More courage to embrace New Work in the operational business

New Work in practice: how can agility be achieved outside of the traditional office?

Home offices, flexible working hours, agile methods – many companies have already taken their first steps towards New Work. But does it also work in areas that are heavily influenced by day-to-day business, such as bank branches, insurance agencies or retail stores?

The answer is yes – if companies have the courage to try something new! The insurance industry is characterised by a lot of fixed structures – but it is precisely here that New Work can help to modernise processes, strengthen customer focus and make sales more flexible.

But how can this transformation be achieved without jeopardising the operational business? This blog post shows how experimental spaces, clear hypotheses and a positive error management culture can help to bring New Work into operational practice – in a practical, scientifically sound way and with a concrete example.

New Work and agility – more than just buzzwords

New Work and agility are no longer new concepts – and yet many companies are only at the beginning of their transformation. Before we delve deeper into the topic, it is worth taking a look at the definition of the terms. Although New Work is widely used, there are still many different definitions.

New Work is an umbrella term for new working methods and models that aim to enable innovative and value-oriented work. It includes topics such as agility, automation, future jobs, working environment, hierarchies, organisational setup, flexibility and individuality.

And there's another distinction we should make, because not all agility is the same. Yes, Scrum is one of the agile approaches, but agility is so much more! Agility means being able to react flexibly to unforeseen events and new requirements. In agility, we work in iterative steps, customer-centred, with employees and with customers, and we try to develop ourselves, our products and processes through regular self-reflection.

But the road to successful implementation of New Work in operational areas naturally has challenges. How can companies successfully manage change when employees are so busy with their day-to-day tasks? How can scepticism towards new working models be overcome, especially among managers who may have concerns about effectiveness and control? One key point is to create space for experimentation and innovation without jeopardising the actual goals and day-to-day business.

Creating spaces for experimentation: how New Work works in operations

In the insurance industry, customer contact is often highly regulated and sales teams work according to fixed guidelines. However, this is precisely where New Work can create new opportunities: agile processes facilitate collaboration, digital tools enable more flexibility, and greater self-organisation on the part of brokers can make customer advice more individual and needs-based.

So how can we bring New Work and agile approaches into operations?

If we assume that New Work organisations specifically promote the creativity and innovative strength of their employees, this often happens by creating collective learning structures, strengthening self-organisation and self-reflection, and adapting decision-making processes. Among other things, New Work means actively engaging with new ideas and topics by creating spaces for experimentation, a positive error management culture and strong networking.

One approach that I support as a consultant is to create space for experimentation and thus innovation. Such experiments are based on clear hypotheses, measurable KPIs and a representative group of participants in order to be able to objectively evaluate effectiveness and benefits. The suggestions for experiments come from the agencies themselves or from supporting teams from other departments. Think tanks can also make suggestions. A ‘support team’ ensures the scientific approach and the exchange between participants.

Hypotheses and KPIs are defined for each proposal. Three to five experiments then run in parallel over a period of six to twelve months – long enough to produce reliable results, but flexible enough to allow for adjustments. (The minimum period should be four to twelve months to ensure that meaningful and reliable data is collected. The duration of an experiment depends to a large extent on its nature.) It is also important that agencies participate voluntarily and as a group to ensure commitment and valid results.

Experiments test several agencies together and form a group for this purpose. Each agency sends two representatives who regularly exchange ideas with the other representatives from the group and share the insights gained. Success is also helped by the fact that some representatives are additionally elected to a management body that monitors progress, discusses budgets and decides on possible implementation in other agencies. Ideally, each experiment also has a sponsor from management who removes obstacles and provides support without otherwise influencing the process.

Example – Dynamic choice of area of specialisation with the option to change regularly

Many insurance agencies are faced with the challenge of their brokers specialising in certain products over a period of years, leaving them with little scope for development. This can lead to a loss of motivation and inhibit adaptability to new market requirements. One possible solution is to regularly offer brokers the opportunity to choose their areas of expertise, enabling them to broaden their base with expanded expertise and improve the quality of advice.

Suppose five agencies participate in an experiment in which brokers can regularly change their areas of expertise:

Hypothesis:

If insurance brokers are regularly given the opportunity to change their areas of expertise according to their interests and strengths, this increases their motivation, professional competence and closing rate, while customer advice becomes more flexible and customer-oriented.

Possible procedure:

• 1. Half-yearly or annual choice of area of expertise by the brokers based on current market needs and personal interests.
• 2. Access to specialised training methods and resources for the selected field (e.g. liability, health insurance, life insurance), for example training, learning tandems, etc.
• 3. Internal knowledge exchange formats between brokers from different fields to promote synergies and maintain broad knowledge.
• 4. Goal-setting discussions before and after each change to ensure learning progress and customer orientation.

Possible KPIs:

• (Increase in) closure rate in the specialist areas.
• Satisfaction of brokers who change their area of expertise (measured by surveys).
• Change in the quality of advice and customer feedback on specialisation.
• Time required for familiarisation and training in the new area of expertise in relation to the increase in performance.

The KPIs are compared with historical data and collected at least at the beginning, middle and end of the experiment. During this time, the agency representatives and the ‘mentor team’ meet monthly to discuss experiences, progress, challenges and adjustments. The sponsors support the process.

At the end of the experiment, all groups and management come together. The results, experiences and recommendations are shared. The agencies decide independently whether they want to keep the new approach permanently. Management decides on a possible scaling.

From theory to practice

Even if the example described is theoretical, there are already numerous companies that work with such scientific experiments in practice and benefit from their use, including a large pharmaceutical manufacturer that conducts experiments based on hypotheses and KPIs. An experiment in virtual international collaboration showed that digital assignments are a successful alternative to physical relocations. The high level of acceptance and numerous approved assignments confirmed the business benefits and feasibility of this flexible working model.

But other companies are also trying out new things and validating the results. These include the Hamburg cable car company, which is developing its design thinking in cooperation with local residents, the Swiss parliament, which is working with Policy Sprint to combine different positions, and experiments with a four-day week that were trialled by many companies last year.

Conclusion: New Work is an individual path that requires courage

Introducing New Work into operational areas within the insurance industry requires courage, openness and a willingness to experiment. There is no standard solution – each company has to find its own way. The key is to shape the change together with employees, rather than imposing it from above.

Clear hypotheses, measurable KPIs and a positive attitude towards mistakes can help companies to identify which approaches work. New Work is an ongoing process that evolves with the needs of people and markets – even in operational areas that do not offer traditional office structures.

We would be happy to support you in introducing and implementing such experiments.