Agile Leadership for Insurance Leaders in a Volatile World

​“Agile companies show superior operational, health, and financial results” – McKinsey & Company .

This includes 5-7 x faster time to market and 20-30% improvement in customer satisfaction.

Wondering exactly what an agile workplace looks like? Capita defines this fast-paced and modern workplace as highly skilled and flexible, with the ability to adapt very swiftly to changing needs across the marketplace.

“A very small number of companies have thrived over time; fewer than 10 percent of the non-financial S&P 500 companies in 1983 remained in the S&P 500 in 2013.” – McKinsey & Company .

The new (digital) world of insurance

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an existing need for change across an organisational level and dramatically increased the awareness surrounding them. Gone are the days where launching new products can take upwards of several months. As sales continue to increase through digital channels and AI is very much on the way in, we’re seeing projects that have no end date in sight. Instead, there is a constant feedback loop open with the customer, with the aim of a constant improvement on sales.

As we see more baby boomers retiring, the industry has begun to concern itself with how exactly to attract the next generation to perhaps the least sexy-looking job within the finance umbrella. As we lose leaders, and with them their expertise, there is somewhat of a war for new talent. (Find out why graduate talent is the answer here .)

Agile leadership

Creating a sense of company-wide agile transformation needs to be driven hard by a strong leader to be successful, especially when factoring in new remote-working models, you need to be able to lead from a distance without your message being lost.

This isn’t exactly a new concept, many in the tech industry have managed to pull off this company model and have it widely adopted, particularly within fintech and banking. Leaders trying to gain inspiration need not overcomplicate matters and instead should simply make a start, now.

The why

Many in industry are already aware, even pre-pandemic, that the traditional insurers stratified operating model was becoming increasingly outdated. It is clear that these challenges with traditional models existed before COVID-19, so after the pandemic it is essential to address these as the need shifts towards launching new products and updating pricing models 3-5 times faster. Consider whether your organisation is agile enough to keep up with the necessary shortening time to market.

The aftermath of agility most often leads to improved customer satisfaction. Big tick of approval.

It’s worth noting that leaders that adopted agile practices pre-covid were much better and faster at adapting to remote working that became suddenly critical during the pandemic.

Questions to ask yourself if you want to be an agile leader:

1. What can be solved now with an agile approach? – The thing about innovation is that it occurs differently for every leader and business, so think about your unique way of problem-solving with this mindset.

2. How can I re-shape and empower my teams’ structure for a more dynamic approach to future change?

3. What core technology could we adopt wholeheartedly to push our digital strategy past our competitors?

Read more insurance blogs here , or find out more about our specialised insurance team here .