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Coaching has paid dividends. It has helped us with our conversations, approach and discussions with the business and has enabled us to drive the right answers.
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| - Chris Billam, Head of Business Solutions Delivery ‐ Personal at AXA Insurance |
AXA Insurance
The client
AXA Insurance is a leader in the global financial protection and wealth management industry.
The sticky situation
AXA Insurance realised that there were issues surrounding the performance and dynamics of their IT and Change Management teams. With key projects and programmes coming up and the teams' daily operations critical to the success of the company, a solution needed to be found. AXA Insurance's willingness to provide significant investment demonstrated the level of contribution these teams made towards the rest of the business.
"There was huge pressure on these teams. Feedback from the business was that IT was poor. The team was demoralised, overworked and operated in a 'fire fighting' manner," explained Colin Hunter, Group Managing Director at Potential Squared International. "There was also significant down-time and the team lacked the time and space to address these issues strategically."
The added challenge
Today's culture is switched on and active 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, day-to-day requirements of customers have become increasingly sophisticated, resulting in the need for AXA Insurance to provide their customers with a highly reliable, round-the-clock IT service. The reliability of this service is essential to limiting system failures, customer frustrations and the negative side effects that these problems can cause.
The winning pitch
Working in parallel, both Accenture and Potential Squared International were brought in to provide external expertise. Accenture was enlisted to assist with IT and customer experience. To complement this skill set, our team was brought on board to leverage our indepth understanding of commercial behaviour.
Chris Billam, Head of Business Solutions Delivery - Personal at AXA Insurance, commented : "Working with Accenture and Potential Squared International enabled us to draw on external expertise, for example, creating master class sessions in Portfolio Management."
The refreshingly direct solution
Firstly, Accenture and Potential Squared International carried out a benchmark survey using the RAG (red, amber, green) rating system. The results of this confirmed that underperformance was the key issue, with most team members scoring firmly in the amber range of 4-7 (out of ten).
To prepare for the coaching sessions, feedback was sourced from all of the teams' key stakeholders. The IT and Change Management teams were then asked to participate in observed exercises to generate a true picture of how they worked together and the differing skills, backgrounds and knowledge each member displayed. The findings from these activities were used to focus individual coaching sessions on key areas for their development, and to define agendas for an ongoing series of master classes.
The coaching sessions initially ran once a month, stepping up later to every two weeks. Working in tandem, Accenture focused on good industry practices, benchmarking and customer and IT issues, while our team concentrated on aligning behaviours.
The end result
Significant advances were achieved and recognised by senior management. In particular, two common areas of development were in commercial voice and personal brand. There were also breakthroughs in role development and personal confidence. Of course, the proof was in the pudding. A follow-up survey on the IT and Change Management teams saw individuals, this time around, rated in the green range of the RAG rating system. Specific positive feedback was also received, which included the following:
- "I'm not only happy to bring him to these (client) meetings but I also see him as adding value and potentially a 'deal clincher'."
- "Well respected by key stakeholders and peers."
- "Stakeholder management is first class with internal customers."
- "A strong leader and communicator."
The pat on the back
Chris summarised the benefits of our contribution by stating that, in all areas, business contacts saw an improvement in every individual's level of engagement, communication and service delivery.
"Without doubt, we have a more trusting team and I see day-to-day evidence of healthy challenge. The IT aspects of the job are much easier than they would have been because of the work we did with Potential Squared International and Accenture around service delivery," said Chris.
"We have a clearer view and vision. The real test is how we embed the coaching in the long term. We now have an invaluable toolkit to use and our balanced scorecards will ensure that these new ways of working become business as usual, rather than a one off project."