Henry Ford once famously said, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”
In the fast-paced, constantly-changing world of insurance, this couldn’t possibly ring more true.
2020 saw job requirements shift and the need to train employees on new processes and skills massively accelerated. As businesses continue to adapt, so will the demand for new skills. Change seems to be the only constant, so learning and development in the insurance industry is absolutely pivotal for success – both for your employees, and for your company.
LinkedIn Learning’s 2020 Workplace Learning Report—published in February 2020 just before the pandemic set in—discovered that 51% of L&D professionals planned to launch upskilling programs in 2020 and 43% planned to launch reskilling programs.
Of course, the pandemic only served to accelerate the need for learning leaders and talent developers to upskill and reskill their workforces.
Learning and development teams continue to be challenged with rapid and painless upskilling and reskilling of their workforces. But it’s worth the effort – insurance companies that invest in learning and development (L&D) see a 23% boost in profits, according to Gallup.
With over 2.9 million people employed in the insurance industry, the right L&D initiatives can make a huge difference. From upskilling and reskilling to adapting to new technologies, insurance professionals must be looking for ways to continuously evolve.
Download this free eBook to understand the forces that are driving the need to overcome internal skills obsolescence so you can design an effective upskilling/reskilling program for your organization.
Why We Need to Focus on Learning & Development in the Insurance Industry
From changing regulations to new products and variable market trends, nothing ever stays the same when it comes to insurance. Continuous learning makes sure that all of your agents are always at the forefront of industry changes.
It also helps to foster talent. Insurance providers must possess a deep, engrained understanding of all the different products they offer – this is the hallmark of any good agent.
L&D training programs provide opportunities to strengthen product knowledge and make sure coverage options, benefits, and exclusions can be accurately explained to clients. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Quality training programs improve employee satisfaction and retention. According to the LinkedIn 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in career development.
Features of L&D For the Insurance Industry
In an industry as dynamic as insurance, continuous learning is not just a luxury – it’s a necessity. The rapid evolution of technology, regulatory changes, and shifting customer expectations demand that professionals keep their skills sharp and knowledge current.
But what kinds of L&D should we be focusing on in this line of work? Here are a few common threads.
- Compliance Training & Regulatory Adherence: As an insurance provider, you need to stay compliant with laws like GDPR and HIPAA. Regular updates and training sessions help keep everyone on the same page.
- Sales and Customer Service Training: The right L&D initiatives can equip your team with cutting-edge sales strategies to enhance their ability to close deals and build lasting client relationships.They can also work toward improving communication skills and empathy to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
- Digital Transformation in Insurance: From AI-driven analytics to blockchain, staying updated on the latest technologies can give your company a significant edge.Training in digital tools and technologies is a must-have for staying competitive and meeting modern customer expectations.
- Technical Training: For example, your team needs to have comprehensive knowledge of the insurance products they offer so they can answer client queries confidently and accurately. You may also want to encourage employees to pursue certifications that enhance their technical expertise and credibility.
- Soft Skills Development: The right learning and development initiatives can not only help your employees become better communicators (and better at managing conflicts), but can also teach them more about handling CRM tools and other strategies for managing client relationships.
- Fostering Future Leaders: L&D can be used to identify and foster future leaders. Offer comprehensive management training programs to develop leadership skills and prepare employees for higher responsibilities.
Skill Building as Insurance for the Future
The most important element of L&D for insurance, however, is skill building for future-proofing. According to a recent PwC survey, 39% of insurance professionals believe their job will be obsolete within five years. This highlights the urgent need for skill building to stay relevant and secure in the industry.
Investing in training for advanced technological skills like data analysis, machine learning, and cybersecurity is crucial. However, it goes beyond that – you also need to foster a culture that encourages continuous learning and development to keep pace with industry changes.
Upskilling and Reskilling Challenges Specific to the Insurance Industry
Nowhere is upskilling reskilling more necessary than in the insurance industry. In the race to reskill, insurance companies are 1.5x more likely than other industries to focus on developing skills related to innovation and adapting existing products, according to HR consultant Mercer’s 2021 Global Talent Trends Insurance Industry Outlook.
Reskilling is critical to meeting insurers’ future talent needs because hiring externally for the skills required is costly and difficult. According to McKinsey, replacing an employee can cost more than 100 percent of the role’s annual salary while successful reskilling can cost less than 10 percent of a role’s salary. The value here is obvious, and it’s going to become apparent as technologies and processes advance.
In the coming years, as many as 70% of all tasks in insurance will not necessarily go away, but experience a significant shift in their scope. We’re going to change the way we look at our employees and of what’s expected of them. As such, employees are going to need continuous, lifelong learning so they can keep up with these changing tides.
The insurance industry has always had the need to constantly retrain their employees. New insurance products hit the market and new laws affect existing policies and policyholders, triggering the need for training.
However, the insurance industry faces three specific, unique challenges that make rapid upskilling and reskilling at scale particular difficult:
Virtualization/Digitization of Course Content and Delivery
Training in the insurance industry was traditionally carried out via in-person facilitations and even one-on-one coaching.
With massive changes over the last year, L&D professionals in the insurance industry have been slow to accept that their processes aren’t scalable. They need to be digitized and delivered in virtual environments.
Yet, the insurance industry itself is increasingly leveraging technology to improve processes and customer experience. L&D programs help employees stay updated with the latest technological advancements and incorporate them into their daily operations.
There’s also a trend toward increasing automation in insurance. McKinsey estimates that the need for strong technological skills will increase by 55% through 2030. The right learning and development initiatives for the insurance industry can help insurance professionals develop these skills.
Subject Matter Experts and “Data Dumps”
L&D leaders in the insurance industry cite that it’s often stressful to manage communication among groups of subject matter experts (SMEs). That’s especially the case since their contributions come in the form of “data dumps.” The need to develop upskilling and reskilling programs when there is a deluge of information can complicate the situation greatly.
Additionally, SMEs only have a very small amount of time to dedicate to helping L&D build courses. As such, instructional designers are on their own to make sense of the content provided by SMEs.
Legal Department Review
Another dimension that can complicate the rapid development and impact the delivery time of insurance training is the need for the legal department to review and approve certain training.
The anticipation of legal review often requires that legal teams be involved earlier in the development process so as to ensure timely course delivery.
What the Insurance Industry Can Do To Ease the Pain of Upskilling and Reskilling
Developing training at scale in order to meet insurance organizations’ need for new skills can be a challenge. Even L&D teams in the insurance industry can benefit by a bit of upskilling or reskilling amongst themselves.
By incorporating the following strategies, learning leaders in the insurance industry can meet requirements and create engaging experiences that deliver ROI.
Embrace Agile Learning Methodologies
Agile Learning is based on the Agile manifesto and was created back in 2001 by a team of engineers. They felt there was a better way to do things than the traditional waterfall methodology.
The Agile manifesto is not a step-by-step guide, but rather a philosophy built on four core values:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
You can learn more about applying Agile to learning design methods in this free eBook.
When it comes to instructional design, L&D leaders will quickly see how these same values can be applied to common bottlenecks in the learning design process. Planning is certainly important. But Agile Learning methodologies mandate collaboration and iteration along the way and responding to changes on the fly, while being able to develop and deliver a quality learning experience faster.
Spend More Time in the Analysis Phase of ADDIE
Before you can improve your training programs, you need to know where the gaps are. Conducting a thorough needs assessment is the first step.
This involves evaluating the current skills of your workforce and comparing them to the skills required to meet business goals. Surveys, interviews, and performance evaluations can provide valuable data.
However, using an instructional design methodology like ADDIE can ensure that the course will follow tried-and-true processes. You’ll also get a quality finished product.
Spending what might seem like an inordinate amount of time on the Analysis phase is never a bad idea. The Analysis phase can help uncover the needs and current skills of the learners, take an inventory of available resources, and clarify expectations—while keeping the project on track and on budget—as the project moves into the Design phase and beyond.
Don’t Let Scope Creep Overwhelm You
Training development also requires the proper management of scope creep, or the last-minute addition of content, modules, features, or elements to a course that were not in the original plan that often end up dragging down a project.
When managers first learn of the capabilities of authoring tools—or they see what other companies, including third-party learning providers deliver—they can easily get carried away. Just because truly compelling design elements, including audio and video, can be incorporated into a course doesn’t mean that they need to.
As such, if scope creep isn’t managed properly, a learning project simply might never get completed. Or it might get completed, but way over budget.
Consider Adopting a LearnOps Framework
The LearnOps framework is a strategic, systematic approach that can help you optimize your L&D initiatives, all the way from initial conception and planning to execution and measurement.
The goal of LearnOps is to align L&D activities with your business goals, so that you can guarantee that your learning activities are not only engaging and impactful. They’re also measurable in terms of how they’re contributing to organizational growth.
Essentially, LearnOps makes it easier for you to see that you’re not just “throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.” Instead, you’re becoming more deliberate and less ad-hoc in your training efforts. You’re adopting a cohesive model that encourages continuous learning and adaptability so you’re prepared no matter what comes next.
The right L&D programs familiarize employees with the latest regulatory requirements and can adhere to them effectively. The LearnOps approach can help trainers “do training differently” and adhere to compliance regulations and data protection laws a bit easier, according to one reviewer. She used it to help new hires come to grip switch new information, processes, and systems in the life insurance industry.
Read more about the LearnOps framework and consider making the shift.
Strategically Streamline (and Simplify) Your Insurance L&D With Cognota
The insurance industry isn’t just about numbers and policies; it’s a people-centric business. Modern learning operations play a critical role in making sure that employees receive the right training efficiently and effectively.
Traditional face-to-face training sessions are becoming less feasible. Not only that, but new technologies are constantly emerging, making it challenging for employees to keep up.
Without an effective learning operations strategy like LearnOps, we’re losing track of how to best connect with our employees. We guarantee that the right information is hitting the right people at the right time, and for the right reasons.
Add to that the fact that the insurance industry is heavily regulated, and it might seem like you’re fighting an uphill battle to get your employees the training they need.
Investing in the right tools and strategies within your LearnOps framework can help you meet the evolving needs of your workforce, stay compliant with regulations, and gain a competitive edge.
Cognota offers a comprehensive LearnOps solution that streamlines your L&D processes, improves training outcomes, and provides valuable insights to make informed decisions.
Ready to transform your L&D strategy? Book a demo now. Your future in the insurance industry starts with better learning and development. Cognota is here to help.
Do you have a gameplan that’s built for tackling uncertainty? Check out this on-demand webinar recording: The New L&D Gameplan: How to Safeguard Against Uncertainty in Uncertain Times.
