Back to Basics (February 01, 2010)

Carla Blackmore dodged a bullet.

As a recent university graduate, she decided to leave her home province of New Brunswick and move to Ontario to find a job. She dropped her résumé off throughout Toronto, applying for any and all entry-level positions. Her first job offer came from Zurich Canada, and she accepted. The very next day a job offer from a bank rolled in.

“I could have as easily been in the banking business, but for one day,” she says. “But I don’t think I would have been as happy in the banking business … [Getting the job at Zurich] was just pure luck because I didn’t know anything about the insurance industry at the time.”

Blackmore counts herself lucky for having serendipitously launched her career in insurance, but perhaps the insurance industry has come out as the real winner. She spent the next 34 years at Zurich in a number of different roles. During those three decades, Blackmore made it a point to commit her time and energy not only to her professional career but also to helping others both in the industry and organizations supported by the industry. She announced her retirement from the role of Zurich’s director of commercial programs in April 2009.

To name a few of her contributions throughout her career, she taught courses at the Insurance Institute; sat as chair of the CIP Society Ontario Council; served as director of the Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade (WICC) Ontario since 2001; and co-chaired the Starlight Insurance Gala since 2007. (She has been involved with the Starlight Foundation since 1995.)

The CIP Society estimates that through her involvement with both WICC and the Starlight Foundation, Blackmore has actively contributed to raising more than $6.4 million. Based on Blackmore’s commitment of time, energy and resources, the CIP Society awarded her with its inaugural National Established Leader Award and the GTA Fellow of Distinction Award.

At a reception for the GTA Fellow of Distinction Award in Toronto on Jan. 14, 2010, Blackmore, surrounded by friends, family and colleagues, offered a few words on the value of sharing one’s time. “The average work week is 37.5 hours,” she said. “That’s 75 half-hours. When you think of it that way, it becomes very easy to take one of those 75 half-hours and do something for a cause that you believe in.”

Devoting a bit of time is not only good for one’s self, but it helps to create a larger culture shift within the industry at large, she said. It sets in motion a chain reaction that ultimately, when looking at the big picture, is a win-win-win for those who are contributing, those who rely on the organizations or services that are being aided, as well as for the insurance industry as a whole.

In a later interview, Blackmore said the insurance industry has not always been a coveted career choice for many, but that’s gradually changing. She credits advertising efforts by associations and programs such as the Insurance Institute’s Career Connections.

Previously coveted positions at high-paying, fast-growing organizations have lost their lustre, she says. The next generation is increasingly placing more focus on stability, ethics and global compassion. “The insurance industry doesn’t appear as bad to young people as it did in the past,” she says. “Those younger people are starting to move away, with their hearts and with their feet, from the high-profile, high-paying, fast-growing companies. They are looking for companies that have more future potential.”

But the industry must do more heavy lifting to continue to attract talent and achieve success in the marketplace. That means doing more investing in its current workforce. “Right at the moment there is an increased focus on managing by numbers,” Blackmore says. “I agree that improving company performance is key for the stabilization of results, and producing ROE [return on equity] for shareholders helps ensure the survival of our industry and the companies within it, but there hasn’t been enough focus on developing employees. Not for the present and certainly not for the future.”

Blackmore points to the fact that the industry’s demographics are rapidly changing at the moment. Several experts have warned that the potential for a critical talent shortage looms sometime over the next five to 10 years. The time to address these issues is now, says Blackmore, reiterating her desire to make the insurance industry an even more viable option for people considering it as a future career.

In her acceptance speech at the CIP reception, Blackmore suggested that people choose their employers in the same manner that they would choose their friends. “Employers have core values and personalities,” she added in an interview after her speech. “They also need to be able to have people who are enthusiastic. Not everyone needs to be a cheerleader, but people have to have enough enthusiasm to want to do their job.”

Employees need to be able to influence others, she says. “The ongoing professional and day-to-day development of employees isn’t just a management thing, it’s part of the company culture. Enthusiasm in the workplace can become viral.”

Motivation and enthusiasm will flow from current and future employees being able to develop knowledge, expertise and skills, she says. This will give them the confidence and ability to make well-informed and skilful decisions.

But there are obstacles in the way of employees experiencing such confidence and motivation, Blackmore notes. For example, too many companies have outdated systems and processes that result in inefficiencies, she says. “It’s resulted in an inability to analyze information at both the employee and management level, and it’s led to an increasing level of frustration and stress for the staff of those companies.”

The insurance industry is paying people a fair amount of money to analyze information to make decisions for the future, she observes. “Then [the employees] spend a ton of time trying to document those decisions — for good reasons — but they’re getting paid to make decisions, not spend 80% of their time to document the decisions.”

At the end of the day, it basically comes down to empowering employees, she said. This is a result of committing to professional education and development on a day-to-day basis. “If they don’t have the skills they need to make the right decisions, or if they don’t have the confidence that they have the skills, then that doesn’t empower them.”

But “the sky isn’t falling,” Blackmore adds. “Everything that needs to be fixed is fixable. If we work on recruiting and developing new employees who want to add value — that goes back to fixing existing systems and processes, all of which are fixable — then we need to start now. Otherwise, five or 10 years down the road, it will be too late to fix it. Essentially, it all comes down to people.”

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Employees are getting paid to make decisions, not to spend 80% of their time documenting decisions.