Course Title - Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership

Assignment - Personal Development as a Strategy Manager

Name – Sample Student

Date – 27th March 2016 Course Title - Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership

Assignment - Personal Development as a Strategy Manager

Personal Learning:

This learning module has presented me with the unique opportunity to understand in great depth the strategic ambitions and culture of LV=. It has made me reflect on how I should optimise my working relationships and has given me real momentum in producing a development plan that I consider achievable and will have a positive impact to LV=.

The facilitated learning within our group has been fascinating and has improved my understanding of strategic challenges within other organisations and industries.

Overall a great start to the Level 7 diploma.

Word Count: 4723 Contents & Assessment Criteria: Page No

1. Be able to identify personal skills to achieve strategic ambitions

1.1 Analyse the strategic direction of the organisation 4

1.2 Evaluate the strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the strategic 5 & 6 Ambitions.

1.3 Assess the relationship between existing, required and future skills to achieve 6 - 8 the strategic ambitions

2. Be able to manage personal leadership development to support achievement of strategic ambitions

2.1 Discuss opportunities to support leadership development 9-11

2.2 Construct a personal development plan to direct leadership development 12

2.3 Devise an implementation process for the development plan 13-14

3. Be able to Evaluate the effectiveness of the leadership development Plan

3.1 Assess the achievement of outcomes of the plan against original objectives 15 -16

3.2 Evaluate the impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic ambitions 17

3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan 18

4. Be able to promote a healthy and safe environment that supports a culture of quality

4.1 Evaluate the impact of corporate commitment to staff welfare on organisational 19 Objectives

4.2 Discuss how a welfare environment can affect achievement of organisational 20 - 21 objectives

4.3 Consider the influence of corporate commitment to staff welfare on the 21 - 23 Development of organisational values

Porter described (Competitive Strategy 1980) Strategy as ‘a combination of ends for which the firm is striving and the means in which it is seeking to get there’. LV= has interpreted this as an overall strategic goal which is:

‘Grow member value for the benefit of members’.

This is the fundamental strategy for LV= and core to being a mutual company owned by its members. LV= determines the success of its strategy by measuring the return on its With Profits performance and growth in enterprise value. These measurables are specific. Plans are produced on a rolling 5-year basis with set targets in place to demonstrate whether the strategy is being delivered.

This assignment will focus on the specific strategy of the Life business within LV=. The strategy for which is:

‘Build the UK’s leading Retirement and Protection specialist’.

Achieving this strategy will drive both with profits returns and grow enterprise value which is core to the overall LV= strategy. LV= aims to become a top 3 ‘At Retirement’ specialist and a top 5 ‘Protection product provider.’ This will be evidenced by the percentage of market share achieved. This ‘focussed’ strategy complements Porters model by choosing a specific market segment of which the strategy is based around.

The key areas underpinning the Life strategy are: i) Brand - Develop market leading consumer brand that is recognisable by customers and Independent Financial Advisers. ii) Products – Have clear focus on niche products where the demographic will grow. iii) Distribution – Multi Channel strategy that incorporates the future changes in regulation and technology. iv) Systems – Simplified operating structure and IT platform to deliver enhanced customer service capability. v) People – A workforce motivated and recognised for technical expertise, industry knowledge and innovation.

The LV= Life business strategy is currently to achieve its growth plans organically, by increasing sales volumes through extending its current distribution. However there are options to grow inorganically through acquisition of similar companies who either complement the existing product suite or provide access to new markets that LV= does not currently participate in.

Although the Life business has a clear vision and direction to achieve its strategic objectives, there will be significant challenges before the strategy can be achieved. I have analysed a number of external factors as part of a PESTLE analysis (Appendix 1). The analysis identifies high impact areas, for example, changes in Government policy to increase taxes will reduce people’s expendable income. Ultimately The products sold by LV= Life Business could be deemed as non essential by consumers in everyday living. The affordability of LV= products becomes more attractive in economic ‘boom’ times as opposed to during an economic recession. There are further external factors beyond LV= control such as future legislative and technological changes, therefore LV= must continue to test its strategy against potential changes to ensure that it continues to remain valid. 1.2 Evaluate the strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the strategic ambitions

When assessing the strategic skills of a leader we can use the management theory tool of McKinsey’s 7’s. Developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, the basic model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned if it is to be successful.

The McKinsey 7-S model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either "hard" or "soft" elements as follows:

Hard Elements – Strategy, structure, systems Soft Elements – Shared values, skills, style, staff Hard elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems. "Soft" elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful.

Below is a breakdown of each of these elements and the importance that it has to delivering a business strategy.  Strategy: the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition.  Structure: the way the organization is structured and who reports to whom.  Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done.  Shared Values: called "superordinate goals" when the model was first developed, these are the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic.  Style: the style of leadership adopted.  Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.  Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the employees working for the company. Despite the skills that have been highlighted by McKinsey, John Spence who wrote ‘Excellence by Design; Leadership the six key characteristics of outstanding leaders’ I believe captures the essence of the skills required, being:

· Honesty · Transparency · Integrity · Humility · Respect · Flexibility · Collaboration Spence, is clearer that the ‘soft’ skills as highlighted as part of McKinsey’s analysis are equal or if not more important than the ‘hard skills’ that we have identified. Spence summarises this as ‘It is my opinion that the number one factor in building a highly successful company is in attracting the absolute best people to your team and making sure that they are totally focused on continuous innovation and extreme customer focus. In other words: Talent x Culture = Success.’ Using McKinseys model, I have been able to evaluate the four skills that I believe are most important for LV= delivering its strategic vision:

1) Strategy: This is the foundation of LV= becoming a successful organisation. LV= has a clear strategic vision of ‘being Britain’s Best Loved Insurer’. Within this there are a number of metrics in relation to customer satisfaction and brand awareness. However without this clear strategic direction, LV= would not be able to align its objectives and staff performance plans if this fundamental strategy was not in place.

2) Systems: Ultimately LV= participate in the Life and General Insurance sector where business performance and success is closely linked to the technology that organisation deploys. LV= over the past 5 years has made significant investment into its online capability and without doing so, LV= would not have been able to distribute its broad range of products for example on aggregator sites such as MoneySupermarket. LV= total revenue is supported by over 50% being sold through online channels and therefore without the strategic decision to invest in its systems LV= would not have achieved its strategic aspirations.

3) Staff: Although this is not listed as one of McKinseys ‘hard elements’, I believe that staff are also a key component to LV achieving its strategic success. LV= has invested heavily in increasing the number of staff from an organisation of 1500 staff to over 6000, but also LV= have invested in key core skills to support its strategy, for example to support the technology changes it needed to deliver, LV= have invested heavily in IT staff. Also LV= have invested in its management capability to help increase the performance of its staff.

4) Values: Finally another key area for LV= achieving its strategic plan is to ensure that it has a core set of values that staff work to. This ensures that LV= operates to a Spence’s staff characteristics as listed above. With a highly functional and skilled team operating with the value of an organisation, this provides a great combination for strategic success to be delivered. I personally believe that the culture of an organisation, with the support of powerful and aligned values of its staff will create a highly motivated workforce, will result in organisational success.

For an organisation to achieve its strategy it is imperative that its leaders possess the right strategic and leadership skills. Warren Bennis, founder of the Leadership Institute at USC said ‘the crisis of leadership in our institutions and Government is in many ways the most urgent and dangerous threat facing the world today, because it is insufficiently recognized and understood.’ Bennis recognises that without the right leadership skills in an organisation the opportunity to deliver the company’s strategy is practically impossible.

First and foremost a leader must be able to provide a vision for others to follow. As quoted by Steven Covey (7 habits of highly effective people) ‘a leader must begin with the end in mind.’ This reinforces that a leader must not just think of the present, but also the future, what the future holds and where they want their organisation to be.

‘10 Essential Business Leadership Skills’ by Ben Yoskovitz, has helped me to summarise the key strategic leadership skills required for an organisation to achieve its ambition:

i) Communication – It’s vital that everybody understands their role and the part they play in achieving strategic ambitions. As quoted by Ken Knight in Professional Manager ‘a leader has to make the direction clear.’

ii) Delegation – To be an effective leader you must create the capacity to think about the future, delegation allows you to do this. Delegation also enables a leader to empower others and create ownership and accountability of the strategy.

iii) Listening – Listening skills are vital in order to be a strong communicator. Understanding the business and listening to people’s issues or ideas will allow a leader to respond more effectively.

iv) Passion/Inspirational – Being a passionate and inspirational leader will help engage with the people they need to deliver the vision. A passionate leader will provide motivation and can inspire others to achieve more.

v) Decision Making – To be able to make the correct decision or informed judgement based on the limited or full details that are made available.

vi) Influence / Negotiating – This is crucial to ensure that as a leader your outcomes are delivered. These skills are enhanced by a leader having a good self awareness and understanding the motivating drivers of the individuals they are dealing with.

vii) Making Change – An effective leader will be able to introduce change successfully throughout their organisation. John Paul Kotter (Professor at Harvard Business School) outlines this in eight steps from creating a sense of urgency to empowering people to making it stick within the organisational culture.

The summary from Sir John Harvey Jones referenced in Excellence in Leadership and Management by Stuart Emmett(with Nigel Wyatt) articulates effective leaders. Sir John Harvey Jones’ summary is that effective leaders get the most out of their people from having a broad range of skills but whose core values are congruent to the values and aspirations for those that they work with. Unless the values are lived up to, the vision and strategy will most likely fail.

Over the past 5 years LV= has seen a significant movement in employees in order to achieve its strategic ambitions. To put this into context LV= has grown from circa 1500 employees in 2005 to over 5000 employees by 2011. During this period of growth a number of new skills were brought into the organisation as the existing skill set at the time were insufficient to deliver the company’s strategic vision.

Assessment of the existing strategic skills is as follows:

Vision, Listening & Communication – A core component of the senior leaders annual performance plan is whether staff understand the vision and how their role fits into the strategic vision. LV= has communication forums to discuss the strategy with staff and through the results of the internal staff Engage survey, verifies whether people feel involved and listened to.

Making Change – In order to achieve its strategic vision, LV= has had to undergo a huge transformation. The change programme has been difficult to implement and embed. This was highlighted by Peter Drucker who said ‘Finding and realising the potential of a business is psychologically difficult. It will always be opposed within because it means breaking down the old established habits’. However, LV= has invested in its infrastructure via both people and technology as these were key areas for development. LV= has achieved and embedded change into its culture so staff embrace change and actively look for ways to improve the business.

Decision Making – This has been evidenced by the number of key decisions that have been made since 2006. Difficult decisions were made in relation to selling the bank operations where LV= invested significant funds over a 10 year period, but continued to make a loss. Key positive decisions have also been made in relation to acquiring new businesses to either extend or diversify into other markets. Decisions have been made effectively, complimented by the information and analytics made available for those decisions to be made.

Assessment of the required strategic skills is as follows:

Delegation / Empowerment – As an organisation LV= still lacks the ability to empower staff. Although staff engagement is high there is the opportunity to improve this and for staff to feel more valued by having the autonomy to make decisions. Current staff feedback reflects that employees feel as though the prospect to develop is hindered by the limited opportunities they have. Additional delegation and empowerment of staff would increase staff motivation.

Assessment of the future skills is as follows:

Technical – An assessment conducted by the IT department demonstrates a number of areas where LV= is still behind its competitors, especially with online capability. The evaluation highlighted that LV= does not have the existing skill set to develop its own capability and that potentially a 3rd party should be contracted to help support the LV= strategy.

Creativity – LV= rebranded successfully 5 years ago, however in the markets where LV= competes there is strong competition. In order to differentiate and to lead ahead of its competitors, LV= must continue to find creative people.

2.1 I have undertaken a SWOT analysis, to assess my own strategic leadership skills. To facilitate my SWOT analysis I have used my personal assessment using the managerial grid by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. This model allowed me to identify my leadership styles based on the concern for people and the concern for production. It also highlighted the optimal leadership style which has allowed me to challenge myself in my own personal development areas. Personal strengths:

Organisational Skills – My previous role as a project manager demanded effective organisation skills. Detailed project planning and sequencing activities were imperative for me to prove efficiency in the role.

Communication –I have developed significantly in my ability to communicate successfully with people. This has been acknowledged by my previous line manager in performance reviews and from staff feeling engaged within my previous leadership role.

Creativity – Within my previous operational manager’s role I was constantly looking for opportunities to improve performance. I was able to try new ways of working, and find innovative approaches to resolve issues and advance the operational area.

Personal weaknesses/development opportunities:

Professional Knowledge – My current role as Strategy Manager requires me to have a large understanding of the market, such as competitors, regulatory and technological changes. I am building my knowledge, however in comparison to my peer group and senior managers I need to improve significantly, to enable me to challenge and provide key strategic insight.

Analytical – Within my role I am challenged with understanding competitor’s performance in a number of ways. For example I am now required to interpret other companies’ financial accounts. I need to develop my understanding further and be able to produce summary commentary for my key stakeholders.

Personal Opportunities:

Strategic thinking / Influencing –I have the scope in my role to challenge the Life business on its strategic direction. My opportunity is to develop presentations and supporting documentation to influence others on whether to continue on the current journey, or change the strategic direction.

Personal Threats:

Self Awareness – I have learnt through this course the importance of self awareness. In order to be successful I need to have an understanding of my impact on others and how others perceive me. The existing threat for me, is that if I do not reflect and consider my impact on others, I will be less effective at influencing them. The Johari window is a useful model to test my self-awareness and improve my interaction with others.

Redundancy/Restructure – Although this is something that I cannot influence directly, I need to be mindful that this could influence my personal direction and development.

I have completed a learning styles questionnaire based on the above analysis. The results demonstrated that the ‘theorists’ learning style is my preference. By assessing my theorist approach to learning it is clear that I would rather learn in a logical fashion. I tend to be a perfectionist who requires all aspects of learning and work to fit into a rational scheme.

The output of my SWOT analysis and my learning questionnaire shows the key areas for my personal development as follows:

- Increased Knowledge of the Life Insurance Market - Strategic Thinking - Analytical Skills - Leadership Skills

When assessing the opportunity to develop in these areas, I was able to use the LV= online learning resource (Appendix 2)to support my development. The Learning Resource catalogue has external material available to assist in all areas of my development, specifically my leadership and analytical skills. The classroom based training will be essential in developing my leadership skills. I am currently attending the ‘Leadership in Action’ module having already completed the ‘Leadership Principles’ and ‘Becoming a leader’ modules. I will continue to develop my leadership skills through this course and by attending the Leadership masterclass and excellence programmes.

To further support my development plan I will seek to engage with key subject matter experts and senior leaders within LV=. I will look to gain their commitment and support as coaches / mentors. I will draw skills from their experience, test areas of my development, and receive constructive feedback.

In addition to in house support, as a member of the CMI I have access to useful material through their website and the Level 7 diploma course will help support my development needs.

Another model I have used to help support my strategic leadership development is Kolb’s. Kolb's experiential learning style theory is typically represented by a four stage learning cycle in which the learner 'touches all the bases':

Kolb (1974) views learning as an integrated process with each stage being mutually supportive of and feeding into the next. It is possible to enter the cycle at any stage and follow it through its logical sequence.

However, effective learning only occurs when a learner is able to execute all four stages of the model. Therefore, no one stage of the cycle is an effective as a learning procedure on its own and I have found this incredibly beneficial for my own personal development.

Kolbs learning methodology allowed myself the opportunity to carry out and demonstrate my leadership style, but then reflect and experiment in order to harness my skills. I have found that this continual reflection, ret-try, re-evaluate process has allowed myself to consistently improve and drives constant change about how I approach my role.

Finally the last model I have used to help develop my strategic leadership style is and Mumford’s. Peter Honey and Alan Mumford adapted Kolb's learning styles to develop their own model of learning styles, based on research into managers' behavioural tendencies. It uses a similar learning cycle model with the following four stages:  Having an experience  Reviewing the experience  Concluding from the experience  Planning the next steps Their four learning styles, unlike Kolb's which result from the combination of two stages, are directly associated with each stage. These are summarised in the following table:

Learning Stage Likes Dislikes Style associated with Doing and experiencing. Games, Sitting around for too long; Having an Activist practical activities, anything that is working alone; theorising; experience energetic and involving. having to listen to others. Being hurtled into activity, no Reviewing the Time to think, observe, take it all in; time to think; crammed Reflector experience watching others; solitude and time. timetables; lack of privacy, no time to prepare. To know where something fits into Frivolity, mindless fun; wasting Concluding overall ideas and concepts; analysis and time; not being able to Theorist from the logic; being stretched; abstract concepts; question; lack of a timetable experience structure, clarity. and structure. Anything theoretical; learning Planning the Practical problem solving; relevance to Pragmatist that focuses too much on past next steps the real world; applying learning. or future and not present.

Honey & Mumford's model assumes that people have preferred learning styles but that these are dependent on context and experience, so are not locked into any one style. Therefore when developing you need to have a consideration to somebody’s learning style and adapt accordingly to maximise the value in this,

The part that resonated for me is that during my development there are instances where my development has not been as valuable to me, as I believe it could have been. When I reviewed Honey and Mumfords model, I am now able to position my learning style (reflector) with my line manager so that there is an awareness of how I best learn. 2.2 Personal Development Plan: Student Name Job Role: Life Strategy Manager

Development Related Strategic Action (Learning Opportunity) Next Time Resource Implications Review and Objective Objective Milestone scale Evaluating methods to and timing com plete Increase Understand how to increase - Active research of competitors reviewing areas Review bi Ongo Internal subject matter -Demonstrated by knowledge of market share and to gain a such as company accounts, product features, monthly with ing experts feedback from the Life competitive advantage marketing techniques etc.. internal revie stakeholders of a Insurance coach with w completed competitor market - Internal coaching / assistance from staff who first formal report, produced have been recruited from existing competitors feedback quarterly. June 2012 - External conferences/Internet research

Strategic Challenge and evidence the - Shadowing the Managing Director of one of our Ongo Internal MD resource -Review in June 2012 Thinking Life Business Strategic key business units, working with them to develop Review in ing through personal Direction and understand the strategy. May 2012 revie performance plan w CMI / External feedback. - Increased understanding of the importance of conferences /reading -360 degree feedback strategy through the studying of the CMI diploma. Ongoing issued to key Dec stakeholders, June - External conferences/Internet research 2012 2012. -CMI Level 7 Qualification Dec 2012 Analytical Skills Challenge and evidence the - Coaching from Finance team to assist with Review in Ongo Internal subject matter - Output and Life Business Strategic understanding of company accounts. March 2012 ing experts presentation of a Direction specific strategic area - Use of in house computer assisted learning in Use of in house of review. Planned for Excel to assist with interpreting data. training June 2012.

Leadership Development and - In house training on coaching and motivating Completion Ongo In house training - 360 feedback from Skills motivation of People to others of External ing stakeholders, May deliver the strategic vision Reading April revie External material 2012 - Use of internal coach within LV= 2012 w - Feedback from internal coach. - External reading – specifically 7 Habits of Highly - Assessment using Effective people (Steven Covey) and Excellence in Hersey Blanchard Leadership and Management (Stuart Emmett Situational Leadership With Nigel Wyatt) Model 2.3

The following page shows my implementation process, and how I will deliver my development plan. It details the steps that I need to take in order to achieve and improve in my identified development areas. Key areas such as research, engaging with coaches/mentors and feedback are pivotal to the plan being delivered. Although the development plan is for 2012, the plan will evolve and refine when either development areas are completed and, or additional areas are identified.

When writing my development plan I found that the Kirkpatrick Model was most relevant to my theorist and pragmatic learning style. The Kirkpatrick 4 stage model of reaction, learning, behaviour and results is a logical approach tailored to my development needs. This approach has allowed me to understand the level of participation I require to develop my skills. This technique is pro active in testing what I have learned and it allows me to understand the outcome as a result of the learning and any subsequent reinforcement. The model ensures that my development is embedded and allows me to evidence this within my role. For the purposes of assessing outcomes of my development plan I converted this into a matrix tracker, to review. See below:

I have developed this matrix tracker in conjunction with my line manager using a clear development path of performing the ‘core of the role’ (highlighted in the bottom left corner), to the strategic development that I need to complete in order to become a high performer. We have assessed each of the ‘modules’ as part of my matrix and have rated them accordingly.

Green = On track Amber = partly on track Red = Off track My recent assessment highlighted the following:

My development plan tells me that I have 4 key development areas that if improved upon will enhance my ability in my role. Fundamentally the work that I produce and present is for senior Executive members, and my role is to assess future strategic opportunities and to provide challenge to our existing Strategy. By developing my market knowledge, strategic thinking and analytical skills I will increase my effectiveness to produce quality documentation that can be assessed by my key stakeholders. My aspiration is that the market insight and outputs that I produce are thought provoking and will fuel current and future strategic thinking.

Another method of determining the impact of my development plan is through feedback from my stakeholders. I have built into my development plan scheduled 360 degree feedback to assess the impact of my plan. I believe that the challenge that I make to the existing strategy (to ensure that our strategy is the correct one) and insights I provide into the future of the Life Insurance industry, and whether this impacts the strategic direction of LV= will determine the success in my role.

With regard to the development of my leadership skills, I believe that ultimately this will help achieve the strategic ambitions of LV= when I progress into a managerial role within the organisation. My ambition is to be successful in achieving a “Head of” function and by developing my leadership skills, this will both assist my ambition and importantly develop my core skills to be successful in leading a team. 3.2 Evaluate the impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic ambitions

In order to evaluate the impact of my achievements on the strategic ambitions of the organisation I have used a managerial grid from Blake Moulton’s leadership grid. See below:

Blake Moulton identified two fundamental drivers of managerial behaviour: the concern for getting the job done, and the concern for people doing the work. They argued that, on the one hand, an exclusive concern for production at the expense of the needs of those engaged in production, leads to dissatisfaction and conflict, therefore adversely affecting performance. but that, on the other hand, an excessive concern to avoid conflict and maintain good relationships is also detrimental to the achievement of goals and objectives. In order to provide a framework for describing management behaviours, the two variables of “concern for production” and “concern for people” were plotted on a grid showing bottom left indicating a low level of concern, to top right indicating a high level of concern.

When I assess the impact of my work I believe that the recent Protection strategy paper that I have produced to the Life Executive demonstrated my ability to be high people/high task. In order to make sure that the strategy paper I produced was effective as possible I needed to use my people and influencing skills to consolidate people’s opinions/thoughts and then transfer these into a presentation. My approach although was collaborative, had to be task focussed otherwise the deadline would not have been achieved and the presentation would not have included all necessary areas.

Another example of my high people/high task approach was in a previous role as operations manager where I motivated and organised my team to clear and complete a high volume of inbound customer applications. Although this had to be incredibly task focussed to meet customer expectations the way I managed, motivated and rewarded my team made this a real example of how I delivered a positive strategic impact to the business. 3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan

When reviewing my progress against my development plan I believe that I have made progress, however there are a few areas that have slipped against my original target dates due to prioritising of key work tasks that have occurred throughout the year. This has resulted in the development of my analytical skills now being delayed for a further 3 months as from a time perspective I do not have the capacity to focus on this area.

One area that is progressing well is the coaching I am receiving from one of my senior managers from another department within LV=. They have worked in a number of different organisations previously and have supported my development, by providing different perspectives based on the size, complexity, structure and industry where that organisations participates. This is proving to be incredibly helpful in supporting my objective of ‘bringing the outside in’.

Unfortunately the in house leadership training has been delayed until May due to resource availability from the training company and therefore this component of my development will not be completed until this time. However LV= have been incredibly supportive and have provided me with some useful online training material that I have been able to read which has been incredibly useful especially surrounding managing difficult conversations with team members.

Another area where I did not originally consider as part of my development plan that has provided me with some useful areas of consideration was in relation to the feedback our area received from some internal stakeholder feedback. There were some clear tangible changes in relation to the style of presentations that we produce especially using new presentation systems such as Prezzi. As a result I booked myself on an external 1 day beginner’s course and as a result (combined with some self-teaching) I am now able to present our departments presentations in this format and it has become a real asset for my team.

I have described the steps that I need to take to improve my learning areas. My development plan will need to be continually reviewed, to ensure that the implementation process will deliver the required development and learning. Also through coaching, mentoring and feedback, new development opportunities will present themselves which may lead me to reprioritise or add to my development plan.

4.1 There is a very strong corporate culture to support the company’s health and safety policy. LV= Health and Safety policy covers areas from how your desk is set up, to how you should lift a box, manage sickness or handle stress. Health and Safety policy is a key component of the LV= induction programme. Each employee must pass a health and safety assessment annually to demonstrate their continued understanding of company policy. The diagram below summarises how Health and Safety policy is communicated and how responsibility is filtered through the organisation. The approach that LV= has taken is compliant with HSE guidelines. Responsibility H&S Manager / CEO H&S Manager/Senior Management Middle/Line Mang’t / All Employees H&S Manager / Line Mang’t H&S Manager/ CEO / Senior Management

The importance that LV= places on the health and safety policy adds to the company’s culture and brand values of ‘looking after what you love.’ LV= actively ensures that health and safety is understood and guidelines are followed to ensure a safe work environment. LV= is also proactive in the management of stress and promotes a healthy work-life balance. The company offers external support groups and counselling sessions if for this purpose. The advantage of placing such a high importance on this is that it reduces levels of absenteeism and increases work output and productivity, creating a working environment that supports loyalty to the company. LV= is also proactive in recording near miss incidents to ensure that there are lessons learnt in instances where health and safety policy could have been breached. LV= embeds a systematic approach to identifying and controlling health and safety risks and supports a continuous improvement programme for this as well. The negative impact of LV= not placing a priority on health and safety policy would be the fact that there would be an increase in sickness and accident levels at work. The biggest risk would be the increased likelihood of litigation due to an accident at work. This could cost LV= significant money in paying a potential claim / fine and in turn would increase LV= insurance premiums to cover health and safety policy in the future. 4.2 Discuss how a welfare environment can affect achievement of organisational objectives

Staff welfare involves three aspects which contribute towards staff welfare. These are work/life balance, flexible working and reduction of work-related stress Creating an environment to promote a state of contentment which allows an employee to flourish and achieve their full potential for the benefit of themselves and their organisation. (CIPD) According to CIPD definition of staff welfare it involves in three aspects which contribute towards staff welfare. These are work/life balance, flexible working and reduction of work-related stress Organisations benefit from treating the well-being of their workforce as a primary concern. People give of their best when they are able to work happily together, free from unnecessary concerns and operate in an open, "no-blame" culture which supports individuals. The welfare of an individual is a combination of physical, mental and social wellbeing. In this "triangle of health", all three elements need to be present. The absence of one or more element, whether at home or at work, can have a substantial impact on a person's overall welfare Some responsibility like staff welfare which may not enclosed by employer legislation i.e. implicit responsibility can make better relation between employee and employer. It supports to motivate, support employee/employer relationship and ensure the welfare and make better environment in workplace. The staff welfare covers many things which support make workplace environment and safety. Such as health and safety, counselling service, welfare funds, social security etc. The impact of staff welfare has a fundamental impact on the achievement of an organisations objectives. To put this into context, according to BBC news channel of Wednesday, 24 March, 2004 in the heading of The Continuing Cost of Absenteeism by Will Smale wrote that” IHC estimates that 13.4 million working days a year are lost to stress, anxiety and depression, and 12.3 million to back and upper limb problems. And the overall cost to UK industry? A whopping £11.5bn in 2002 was paid out in wages to absent employees and on additional overtime and temporary staff cover, according to the CBI.”

In addition to the huge monetary impact identified by the BBC, the FTSE100 index carried out an analysis into staff welfare and determined that employers by Business in the Community (BITC) found that companies which took active steps to improve health and well-being at work enhanced financial performance by 10% on average in 2009. Within LV= staff welfare is ranked incredibly high in relation to how important it is to the society achieving its objectives. LV= links staff welfare to one of its four core values, ‘Treat people like family’ and LV= approach is that staff should respect, support and value the people you work with as if it were a member of your family. Supporting this, LV= provides its staff with a variety of people policies that contribute towards staff welfare. Some significant ones are:

 Flexible working requests – Providing LV employees the opportunity to request different working hours during their contract from the terms that they were originally recruited on.

 Working environment assessments – Each member of staff has a desk assessment to ensure that somebody’s working environment is fit for purpose and LV= also pays for a free eye test for each employee every two years that work more than 3 hours on a VDU each day.

 Parental leave – LV= operates a fully supportive policy whereby they encourage parents to spend as much time with their family as possible. This is supported by the maternity and paternity scheme it operates.

 Disability policy – LV= are committed to providing equality of opportunity and treatment to all those who work for them. LV= policy is to treat all staff equally and to provide opportunity fairly and equitably, regardless of disability. LV= seek to ensure that no requirement or condition will be imposed without justification that could disadvantage individuals on the grounds of disability.

 Staff survey/ Well Being – LV= conduct an annual staff survey and take tangible actions as a result of the feedback received. Most recently this has been to increase the number of fridges to support staff bringing their lunch to work each day.

 Staff welfare – If staff are absent from work due to sickness, LV= has a relationship with BUPA where staff members can be referred to, in order to support the individuals return to work.

The areas highlights are not an exhaustive list, but act as a strong indicator on the value that LV= places on staff welfare. Compared to LV= local competitors, LV= offer a very strong staff proposition, especially compared to small organisations that do not have the funds to support the extent that LV= go to, in order to take care of their staff. Through the efforts that LV= has made with staff welfare and creating a culture that supports staff development, LV= has been able to retain key personnel. Overall LV= has circa 35% of staff on part time hours and more than 75% of this group based on staff surveys has indicated would have left the organisation of these hours were not accommodated. Retaining key talent within the organisation as highlighted within the analysis from McKinsey is paramount for LV= achieving its strategic success. Also due to the staff benefits package that LV= offer, this has been a key criteria with LV= being able to attract talent compared to its competitors. Based on LV= recruitment analysis, the data has demonstrated that over 60% of staff were attracted to LV= based on the staff package that it offers. Overall LV= ‘staff welfare package’ has been crucial for LV= being strategically successful and this is evidenced by the retention and attraction of staff within its organisation.

Organisational values define the organization’s beliefs and rules that control the management of the company. It represents the corporate philosophy and the support to the culture of organization. While developing organisational values, there is some influence of a corporate commitment to staff welfare. In today’s society, most businesses are keeping a sharp eye on staff welfare to gain employees loyalty and increase their moral that enable to promote the efficiency of employee in work place which is beneficial to employee and company as well. LV= have four key company values:

Treat people like family Make it feel special Don’t wait to be asked Know your stuff.

These values are embedded as part of LV= company culture and is used to support the vision and goals of the company. LV= promote the fact that the company will only be successful through the people it employs. Arx and Ziegler, (2008, see following page) have studied relationship between staff welfare and corporate financial performance and like many studies have supported the positive effects of staff welfare on both the financial performance of the company and on the end consumer.

Arx & Ziegler employee engagement/welfare model LV= have exceeded their targets on employee key performance measures like employees' satisfaction and economic value addition. They are also targeting on customer satisfaction as well. LV= has no hesitation on creating a better off, cleaner and happier environment for staff but they also recognise that there is yet considerable scope for improvement. Another main point is LV= pro-actively shares and communicates its vision and goals with the every employee of the organization. LV= believes that if the vision is clear for everybody it will help to get success and also help to create more value of the organisation in the current market.

The influence of LV= commitment to staff welfare on organisational value is also demonstrated by noticeable improvements in the staff health and safety policy. Since work has been focussed on improving this in recent years there has been a tangible reduction of accidents and improved working conditions. Also as previously described occupational health and reduction in absence has improved more recently with the new process of referring staff to BUPA, providing additional support.

One area where LV= compared to its competitors could improve on is the fact that it paternity leave for fathers is relatively limited compared to a number of other organisations. Currently LV= only allows fathers two weeks paid paternity leave, where compared to a number of competitors in the market they pay 4 weeks paternity and allow paternity leave to be shared with the mother of the child as well. Although currently I do not believe that this will affect LV= ability to deliver its strategy, longer term if this is not reviewed then then this may create a barrier to recruiting talented staff. However when you review LV= attrition rate of staff being under 15%, this does demonstrate that LV= staff welfare’s policy is being effective.

One area that I have not covered which I believe will in the medium to long term for LV= to address is the office environment in which staff perform their roles. As discussed previously LV= has increased its staff numbers from 1500 to over 6000 in just over 5 years. Whilst LV= has acquired a number of sites as part of this growth, LV= offices are becoming cramped with room and although this is within health and safety limits, staff are now feeding back as part of LV= annual staff survey that they are finding office space is becoming cramped. It is imperative that LV= does not lose sight of the importance of a functioning but enjoyable working environment, otherwise this may impact its ability to deliver its strategic vision and values through its staff.

Ultimately to deliver its strategic success over the past five years, LV= has been seen in the local market as an ‘employer of choice’ to work for. This has enabled them with the ability to attract talented people. The values of the organisation currently is still supportive to a strong success culture, however it is imperative for this success to continue, that LV= does not become complacent. LV= must continually challenge whether its culture and staff welfare is still appropriate to its strategic objectives and should not rely on the historical good will of its staff to continue. LV= must continually receive feedback from its staff and consistently act to feedback received to make sure that the performance of the business improves in the future. Appendix 1

PESTLE analysis on the strategy of the Life business division of LV=

PESTLE Impact LV impact description (H,M,L, Unknown) Political Factors There is a change in Unknown The key components of our strategic growth are based on the sales of annuities and protection Government/Government policy products. If a new Government initiates change for example restricting limits on people pensions contribution or applying an additional tax to the sale of Protection products then this will impact the sales that LV= can achieve and in turn affect the strategy. Government Policies High The Government’s performance will impact on the success and ability of LV= being able to achieve the strategy. If there is reduced money flow in the economy (e.g. increases in income tax, reduced Government spending, increase in inflation) and people’s expendable income is reduced, then this will ultimately impact LV= and create a more challenging environment for LV= to sell its products. Alternatively if the economy grows and people’s spending capabilities increase then this will help support LV= when selling its products to the consumers. European Legislation High The UK Government and in turn UK companies can be impacted by European Legislation. More recently we have seen the impact through changes such as the Gender Directive (equalisation of insurance rates for males & females) and with Solvency II (increased capital requirements for insurance companies) which has impacted LV=. Not only is it the impact on LV= pricing of products, it is also the effect of costs to make and embed the changes. With the increased influence of the EU over the UK, we can expect further European legislation impacting the LV= strategy. Economic Factors Changes in the economic cycle High The economy tends to follow four stages through its Lifecycle – Economic Boom, Economic Slowdown, Economic Recession, and Economic Recovery. At each stage there will be an impact to the LV= Strategy. For example in the economic boom period LV= will endeavour to optimise on strong levels of demand, driven by the fast growth of consumption, but during recession LV= will be focussed on unit costs, and to have a strict cost management approach as profit margins will be squeezed by a reduction in consumer need or consumer ability to purchase LV= products. Economic uncertainty High Similar to the changes in the economy cycle, economic uncertainly may help or hinder LV= in achieving its strategy. LV= proposition is to sell for example protection products which provides cover for when people are unemployed. With unemployment being at its highest level (The Office for National Statistics (ONS) quoted unemployment at 2.57million – 12/10/2011) these products will become more attractive in the market, however conversely to this, another key product line that LV= sell is pension products. With less expendable income people will be less inclined to invest in the long term. Therefore the economic position is critical with influencing the LV= strategy. Social Factors Consumer trends Medium With the state pension age increasing, people are starting to take a greater ownership for their income at retirement than relying on the state. LV= believe that offering specialist pension and annuity contracts, will enable them to take advantage of this consumer trend. That said, if consumer trends change then LV= will need to be agile with their product proposition and continue to offer products that has continued consumer demand. Brand & Company Image High .LV= have rebranded from Liverpool Victoria 5 years ago and actively advertise the brand and company image to the public. The brand is vital to link the strategy to, and to enable consumers to both recognise and affiliate themselves to a brand to drive consumer loyalty. LV= invest heavily to create this and is a core part of their strategy to grow and retain business. Any threat or negative publicity would severely impact LV= as a business and would impact their strategy. Technology Changing technology High As the use of social media, becomes peoples communication preference, LV= must adapt a strategy that considers this. From a Life insurance perspective, fewer life and pension contracts are being completed face to face, and more can be seen as being written through the internet. Therefore LV= has a strategy that embraces technology changes and endeavours to sell its products through ‘guided advice’ on the internet. The ongoing risk for LV= is that technology continually advances and LV= must therefore maintain up to speed with changes for example the use of the internet through mobile phones. LV= must continue to have a strategy that considers future technological changes, otherwise the risk is that the competition will advance ahead and capture LV= market share. Technology suppliers Medium As LV= continually develops its own technology, and importantly technology purchased through third parties, it is vital that the strategy considers aspects such as intellectual property rights, licensing and patents. LV= must have a considered procurement strategy that ensures it delivers the best value for money to the business whilst considering aspects such as ‘exit arrangements’ to reduce risks.

Legal Changes in Regulation High LV= is regulated by the FSA and its strategy is to reduce business risks and to maintain compliance. However as seen recently with the forthcoming changes such as the Retail Distribution Review (to improve the clarity of financial advice and adviser fees) and Solvency II (increased levels of capital requirements) there are legislative changes that are imposed by regulatory bodies that can impact businesses. LV= strategy is to be pro active with legislative changes. LV= is continually working with the FSA and provides feedback on FSA consultation papers where there is the opportunity for insurers to ask questions and feedback on proposed legislative changes. LV= must have a strategy that is able to understand and assess the impact of current and future legislative changes and adapt a strategy that enables compliance whilst driving value to the business. Environmental Factors Environmental policy Low Although the environment is not a core component of the LV= strategy it is crucial that the environment in which LV= operates is compliant. LV= strategy is zero tolerance to anything not conforming with the environmental policy, and as a socially responsible employer, LV= must keep up with any environmental changes and ensure that all employees are aware. Appendix 2

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