“Insurers that succeed in the coming years will be those that recognize talent strategy has the same importance as core business strategy.”
-Mckinsey & Co , Transforming the talent model in the insurance industry
The insurance industry is in the verge of a significant transformation. These are exciting and important times for the insurance industry ,.The insurance industry is adopting technology, digitizing processes and creating products that will appeal to the modern, next-gen customer base. Customer expectations are also rising making it more important than ever that insurers provide a high-quality customer service experience. The situation brings with it human resource challenges in such organizations , which if left unaddressed could prevent them from successfully adapting their business strategies to meet the changing demands of the market..
In such a situation, it has to be realised that what is crucial is investing in an organization’s most important resource –its people. This involves recruitment of candidates with highly desirable skillsets, providing ongoing learning and development opportunities, the rewarding of valued team members and encouraging them to advance within the organization.
Drawing a parallel with a ‘Product’ that is launched by an organization after market research and with a focused marketing strategy ,we observe that human resource talent is also recruited and launched within the organization with certain specific objectives . The Product Life Cycle (PLC ) is a marketing model developed by Raymond Vernon that helps to map the evolution of a product from its launch to its obsolescence .Observing that the human resource in an organization can also be understood with a similar model ,I had presented for consideration a model of the Managerial Life Cycle (MLC)* in an article published in February ,1997 in the Insurance Times and the same model can be used as a reference in devising a strategy for maximizing the value of talent within the organization.
We can call this the TLC or the Talent Life Cycle Model model in which the ‘life’ of an organizational human resource {referred to as ‘Talent’ }follows a definite pattern involving the following phases:
(a) Introduction, (b) Growth, (c)Maturity, (d) Stagnation (e)Declination & (f) Decay.
(a) Introduction: It is the primary phase in which the organisation may not be in a position to cover the entire ‘cost’ of introducing the new ‘Talent’. Promotional expenses (e.g. training) are high and progress is usually slow as the new ‘Talent’ tries to meet the expectations of the organisation. It is a testing period. Great importance is to be given to monitoring and feedback at this stage.
(b) Growth: Once a ‘Talent’ enters this phase he begins to be accepted in his new role. The organisation (through its feed-back system) also begins to realise that the promotional investment on him is justified. Due to increased economies of scale the ‘Talent’ starts showing a ‘surplus (in terms of productivity).
(c) Maturity: This is a phase of stabilization where the performance of the ‘Talent’ reaches an equilibrium at an expected level and his capacity to contribute to organizational growth and prosperity also reaches a peak. This is also the stage where the ‘Talent’ begins to feel the weight of expectations and the challenges of a competitive environment .The steps taken to stimulate his performance and his strategy to innovate and adapt to change become the key to his capacity to sustain and prolong this stage.
(d) Stagnation: The phase of saturation. The ‘Talent ‘is not able to further increase his efficiency and is content to sit on his past laurels. However increasing cost inevitably will lead to a decline in his marginal productivity.
(e) Declination: At this stage the ‘Talent’ gives clear indications that he is unable to cope with the expectations of his organisation. He moves grimly towards obsolescence as he is perceptibly being slowly elbowed out by more dynamic and innovative competitors.. But before his final complete departure the organisation may make last ditch attempts to make him remain in contention.
(f) Decay: An organisation has only one way to deal with a ‘Talent’ in this phase- Abandonment as no further results can be expected from him.
Lessons from the Model Human resource plays a vital role in the development of an organization .The fading away of a generation of skilled and experienced manpower is creating a vast skill gap admist a changing learning landscape. But this situation also provides an ideal opportunity to develop the skills of its workforce and simultaneously produce a generation of learners who will lead these companies into the future. It is abundantly clear that a dynamic and growing organisation will require a large contingent of its resources to be in the ‘growth’ or ‘maturity’ stages of the “Talent Life-Cycle’. The organization has to ensure that the ‘Talent’ utilization is made in a manner that enables the ‘Talent ‘to sustain their ‘maturity’ stages for long periods. Also the HR strategy will yield optimum results only if the ‘Talent’ is monitored closely and not allowed to slip into the ‘saturation’ or ‘declination’ stages. A more flexible HR & Appraisal system is needed to ensure that reskilling and upskilling are done whenever signs of stagnation are noticed.
There are also suggested strategies for dealing with ‘Talent’ in the stagnation or declination stage like the following :
1. Redirect: Occasionally it is observed that products which are in the declination’ stage in a particular market (say Europe), may flourish when introduced in a fresh market(say Bangladesh). Similarly, a change of job location and proper assignment may help to revive the waning performers and give them a fresh lease of life.
2. Revamp: This takes the form of identifying the problem areas proper counselling, training and motivating the ‘Talent’, thus giving him a new approach and outlook towards his task.
3. Replace: This is the ultimate step involving induction of fresh blood in place of the old ‘decaying’ persons.
Conclusion:
Its time that organizations understand that the perfect candidate with the perfect set of skills will be scarcely available in a highly competitive labor market . Hence we have to focus on our existing employees and identify opportunities to train or refocus their skills into new positions. Giving employees the tools needed to move up in the organization, improving their job satisfaction and proper manpower planning will be the key to improving operations in the long run.
In conclusion it is worth noting the observations by HR Analyst ,Dibyajyoti Dasgupta in an articled titled ,’The 4 HR Trends shaping the Insurance Industry in 2024’:*
“The new age-employee thrives in an environment that values wellbeing, social unity, collaboration, opportunities to learn and grow as well as flexibility .The industry must also take bold steps to reduce the stress levels of employees. Investing in HR tools that are geared towards attracting and retaining new-age talent, and managing the employee engagement in the workplace, will help insurers handle this challenge”
