to new business development for the company.


This was a major obstacle. Business is primarily conducted through reinsurance brokers. We knew from both


experience and research that


reinsurance brokers essentially wanted to know three things about the company:


1. What is your rating? 2. What lines of risk coverage do you underwrite?


3. Who should I talk to if I want to do business with you?


The first two questions are easy. The third question, however, was a major stumbling block. The company did not want to post the underwriters’ contact information. Why? “It simply wasn’t done. It wasn’t necessary. It is a small business community and the brokers know who to call.” This clearly wasn’t true. Brokers didn’t know which office to call around the globe and they didn’t know whom to contact. Nor was it the real reason for not sharing contact information.


The real reason was a tradition of protecting underwriters from being poached by competition. Well-trained, experienced underwriters are the lifeblood of a reinsurance organization. Good ones are tough to replace. Underwriter turnover was low. So, why would they break tradition and start broadcasting the contact information of the company’s best underwriters? But, if the new website was to be successful and an effective tool to help brokers and grow the business, solving this challenge was key.


An Incremental Approach


Ultimately, the website team won out and the underwriter contact information is now easy for brokers to find on the site. That did not happen overnight and required patient, incremental change over several months throughout the website development process phases.


The website team decided not to force the issue. There were plenty of other


® First, we were able to dissolve the


fear of losing team members if we posted contact information on the website. The harsh, cold facts of reality played to our favor. As it turned out, most of the underwriters already posted profiles on LinkedIn and had for some time. So, if they were going to be poached, the new website would hardly make a difference.


The website development team also continued to communicate the vision for the new site. Specifically, we demonstrated with design mock-ups how the site would better serve the broker community if contact information were available in addition to the other features and benefits. Momentum for the change began to take over as the new site designs made their way to influential department leaders. A coalition began to build as the idea took hold. Eventually, a shift in priority took place as it became more important to align the site to the needs of its users than a false sense of protection. By making it


easier to business with


the company, the website could help facilitate growth, not impede it.


While not a formula or a process,


this approach to combat decision by tradition, has some key ingredients for making sustainable cultural change:


• Confront fears head on. Don’t dismiss your objectors’ concerns. Dig deep to better understand them before implementing change. Unless you fully assess the issues, your idea may not be the best course of action. And, if their fears are realized, then you really fail.


• Don’t force change. If you can’t win their hearts and minds, any change will likely be short-lived.


• Incremental change works. Don’t rush to change too much at once. Make a small change and give it time to set into a new routine. Then, make more change over time.


areas of the site that demanded attention: design, navigation architecture, content development as well as other features and functionality. As we built trust with the executive sponsors of the site, we slowly built our case.


A Special Offer For ICI Members ICI members will now be able to access my online course, “How to Build Your Growth Strategy” and receive 25% of the price. Check it out in the Resources section of the ICI website at www.investmentcasting.org.


• Build a coalition. Don’t go it alone. Compel others, especially influential allies, to embrace the idea. Then, convert them into ambassadors for change.


• Clarify priorities. Does your organization understand which priorities are the most important? They’ll need to have a firm grasp of the company’s needs to make the best decisions.


• Communicate the vision. Share frequent reminders and illustrate how the change makes things better.


• Be patient. Incremental change takes a long time. Enjoy the positive outcome from the little changes and keep your eye on the prize.


If your growth strategy requires


some big changes, keep this in mind: Culture eats strategy for lunch. At the end of the day, the best strategic plans must be put into action for you to see any results. How your organization executes a plan is dependent on your culture. If your current organizational culture can’t execute the strategy, the plan fails. (Whether or not you should change the strategy or the culture is beyond the scope of this article, as interesting as that question may be.)


In closing, I think that many


investment casting companies are well protected against decision by tradition. The casting process itself is built on trial and error. And, many companies embrace a spirit of continuous improvement. By harnessing that drive to make things better as part of the overall organization culture, change may be more easily embraced. And decisions can be guided not by tradition, but informed by experience, data and results.


July 2019 ❘ 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32