Prescribing Em•pa•thy

empathy ¹

Pronunciation: em-pe-the

Function: noun

Definition: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this.

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Harold and Martha went to the doctor. Harold had been feeling off for several days and it was time to find out what was wrong. Into the examining room he went with trepidation. He hadn’t previously experienced what was bothering him. He was nervous. Eight minutes later, he was back at Martha’s side, prescription in hand.

“What did the Doctor say?” asked Martha.

Harold held up his prescription note. “I have to take these pills for 10 days,” he answered. That was the full extent of what Harold understood of everything the doctor told him. Sadly, his doctor thought Harold had received a thorough explanation within the five minutes allotted for the set fee chargeable for the visit, but Harold had not caught any of it. The doctor was hurriedly speaking medical talk while Harold was listening with layman’s ears. The medical world calls it “bedside manner.” Some doctors have a good one; others, not so good.

Substitute a property loss adjuster for the doctor in the example above and this same scenario is played out everyday in Canada. The adjuster arrives at a time when the insured is vulnerable, upset, confused and often completely unfamiliar with what has just happened and what happens next. Through the efforts of the adjuster, this is an opportunity for the insurer and broker to shine: unfortunately, this shine is too often not nearly as brilliant as it might otherwise be.

Our industry spends a great deal of time and money teaching adjusters technical skills so we know what the coverage is, we know what the law is and we know the proper restoration process when we arrive on the scene. But when we start talking about schedules, depreciation, subrogation and Proof of Loss we lose our audience. Without question, sound technical knowledge is critical to the success of the adjustment. However, that is only part of what is required to achieve total success.

Too often, success is determined based on criteria established by insurers and their internal goals rather than by anything developed based on the insured’s point of view. We come back to our office and, in exchange for a supervisor’s pat on the back, proudly hand in our checklist confirming we did everything the manual said we were to do. Unfortunately the manual was not written by the insured and it is the insured’s pat on the back we should most covet.

To connect with the insured, we need to step out of our world in which we typically gauge whether what we have seen at that home on that day is the same or different as what we have seen at a hundred homes before. We need to step into the insured’s world of chaos, concern and often suspicion. We need to check the insurance jargon at the door and talk in a way that insureds will hear what we’re saying, so the insured becomes an active participant in the claim rather than just a spectator. In a word, the effective loss adjuster needs empathy.

Some believe the ability to connect with people and quickly develop a relationship founded on trust is intuitive, a natural ability that cannot be learned. Although I do believe that some people are naturally better at this than others, I also believe that every professional adjuster should continuously work on honing these so-called soft skills — the ability to communicate effectively and build positive relationships.

For the most part, the property and casualty insurance industry doesn’t spend near enough time educating adjusters on how to communicate with the people we are there to help. Every insurer’s target is to give their customers the best possible experience when unfortunate circumstances result in a claim. Timelines are established, best practices are written, pre-approved pricing is set and preferred vendors are hired; all of these elements are important and tailored to ensure a technically sound loss adjustment. Too often what’s missing is the glue that holds all of this together — a positive relationship with the insured built on trust and achieved through open and honest communication.

The keystone of the relationship’s foundation is laid during the first few seconds of the first contact between adjuster and insured. This is usually done over the telephone or, unfortunately, as is becoming more popular by the day, via email. Email is a great way to move information but it is a lousy way to communicate. But I digress…

No matter what your day has been like, or how difficult that last phone call may have been, remember that the insured doesn’t know anything about all that. All insureds know is that something is wrong in their own lives and they need help to make it right. Use the first contact with the insured as an opportunity to project a positive image and an empathetic attitude toward his or her problem. The problem may be a routine thing for an adjuster to resolve, but for the insured, the same “routine” problem has turned his or her life upside down.

Everyone’s time is taxed beyond rea- sonable limits today, leading some to believe that they can’t spare the few extra minutes necessary to get the relationship started in the right direction. I assure you, the few minutes you take at the beginning of the claim to explain how the adjustment works and the role of everyone involved (including the insured) will pay off many times over during the course of the adjustment.

As important as it is to take the required amount of time and demonstrate the proper attitude at initial contact, it is at least as important to invest time in developing your interpersonal skills to ensure you are not only attending to the insured, but doing so effectively. The greatest variable in any of our claims is the people to whom we must relate. We humans are complex to say the least; it is therefore not enough to take the Institute’s claim-related courses and think you have a lock on the psychology of the claimant. And yet for many loss adjusters, taking claims-related courses and attending a How To Deal With Difficult People seminar is the extent of their soft-skill training.

Many reference books about communications and basic human relations are available in local libraries and bookstores. Take a step back and ask yourself — or ask a colleague, if you have a really good relationship with him or her — how you can improve your communications skills. Seek out resources to take your relationships with your claimants to the next level.

One of the best publications I have come across in recent years is The 8 Characteristics of the Awesome Adjuster by Carl Van, president and CEO of the International Insurance Institute2. Although this is an American publication dealing with adjusting in the United States and relates mainly to automobile adjusting, the underlying characteristics that make great — or, as Carl Van describes them, awesome — adjusters is equally applicable to Canada and to all lines of business. It is an easy read and, like so many other publications that deal with this subject matter, the material is simple common sense. Still, common sense is worth repeating and sharing with your colleagues.

The Canadian property and casualty insurance industry is diligently searching for new people to come into our business. We all want consumers to think better of us and to recognize and respect insurance as an integral part of our economy. Reaching these goals will not be achieved by giant leaps but rather by many small steps. Improving our image starts on the street, where adjusters deliver the goods every day. The better our delivery, the more
positive the message, and on it goes. Our image is suffering and a trip to the doctor won’t produce a magic prescription for this ailment. We have to overcome this one on our own. A great place to start is to have professional loss adjusters developing good claimside manners. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

1 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Copyright 2008 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

2 www.insuranceinstitute.com.

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Some people are better than others at connecting with people and quickly developing trusting relationships. But every professional adjuster should continuously work on honing these so-called ‘soft skills.’