Free your mind

Manor Insurance: proactive

Training is the modern business ethic that no company can afford to ignore.

Training and development provides a foundation for staff to ensure a company grows. And given all the challenges brokers have to face, from FSA regulation to a growing competitive market, training and development is one way to try to maintain some type of advantage.

Sussex-based Manor Insurance knows this and is highly proactive towards training. Its director, Ian Mantel, is behind the drive.

He bases this on his own experience, having formed the company in 1990 and achieved a Certificate of Insurance Practice and Certificate of Proficiency.

"This gave me the grounding which is very important. You cannot build on mud, so your development has to be built on a solid foundation and although I am not an ACII, I had the grounding that was necessary."

Mantel gives examples of two new recruits who have become embedded in the development culture. Twenty-one-year-old Sam Harrison joined half-way through his Foundation of Insurance and will undertake his first batch of tests in April. "He is doing tremendously well," says Mantel.

Holly Jones, 19, was introduced to the Foundation of Insurance level.

"She hadn't a great history of learning but she has done really well. She has taken on every challenge put in front of her."

Mantel encourages all employees to move up a level. "It is important to get a theoretical grounding and keep developing that further," he says.

"We assist with on-the-job training in terms of, are they confident with the customer? Are they turning customer calls into quotations? But it is essential to have the theory. Those who criticise the CII for being all about theory get it all wrong. It is only part of the job, the theoretical side, but still a very important side."

Manor Insurance pays for all employees' course and exam fees. But if an entrant fails the exam, they have to pay for 50% of the course resit fee. "We don't pay for people to fanny about," says Mantel openly.

"We want to pay for our staff to learn and encourage them to learn. The CII is structured in such a way and the course work is so good, that if you do it properly you cannot fail. The CII is really top drawer stuff."

Manor Insurance also embraces Biba 'away days' when 'soft skills' are expanded on in a classroom environment. "It is a schoolroom approach, but again it is crucial in handling the grounding."

Manor's new staff members undertake a training course in their first week. This includes role playing and talking to clients, who are informed that they are talking to a trainee. The company has on-going process to gauge the work of its trainees.

"We have to assess practical things such as the trainee's confidence with the claimant, while looking at if they are maintaining competency. It is very much based on assessment that they are maintaining competency and not just blagging it.

"We need to be able to advise and give informative, knowledgeable answers. We are professionals, not check-out girls. And being professionals we need to advise the customers properly and professionally. "You need to get to an acceptable level of knowledge and continually use it and be keen to use it."

And, says Mantel, the big challenge for those taking the CII home study test is to turn the television off and get on with the work.

"You need to do at least three hours a week of home study, if you are serious about learning," he says.

Goss: structured learning

Goss has always put training and development of its staff as a top priority. The Berkshire-based broker has for a number of years had a structured training programme in place.

"It has always been the company view that by providing structured training to our staff, the insurance industry will benefit, and not just the company," says Goss training manager, Ginny Murray.

In the past year since FSA regulation, Goss Group general insurance division adopted a more in-depth training and competency programme. Murray says the programme provides a central reference point for management and staff, and enables Goss to demonstrate evidence of adequate systems and controls to meet FSA requirements.

"By doing this we are able to ensure that all staff are competent and remain competent in their role, are supervised appropriately, are reviewed regularly as to their competency and are trained to the right level of competency for the work they do," Murray says.

The programme consists of several modules covering general insurance basics, compliance, operational requirements, and technical and legal aspects.

It also includes multiple choice tests and a competence accreditation test. Murray says the competence accreditation section tests the staff members' competency using FSA Treating Customers Fairly rules and requirements.

"The test is made up of questions about the individual, their role within the firm and their level of experience, including qualifications and continuing professional development (CPD)."

This is followed by 50 multiple-choice true or false questions testing insurance knowledge, regulatory understanding and compliance with insurance conduct of business rules and understanding operational processes.

"When a new member of staff joins the company, or a change of role takes place, we prepare an individual induction programme which lasts initially four weeks, with a monthly training review ranging from three to six months.

The reviews help us to monitor the level of training received and assess the individual training needs," Murray says. According to Murray, Goss encourages its staff members to take responsibility for their own training and development and it provides all staff with their own CPD record.

"It is the responsibility of the individual to maintain these records to keep up-to-date and extend their knowledge in relation to general insurance.

These logs are audited on a monthly basis," Murray says. As well as the CPD logs, all staff at Goss have their own training and development plan.

This document is updated on a regular basis and gives the individuals an opportunity to manage their own development. "A lot of time and resources are put in place to encourage and motivate the staff with their personal development, and a variety of programmes and courses are adapted to suit their specific needs," Murray says.

Being an Investors in People accredited company has helped Goss staff understand the importance of training.

The company also runs specific training courses, seminars and presentations to meet identified needs. "We organise a number of training courses and seminars internally and externally. Training is provided either in-house via the training manager or externally using a number of training providers.

"We have a good relationship with Biba and use their training facilities on a regular basis, as well as a number of our insurers."

Murray says every course involves an evaluation process. Before the individual attends a training course or attempts to obtain a professional qualification, they discuss their training needs with their line manager. Once the individual completes the course, they have a post review meeting to ascertain the training's benefits to the individual and the company. After three months, there is a final review of the long-term benefits.

"We are happy for the staff to obtain professional qualifications and have in place an employee assistance scheme to help with the costs involved," Murray says.

She says the majority of Goss staff members now hold the Insurance Foundation Certificate and, since the implementation of the new CII framework, several have progressed to their Certificate in Insurance.

"Goss are, and always have been, committed to developing its staff to enable us to meet our business needs. As part of our strategy of continuous growth and development, we continue to plan to develop the potential of all staff through effective training," she says.

Chesterfield Insurance Brokers: 'terrorless' training

Training is just as important for a Lloyd's broker, as regional brokers as Chesterfield Insurance can testify. As a broker it focuses on terrorism insurance, war insurance and even weather insurance, but Chesterfield says its approach to training and development follows typical paths.

One of the company's leading lights is Roshan Choolhun, who last year was nominated for Biba's Young Broker of the Year award. Choolhun has been a broker for seven years and he now heads Chesterfield's special risks division focusing on accident, health, contingency and cargo.

But like most in the industry, Choolhun says his career development wasn't always planned. "To be honest I didn't really think about working in insurance," he says.

" But when I completed my A-levels I thought, 'I don't want to go to university because of tuition fees.' And I wanted a career that would offer me the chance to continue my studies.

"So I thought of a career and I came up with either accountancy or insurance - and went for insurance."

After completing his A-level exams, Choolhun says he spent a year as a bassist in his band, Tribe 23, before he decided to take his dad's advice that it was "time to get a real job".

He was inspired to pursue a career in insurance after a stint at Cox Aviation at Lloyd's in 1999, where he reported to the lead underwriter. After 18 months, he went into broking.

He says in his role as the underwriters assistant: "I got to know brokers and thought that is the route I would like to take as it offered a more hands-on approach. And it is fair to say that underwriting is not a young man's game."

He then joined Chesterfield and became its thirteenth employee at the time. This number has now ballooned to 35. The company's annual turnover has seen a similar rise in this time, surging from £1m to the current £4m.

Choolhun says: "Everything promised to me at the time I joined has actually happened. The opportunities open to me, the hands-on role, the career opportunities and the business growth. We are now looking to grow to £10m in the next three years."

Choolhun says Chesterfield has taken his professional development seriously.

"The company has been excellent in my professional development. They have paid for every exam and made sure I kept learning. My studying mentor is the compliance manager (at Chesterfield) who has an MBA.

Choolhun, who completed his ACII in two years, says he would like to go on to do an MA or MSc.

He says Chesterfield has an open-minded approach to ideas and innovative products. "Nothing I have ever suggested has been looked down upon, and you are made to feel you should explore as many areas as possible and never hold back. That has helped my development as it helped to build my confidence."

He now encourages other young Chesterfield staff members to follow his development route. "I encourage every young person to get qualified. It is something they should want, to better themselves and their careers, especially when you get the support we do in this company."

He believes he was nominated for the Biba young broker award because of his 'can do' attitude. "If you are going to do something it should contain a challenge and an element of risk. My motto has to be that you should seize the day."

His next challenge is to seek out new market opportunities for Chesterfield.

He will soon be attending a conference in Sudan, which is the next big market for his special risks team. "The focus for us is providing risk solutions for engineers, technicians and special consultants involved in the reconstruction of Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. We are also looking at some major cargo movements. It certainly isn't boring," Choolhun says.

J&M Insurance: 'e-learning'

As a team leader with Epping-based brokers J&M Insurance, Prakash Sudra is responsible for a team of eight handling incoming calls in the company's service centre. One aspect of his role is to supervise the induction and on going training of his team.

His focus is on face-to-face training and online e-learning, ensuring staff competence and driving business efficiency.

J&M sells a range of commercial, motor and travel insurance policies, with a particular strength in taxi insurance.

Sudra, who has been with J&M for more than two years, joined the company with a good level of insurance knowledge. But early on he received training in J&M's business approach, people management and leadership skills. Much of this training was through an insurance-specific online learning system to which the company subscribes.

"Early on, I took a number of courses online, including things like managing your own time, managing others. I also went over some of the general things, like principles of insurance, and took courses on the specific areas of insurance in which J&M specialises, like public and private hire, which is essentially what taxi insurance is."

Sudra now uses e-learning extensively in training new recruits and developing the knowledge and skills of current staff. "I handle the vast majority of face-to-face training myself, and get people working by themselves on the e-learning courses to acquire a lot of the specific technical knowledge they need in their job roles."

Since he arrived at J&M, Sudra has trained 15 people.

"You do find that different people respond to different training approaches," he says.

"Some take to the online approach like a duck to water and pick up knowledge very rapidly that way. Others need more face-to-face input. So it is always a question of balancing the two in a way that is going to develop that individual's skills most efficiently and effectively."

The company uses a system called Tick, which it licenses from Searchlight, an insurance training company. It covers both technical insurance skills and general business skills and has hundreds of online courses. "Once you have a licence, you have unlimited access to all of the courses and assessment modules on the system," he says.

He says J&M assigns its staff members a training and development plan designed to cover the combination of courses that will be of most immediate relevance and benefit to their learning and development needs.

Sudra cites the example of a particular staff member who was having problems managing their daily workload.

"We had one recently joined member of staff who really seemed to be struggling to organise his day properly. I got him doing an online time management course, and he responded brilliantly. I was monitoring him and I could see a massive change in the way he was prioritising his tasks and working steadily through a well-organised personal workload."

E-learning is also a cost-effective way of training, Sudra says, particularly with individuals who are happy working through courses at their own pace.

"But the other benefit with a system like Tick is that you can deliver training appropriate to virtually any need straight away." He says the priority when new staff join the company is to assess what knowledge and skills each recruit already has, and to determine where training is needed.

"There is quite a bit of hand-holding early on as I guide them through the relevant information and make sure they are absorbing the knowledge they need to acquire," Sudra says.

"Once I am confident they are trained to the relevant level, they initially begin handling calls with another team mate, and then I will monitor and assess a number of their calls before we give them the go-ahead to start handling calls on their own."

Sudra says one of the benefits of using an internet-based learning system is that each course contains an end of course quiz.

The system maintains a record of each staff member's learning and their quiz and assessment results.

"As a supervisor I can log on to the system and view, download or print off a record of all the courses someone has taken and how they have performed in the end of course quizzes."

Sudra himself continues to study online. "I have found a lot of material on the system that has helped me to be a more effective team leader."

Sudra says J&M has a policy of investing in the training and development of its staff.

"A good strong training programme is absolutely essential to ensuring we maintain our professional reputation.

"We want to ensure that all our people taking calls are fully trained and capable of living up to the high standards we set ourselves."

"And the fact that the FSA has focused on issues of training and competence since taking over as regulator last year has certainly helped to focus attention on these issues across the industry as a whole," he says.

But in most cases - certainly as far as J&M is concerned - it has reinforced and confirmed an approach that was already in place, he says.