as long as they can reach me when they need to," he says.

"Possibly one disadvantage is less face to face time with my team, but we manage this."

David says since working from home, he has become more productive, with less travel time and less interruption during his working day.

"My engagement has never been stronger, I feel very positive about my role and the company," he says.

"I’m more productive, not because I’m scared I might lose the arrangement if I don’t deliver, but because I feel like I’m doing a better job, I’m more motivated."

Through a number of strategic interviews and focus groups with high performers across the business, CGU defined five key themes that underpin what its people value about working with the company:

• Our Journey – CGU’s goal is to be Australia’s leading intermediated general insurer.  Our people’s commitment to our journey makes this an exciting time of transformation and opportunity.
• Our People – an environment of mutual respect, where our people care about their customers and each other. Our people receive the encouragement and support they need to achieve both their individual and team goals.
• Our Reputation – CGU’s reputation goes beyond market performance. We are committed to being there for Australians in their time of need, we go beyond the paperwork.
• Our Flexibility – we aim to recognise our people’s commitment to delivering CGU’s goals by providing flexibility in different forms for different individual needs.
• Our Benefits – we value our people’s contribution through great benefits. Short term incentives, paid maternity and paternity leave, as well as 13% superannuation and extensive discounts on insurance and associated products are just the start.

The overarching CGU EVP and key themes reflect the consistent elements that people value across the business.  In addition to this, unique EVP statements have been developed that reflect what people value at a business unit level; they are being used to support managers in effectively communicating what CGU's points of differentiation are as an employer, and also to ensure alignment between what CGU’s people want and what the company delivers as their employer.

To gauge how well the building has delivered on this objective, IAG New Zealand surveyed its people before and after moving into the new building.

All areas measured demonstrated an improvement in workplace performance, for example:

• There was a 61% increase in those who believed the design of the workplace aligned with IAG New Zealand’s culture;
• Around 24% saw an improvement in personal workspace
• There was a 29% increase in overall environmental comfort.
• Nearly 60% say the look and feel of the workplace has improved.
• There was a 23% increase in those who believe the workplace supports creativity and innovation.
• Employees found it 30% easier to locate and access information, people and facilities.
• There was a 16% increase in ease of interaction with other staff.
• Employees saw a 24% increase in phone and data services
• There was a 43% increase in collaborative workspaces in the building.

These improvements together assist in improving our overall workforce culture and engagement, have a positive impact on productivity and assist in reducing absenteeism and turnover, helping IAG build not only sustainable buildings, but a sustainable workforce.

IAG’s Asia division achieves this with our capability transfer program, which involves IAG people being placed with our joint venture partners. This not only provides benefit for our Asian business and partners, but also provides an important development opportunity for our people, who are able to hone and refine their skills and ultimately use these enhanced skills for IAG’s benefit.

We have for several years been running a capability transfer program with our partner in Malaysia. This has involved people being placed in the business long term, as well as experts flying in on short term secondments for specific initiatives and programs. Expanding product lines is just one of the indicators of success that we have seen result from a secondee bringing their experience to the business.

From an individual perspective, working in a capability transfer role can be both rewarding and challenging.

Aidan Pallister has recently returned from four years working with IAG’s businesses partners in Asia, including the AmG joint venture in Malaysia, and Safety Insurance and NZI Thailand in Thailand.

His dual role saw him focus on partner selection in developing new businesses and partnerships, and transferring key capabilities to existing partnerships.

“Working in Asia has been a tremendous development opportunity both personally and professionally,” he says.

“It enhances your ability to manage through influence rather than direct control because usually the business you’re working with doesn’t report to you. And it gives you an end to end view of the business, because you’re working across all areas of the operation.”

“There are some challenging aspects, such as difficulty in maintaining networks back home and a lot of time travelling and away from family, and anyone working in this type of role needs to be prepared for that. But overall, it’s been a very positive experience.”

Of course the Asian business is sourcing this pool of talent from our other divisions and IAG Asia works very closely with the other IAG Divisions to identify and source talented employees with quite specific skill sets who will meet the requirements of the role and will be effective in the Asian market. No division wants to lose their talented individuals therefore the on-going challenge is to find the right person at the right time, and match the Asian assignments with career and development plans.

To support our people while they are in a capability transfer role, IAG has developed programs and processes to support those in capability transfer programs before, during and after their secondment.

Before their departure, secondees are provided with briefings on the environment and the challenges they may face to support their own decision-making and enhance their effectiveness in the new setting. And for longer term assignments where the employee relocates with his or her family, pre-departure support activities are also extended to their spouse.

While on secondment, employees are encouraged to keep in touch with their home colleagues and networks, and are kept up to date with changes within their originating business, to facilitate their re-integration when they return.

Before coming home, IAG Asia holds a series of discussions with those on secondment, to make sure the right role is found for them on their return. And after they’re back, a post-assignment review process ensures their experience is captured, and used to improve IAG’s partnering programs. The process also teases out the employee’s key learnings during their secondment, allowing them to assess how best to use those learnings in their post-secondment role.

Aidan Pallister says long term secondees should start planning for their repatriation at least six months before they return.

“A lot has been done over the past few years on developing the repatriation process, and I felt I had very good support when returning to Australia, in particular with finding a role to go back into,” he says.

The DI Employee Pledge clearly sets out what each employee is accountable for (for example, owning their own performance), how they will behave to deliver on that accountability (for example, translating feedback into action) and what behaviour they will avoid (for example, ignoring feedback or making excuses for non-performance).

Performing in accordance with the DI Employee Pledge has been added as a goal to all Direct Insurance performance plans, ensuring that people who demonstrate the right behaviours and who are high performers, are appropriately recognised.

As part of this goal, Direct Insurance employees discuss with their manager how the behaviours in the Pledge relate to their role, and how the behaviours should be demonstrated.

Together with their manager, employees identify their strengths and opportunities for growth, and create a development plan which identifies the behaviours which need to be demonstrated. The development plan should also address how development should be monitored and the timeframe for improvement.

The DI Employee Pledge is supported by the Leadership Pledge, an extended set of accountabilities and behaviours against which all Direct Insurance people managers are measured.

As with the DI Employee Pledge, the Leadership pledge forms a performance review goal against which a leader’s performance is measured.

To be successful under this goal, leaders must proactively identify opportunities for self improvement and create a development plan to support their achievement, by providing evidence of how they have embedded the behaviours set out in the goal into every day practice.

The Leadership Pledge sets out accountabilities (for example, to build an external outlook and be commercially astute), links these to broader business outcomes (for example, achievement of growth targets), gives examples of the right behaviours (for example scanning for risks internally and externally and reporting when things are ‘not right’) and outlines behaviours to be avoided (being internally focussed, operating in a vacuum).

Kevin Cleland says implementing the Leadership Pledge has paid dividends with his team of seven direct reports.

Kevin, who manages the retail business insurance sales team in Direct Insurance, uses the Pledge as a framework for performance discussions and goal setting with his team.

"It helps me guide discussions with my team, and helps my team understand the bigger picture, and how what they do aligns with our division’s strategy," he says.

"We first used the Leadership Pledge in performance discussions early this year, and it really helped in terms of highlighting peoples’ strengths and areas for improvement against the Pledge, and allowing us to develop concrete action plans to close the gaps."

Kevin says he has already seen a significant improvement in the performance of his business unit as a result of the Pledge.

"I worked with my direct reports to rate them against the behaviours in the Pledge at the beginning of the year, and at our half yearly performance reviews we saw a big improvement. In some cases people moved from one or two out of five, to three or four. Focusing on the Pledge has helped my team identify ways in which they can do things differently, in some cases changing the way they’ve done things for years."

But Kevin says the real value of the Pledge is in broadening his team’s focus to encompass behaviours as well as performance.

"In the past we’ve focussed on money but not on behaviours, but if you’re always looking at the scoreboard you can’t focus on playing the game well," he says.

"Now, my team understands that if you get the behaviours right, you can’t help but improve your financial performance. And we’re seeing that flow through to the performance in our business unit."