Many impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends, such as an increase in e-commerce and digital technology more generally, the automation of routine tasks, an increase in remote and flexible work arrangements, a more holistic approach to employee well-being, and more.
At Zurich North America, a commercial property-casualty insurance provider, the Talent Development team had been planning changes to how they develop leaders when the pandemic accelerated the need for those changes.
The CARE Model
Teri Hart, Head of Talent Development at Zurich North America, said that prior to 2020, her team was already working to modernize leadership development by using an experience-based learning journey approach that emphasized new management behaviors. They developed two programs focusing on the CARE model developed with their vendor partner Dx Learning. The acronym signifies:
- Clarity: creating a shared understanding of expectations and goals
- Autonomy: trusting the team to deliver on their own terms in alignment with those goals
- Relationships: connecting with your team on a human level
- Equity: providing the resources and support proportionately to those who need it the most
Melissa Versino is AVP Talent Development, Manager Development at Zurich, NA, and the lead designer of the program for managers. She added that “CARE aligned very well with our manager framework and what we were hearing from our business partners and managers, specifically around empathy—which was all pre-pandemic. We also heard about the importance of psychological safety and creating a flexible working environment for employees as we navigated the pandemic.”
This emphasis aligns with the results of an Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) study, Leadership Redefined study, based on a survey of 673 HR leaders and follow-up interviews. Analysis of the survey data found that behaviors such as:
- Showing empathy and compassion to others
- Ensuring a psychologically safe work environment
- Keeping others informed of matters that affect them
The Accelerate and Challenge Programs
The first of the two new Zurich NA programs, called Accelerate, targeted new front-line managers, while the other journey, Challenge, was designed with mid-to-senior level managers with management experience.
The initial cohorts in the programs were planned to begin in May of 2020, but given the pandemic, changes had to be made, such as redesigning in-person classroom simulation activities to be done online.
“We knew online sessions needed to be shorter than in-person training,” Hart said. “But we also knew we needed participants to apply what they learned in order to see real behavior change.”
As a result, the overall CARE experience includes a virtual live session, a 360-feedback survey to help assess current state and progress through the journey (at the beginning and four-to-six months later), and a 30-day habit reinforcement tool supporting the CARE concepts.
“We had to encourage some of our program participants who questioned why the daily reinforcement activities were necessary,” Versino said. “They really enjoyed the live session, but the real benefit comes from the ongoing work to build new behaviors.”
Results
For the Accelerate program, three cohorts have so far gone through the full CARE experience. Clearly there was interest, since 92% of invitees participated.
Surveys are conducted after the CARE session as well as at the end of the full CARE experience to get a sense of the learner experience. The online CARE session received a strong NPS score (Net Promoter Score, i.e., Would you recommend this session to another manager/colleague?) of around 50 (great) for each cohort.
The Challenge program has been similarly well-received. The one cohort of 75 managers had a 99% completion rate and an impressive 57 NPS score for the CARE session, and an 87% completion rate and 16 NPS score for the behavior reinforcement component.
Initially the extended behavior reinforcement component didn’t score nearly as well from participants. But the design team made some adjustments by better prepping learners and explaining how to think differently about the micro actions. As a result, they saw a 59-point increase in NPS score between the second and third cohorts.
Beyond these participant satisfaction results, Hart noted that they are seeing and hearing of real behavior change on the part of the leaders who have completed the program. One leader reported “I used the insights to improve engagement, performance, and communication with my team. The time spent participating in the Challenge program has been extremely worthwhile for my development to be a more effective leader for our organization.”
Hart and Versino are rightly pleased with the results from the Accelerate and Challenge programs so far, but that doesn’t mean they won’t continue to innovate and improve.
“Learning needs to be uncomfortable, but the process itself shouldn’t be,” Hart said. “Adding in a follow-up session, coaching circles, and making continual improvements will further advance these programs that are helping to redefine leadership at Zurich North America.”
