Published November 2005

Want ideas to improve
business? Ask employees

Q. Our corporate division is in what best could be described as “the doldrums.” We’re meeting our goals, but barely. Statistical trends are aiming toward stagnation in both output and financials. Our top management is worried, wondering why our division is lagging behind others. Several meetings have been held, and no one has come close to identifying the root of the problem or a workable solution. Any ideas?

A. Often, top management finds developing solutions to problems they may have had a hand in creating difficult, indeed. It is very possible for “solution people” to be too close to the situation to risk a breakthrough idea.

Drastically cut costs? Reorganize, consolidate? Cut prices in hopes of increasing demand? Some or all might be just the ticket to jump-start the division. But I wonder: Has anybody asked the employees whether they have ideas on making their division the most productive, efficient and customer-oriented department in your industry?

My curiosity stems from an example very similar to yours in which a large insurance company turned around the performance of its claims department by simply changing its hiring and promotion policies, then truly listening and implementing many employee-driven operational changes that sparked the turnaround everybody wanted.

The Hartford, a 195-year-old insurance and investment firm, launched its “Diversity and Inclusion” program eight years ago.

“We concluded that the best way to achieve our growth and operational goals was to create an environment to attract, retain and promote the best people regardless of race or gender, and develop them so that they would give 100 percent of their effort to the claims team,” said Calvin Hudson, executive vice president of The Hartford’s 6,400-employee business claims group.

Getting started was difficult. The division was primarily a white-male, top-down, management-driven organization where buttoned-down employees asked, “How high?” when managers said, “Jump.”

“We had done nothing, absolutely nothing, to tap into the creativity and ideas our people had,” Hudson said.

Senior leadership embraced “D&I,” telling the then 4,000 employees they were important to the organization, that it wanted their ideas, their creativity and, above all, their frankness. “Tell us what we need to do to be successful.”

At first, employees balked, saying management had routinely rejected their ideas out-of-hand.

But the leadership team pressed on, devising a communication protocol that emphasized four “inclusive behaviors” that continue to dominate the claims group’s decision-making processes. They are:

• Listen. Really listen until the person speaking feels heard.
• Accept. Whatever a person is saying must be accepted as his or her truth. “If you discount what they say, it’s like the conversation never existed,” Hudson said.
• Be clear, direct, honest. Encourage people to speak up without fear of intimidation.
• Be brave. “When you get to a sticking point and you don’t know whether you should speak up, lean into the discomfort and say, ‘I’m going to be brave now,’” Hudson said.

The “face” of the claims group has changed extensively as many key positions or promotions were left open until at least one qualified “diverse candidate” (ethnic, racial minority or a woman) was among the four finalists. Hiring and recruiting occurred away from the office, at community centers and business associations.

The results: Claims has exceeded all operating goals; last year, bonuses were paid at 140 percent of target and would have been higher if not for budgetary caps, said Hudson.

Make no mistake, D&I is not easy, he said. “It takes time, it takes intense focus and must be approached as a business issue solution to be sustainable over time.”

Eric Zoeckler operates The Scribe, a business writing service. He also writes a weekly workplace column appearing Mondays in The Herald. He can be reached at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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