The only effective measurement of training is attendance

The only effective measurement of training is attendance

GN is the learning and development manager (among a variety of other responsibilities) for a multinational business to business insurance broker.  Our interview with her was as candid as it was entertaining.  We wanted to understand the learning and development that occurs within the company.  We were clear that we were not interested in those individuals who were sponsored by the company to do master’s degrees and MBAs etc.  This was purely about the training that happened in the company, whether formal or informal.

To work in the company as a market facing person the minimum requirement is an undergraduate degree.  Entry to the company often came through an institutionally sponsored internship programme.  Once in, each new recruit or intern would go through a class of business training programme.  These are delivered by the insurers and are designed to familiarise the individual with the products that each insurer can deliver.  This knowledge is crucial to a broker who needs to tailor products to fit in with the client’s requirements.

Upon completion each market facing person is required to complete a set number of hours of continued professional development (CPD) training. 

And then there are other training programmes that the parent company offers as well as informal training provided by the company.

The insurance industry is a traditional industry, it’s still very paper orientated and works on long standing relationships.  GN explained that once a colleague reaches the age of 55 they tend to stay in the company until they choose to retire, telling us that there is a 70 year old broker that still works in the group.

The institutional experience and knowledge in the company is extensive numbering in hundreds of work years.  However the senior brokers are reluctant to transfer their knowledge because they fear that they may find themselves in retirement earlier than they planned.   On top of this, because these people are highly respected in the industry and have developed close relationships with their clients, they don’t have the necessary time to work on the informal apprenticeship model that the industry has developed over the years.

At the bottom end of the scale you have the junior market-facing colleagues who are eager to make their way in the industry.  Where the senior people are made up of both Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, the junior cohort are almost exclusively Gen Zs.  GN says that sometimes navigating the different generations can be a challenge.  Gen Zs are not afraid of learning, they are curious by nature, they don’t particularly understand hierarchy and are eager to learn, although they are prone to distractions like social media and appearance.  Boomers and the like are afraid of formalised training.  They possibly feel that they can do the job and also don’t want to be shown up when it comes to new technologies and concepts like AI. 

It’s within these confines that GN has to ensure that meaningful skills development happens in the organisation.  In an industry where people learn through experience she is finding that technology is advancing too quickly and that there might not be enough time to skill up the company to meet these changes.  As she drily observed “the only effective measurement of training is attendance.”  

The company has offered a classroom type of training process in the past.  This was typically with the CEO (himself a boomer) who would host hourly sessions to train the junior people.  She remarked that this was very successful, but has now fallen by the wayside.  Instead the company now offers an exclusive training session for certain people.

GN is still left with the issue of creating a meaningful L&D programme for the whole company, This has to take into account the rapid changes in technology that the Gen Zs are more adaptable to, and the long-standing complexity of insurance products that service industries like the maritime industry.   And she wants to get away from measuring training in terms of hours.  She also needs to support the CEO’s company mantra of it being a “know-how company” and recognised as such in the industry.

At this point we asked GN about peer learning and on-the-job training.  The group endorses the 70:20:10 method of learning and development, but it appeared to us that this method was still falling a little short.

Our suggestion would be the following:

1. Create a series of INTRATERNSHIP programmes in the industry at the junior level.  Working on the principle that everyone is an expert at something, and recognising that Gen Zs are not scared to venture an opinion.  Each session would nominate a subject matter expert on something.  For instance someone who may be “apprenticed” to a senior broker might describe what that person does to the best of their ability.  They would then ask their colleagues for any input.  In so doing they start formulating a training programme that encourages the freedom of thought and ideas.
2. As the INTRATERNSHIP programme progresses the older colleagues will be invited to join the programme.  These colleagues can either come as both a contributor and INTRATERN or just as an expert.  The ultimate aim is for the older colleagues to learn from the junior colleagues and vice versa.  It’s important that each person views each other as a peer.  This process may take some time as the senior colleagues modify their stance with their junior colleagues.

This process is going to take time.  The junior colleagues are no doubt more adaptable to learn.  The senior people are likely to be more reticent.  However the future of the company and the industry comes down to mutual trust and adaptability.