Focused on Education

Continuing the work started by her predecessors is priority number one for the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association’s incoming president, Mary Charman.

Over the last year, the focus of the association has been on revitalization, with the ultimate goal of raising its influence, stature and authority in repreesenting independent adjusters in Canada.

As Charman embarks upon her year of presidency, she has a solid footing on which to continue progression of the creative strategic plan (CSP). Over the last year, the association has been focused on increasing membership, creating a better brand, increasing exposure, increasing educational opportunities, among other important objectives.

Charman knows that just as every journey begins with a single step, accomplishing the big picture requires setting and completing smaller tasks. “It’s going to take time,” she says of the on-going strategic planning process. “If we want to do it right, it’s going to take time; and we need to be patient.”

Member accreditations

Over the course of the next year, Charman will be gearing much of her focus on increasing professional development opportunities for members of the association. This includes revamping the association’s existing accreditation programs. Currently, CIAA members are able to work towards a chartered loss adjuster (CLA) designation — one which is extremely difficult to earn, but is very demonstrative of a top-notch professional within the industry. Also available to CIAA members is the Fellow of the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (FCIAA). This is awarded in recognition of a member’s continuous professional development, expertise and contribution to the industry. Applications are considered based on either a “thesis” paper or through support of credentials, adjusting history, contributions, achievements and verification letters from professional contacts. It is extremely important the industry recognizes and values these designations as depicting a highly competent, experienced and skilled independent adjuster.

Throughout the next year, Charman will be working with the executive and members of the association to come up with a plan to better brand the designations to the rest of the insurance industry. “Credentialing enhances the prestige of a profession by raising the standards to ensure professional competence,” Charman says. “The key goal of the program is to offer our members the opportunity to raise their professional status as an independent adjuster. The plan is to offer members an additional designation that is more attainable for those adjusters with a certain level of experience that have already met the demanding requirements mandatory in attaining a full independent adjusters’ license.”

“We want insurance companies to choose CIAA members — thanks to the respect garnered from the designation — when hiring independents,” Charman adds. For this reason, the association will be limiting the use of the designations to only those members in good standing.

Continuing education

Ramping up the availability of continuing education is also important to Charman. Her focus, however, is also on accessible education. As technology progresses, so too does the plethora of opportunities to provide education to members, no matter their location. The association hosted a number of webinars over the past year, to great success, and is looking into hosting more. This allows adjusters to tune in to the educational component, without having to take more time away from adjusting claims due to the travel time normally required. “We have to factor in the restrictions everybody has on being able to get to a seminar,” Charman says. “Especially in the independent world, we have to accommodate their situation by bringing the education to them.

With this in mind, the association will be looking at increasing the use of the website as an educational tool, in addition to the wide array of available technology to continue to benefit independent adjusters.

Other goals

While revamping designations and offering more continuing education are undoubtedly impressive and important goals, Charman is not one to shy away from hard work and doing what’s required to better an association she believes in and supports wholeheartedly. She will be working to ensure that branding of the association continues, be it through attendance at various industry events across the country, through the association’s magazine, Claims Canada, through the CIAA Claims Manual and through the website. The association, over the course of the next year, will also continue to work diligently towards licensing harmonization — an aspect that is important to 83 per cent of the members surveyed during the initial stages of the CSP process. This task has rested on the shoulders of past-president Miles Barber, who continues to work tireless to achieve this goal. Charman will help Barber over the course of the next year, and beyond, wherever she can.

She’s also focused on retention. While much of the industry, CIAA included, is focused on recruiting — a definite requirement, no doubt — Charman’s biggest success in her career has been retention of her staff. “That is how I measure how I am doing as a manager,” she says. “I think as independents, we need to provide an environment where we’re retaining our staff; we don’t want to train them and lose them. Train and retain.” Over the course of the next year, Charman will be tapping into the secrets of her successes in retaining staff and applying it to CIAA’s membership.

Ultimately, Charman wants to show members the value in being a part of the association, and hopefully attract new members along the way.

Being in charge

While Charman certainly has a clear focus and goal for the upcoming year, it’s not enough to relieve her nerves. But the nerves don’t curb her excitement in the slightest. “It’s a huge challenge,” Charman says of being president. “Right now I feel lucky to come in as president, because we have a set path we want to take, we have goals, there’s a lot happening right now. I am extremely excited because I know I will accomplish things for the association.”

Over the course of her 15 years as a member of the CIAA, Charman has consistently been involved to better the association, including sitting as Ontario region president for two years. “I look at any profession and I truly think that people need to band together for continuity, for regulation, and for the betterment of their own profession,” she says. “People need to take more ownership of being part of an association.”