Mar 31, 2014 | News
Transitioning from employee to manager can be challenging, but understanding how to be a good manager can make all the difference for your own and your department’s success.
Research shows that a positive relationship with your manager directly influences your job satisfaction. The way you manage your projects and employees affects the productivity of your entire department and company — so mastering management skills is crucial. Entrepreneur.com’s expert teachers from lynda.com recommend the following five things to focus on:
1. Pick the right management style. There is a range of management styles and all are a blend of three key behaviours: how much task direction you provide through instructions and training; how much autonomy you give employees in making decisions; and how much you invest in building relationships through open communication, coaching and engaging employees.
We all have a natural style of management, but it’s only going to be effective part of the time. It will be the perfect fit for some of your employees, and they will thrive under you. But if you want your entire team to thrive, you must be willing to become versed in more than one style. More importantly, you need to know when and how to switch between them.
2. Become more persuasive. Dr. John Ullmen, a professor of management and organizations at UCLA, notes that “our passion to persuade often exceeds our ability to convince,” because we only use a narrow range of tactics, focusing on the ones that would convince us. To become more persuasive, expand your toolkit.
Ullmen believes there are 12 tactics you can use in varying combinations to create success. These range from the informational, such as rational analysis and citing credible sources; the strategic, aligning with high-level goals or with key values; to the interpersonal of leading by example. Become versed in all 12 tactics, and choose the combination that will best convince your intended audience.
3. Get clear about accountability. Part of your role is to hold people accountable for results. However, it’s highly unlikely that your direct reports are actually working on the right priorities. Scott Blanchard, co-author of Leverage Your Best, Ditch the Rest, conducted a study asking managers to make a list of priorities for each employee. Then employees were asked to make their own list. The average agreement between them was only 21 percent.
Clearly communicate your expectations to your employees and check in periodically to ensure you’re still on the same page. Only hold people accountable for the issues that really matter and be a role model for accountability yourself.
4. Engage your employees. Employee engagement is a key contributor to increased retention and productivity. According to MBA professor Todd Dewett, engaged employees feel emotionally attached to their work, and identify with the whole organization. Yet studies show that 70 percent of U.S. employees are disengaged.
Common mistakes that managers make are confusing engagement with motivation, assuming that their employees share their own level of engagement, and using the same tactics with every employee. Your efforts will be most effective when you tailor them to each employee individually.
5. Resolve cross-department conflict. Working across functions and teams is a normal practice in modern business. Eventually, every manager faces cross-department conflict. Simon T. Bailey, author of top business book Release Your Brilliance, believes that conflict occurs when there is a fight for resources, a weak relationship and a lack of communication between departments.
He recommends first, build rapport and connection with the other team. Learn more about their goals and their challenges. Next, be willing to give to get. Focus on how you can help them achieve a win. Then later, have the courage to ask for their help in return. Work together to focus on what is best for the company and put the integrity of the brand before individual or department goals.
By using these effective strategies, you’ll be a better manager, enhancing the success of your company and accelerating your career.
Excerpted from Entrepreneur.com
Still looking to develop your communication skills? ILScorp has launched a new online course: “Secrets for Exceptional Speaking” to meet this growing need among professionals in all industries. This online video course teaches an innovative approach to public speaking, presentations, and communication skills, using the trade-marked Hendrie Method. This top-rated program is now available online exclusively in Canada through ILScorp.
Mar 28, 2014 | News
Continuing Education deadlines are fast approaching for insurance agents in BC and Manitoba (May 31 is just over 2 months away!), and Alberta’s requirements must be met by June 30 this year. Now is the time to get working on your mandatory CE hours and avoid the last minute rush.
ILScorp is ready to help, with continuing education catalogues feature hundreds of hours of accredited courses that you can complete anywhere you have an internet connection.
The ILScorp general insurance catalogue offers more than 300 hours (160 courses) of accredited Continuing Education training, so you’ll find courses that are of interest and relevance to you and your business. More than 50 courses have recently been updated and re-accredited. Six-month subscriptions, which provide access to the entire general insurance catalogue are only $185. Discounts for groups of five or more are available.
Our Life / A&S course catalogue includes more than 75 CE courses (185 hours). A new online Professional Liability course: Introduction to Errors and Omissions Exposures Insurance for Life / A&S Agents, which is also included in the subscription option. Individual Courses start at $85. Six month subscriptions to the entire Life/A&S CE course catalogue are $260.
Advantages of all of the ILS continuing education course subscriptions:
- Once you purchase your subscription, you can begin taking your courses immediately! If you are a new subscriber, you will receive an automated username and password by email.
- Access more than 180 accredited general insurance training courses in both text and streaming video formats, including personal lines, commercial lines, auto, farm, professional management and personal skills courses.
- Have a digital record of your completed course work, which we keep on file for up to seven years.
- Save time by completing your general insurance continuing education requirements entirely online, no paperwork or commute.
- Courses can be accessed any time and you can log in and log out as many times as you wish during the course period.
- Quizzes and Final exams are offered in most of our courses to help you retain the information.
- Should you require any assistance at any time during your course work, we are here to support you 5 days a week, 0800 – 1700 PST.
Join the more than 22,000 Canadian insurance professionals who develop their skills with ILScorp each year! Visit ILScorp.com today to get started, or call 1-800-404-2211.
CE Credits with ILS – Fast, Easy, Done!
Mar 27, 2014 | News
Quebec agents – if you have not completed your ChAD professional development units, the March 31, 2014 deadline is just around the corner. The final push is now on, with only a few more days to complete your mandated hours!
As a Quebec licensed damage insurance agent, broker or claims adjuster, you must complete 20 hours (PDUs) of training per two-year compliance period. ILScorp’s ChAD Subscription offers unlimited access to our accredited ChAD courses (over 100 credits) for six months for only $185.
With the ChAD Accredited Online Courses Subscription you will:
- have 6 months access to over 77 accredited ChAD insurance training courses in both text and streaming video formats
- access over 100 PDUs in the categories administration and insurance techniques, professional development and professional compliance (all categories with the exception of Law and Legislation)
- save money compared to purchasing individual courses
- have a digital record of your completed course work, which we keep on file for up to seven years
- save time by completing your PDU requirements entirely online, no paperwork or commute
Are you not the only one in your office with hours to complete? If your brokerage has more than five people who need to complete their training, consider joining our ChAD Broker Network Program, and save $50 per person on a ChAD Subscription!
Join the more than 22,000 Canadian insurance professionals who develop their skills with ILScorp each year! Visit ILScorp.com today to get started, or call 1-800-404-2211.
CE Credits with ILS – Fast, Easy, Done!
Mar 26, 2014 | News
This winter’s extreme weather has been wreaking havoc with the bottom line at insurance companies, according to a story in the National Post. The Insurance Bureau of Canada pegs claims against property and casualty providers related to catastrophic events last year at $3.2-billion nationwide, triple the annual average for the past five years.
While this number is not totally due to the weather, weather-related events account for a large and growing part of the big bills.
In the Toronto area, the main culprit is flooding. This means that many homeowners, both those with dry basements and those with wet ones, will share the burden. Long after pipes have been repaired and soggy TV rooms refurbished, the impact of wild weather will be felt in the form of increased insurance premiums.
Aviva Canada, the country’s second-largest property and casualty underwriter, said its losses were “significant” for 2013. Last summer’s flooding in Toronto was the third-largest insured-loss event in the history of Canada and hit the company hard. This winter’s ice storm, while less costly, will generate $10-million in claims, the company estimates. It expects to see home insurance premiums rise 5% to 10% in the city.
Intact Financial Corp., the country’s largest provider of property and casualty policies, posted its first underwriting loss in years due to the disasters nationwide. The company has said it will see some premiums rise by as much as 20%. Water damage now accounts for more than half of the amount it pays out in claims.
To help customers absorb the bad news, insurance companies are offering “loss mitigation” discounts, which can serve to hold premium costs down.
Tracy Laughlin, vice-president of personal lines for the Ontario and Atlantic Division of Intact Insurance also stresses the importance of knowing exactly what’s covered by a plan. Often people don’t realize that sewer backup protection is not necessarily included in comprehensive or all-risk coverage, which is the kind that most people buy. While typical packages include coverage for in-house water damage, from such issues as leaky pipes or overflowing toilets, sewer backup protection is usually considered an add-on — one that would have been worth having during last summer’s deluge in Toronto.
Excerpted from the National Post
ILScorp Continuing Education Subscribers – did you know that your General or Adjuster subscription includes a series of five Homeowners Insurance Policy courses? These online insurance training courses, each good for one continuing education credit hour, are accredited in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
The five-part series, written by Steve Hawrishok, includes courses covering:
1. Property Coverages Agreements & Definitions
2. Property Coverages A-D
3. Extensions of Coverage
4. Insured Perils & Exclusions
5. Basis of Claim Payment & Other Terms
All five courses are now included in the general and adjuster continuing education course catalogues at no extra charge to ILS subscribers. They can also be purchased individually.
Go online at www.ilscorp.com or call us a 1-800-404-2211 to join the more than 23,000 other Canadian insurance professionals who are learning with ILScorp every year.
Mar 25, 2014 | News
The Ontario Government continues with its increased enforcement of compliance obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”). AODA is intended to make places of business, public and private, more accessible to persons with disabilities. Has your Ontario-based company met the requirements?
Basic policies and employee training, along with registration on the Government website, are the minimum requirements of AODA. In addition, private sector “large organizations” – those with 50 or more employees in Ontario – face duties to convert certain information into accessible formats, for persons with disabilities. This may include website information. Organizations are urged to examined the requirements spelled-out by the Province and to get any necessary assistance in instituting changes.
Lexology.com shares the following key points that are now required under Ontario. The purpose of the AODA is to create a “barrier-free Ontario” for persons with disabilities through the implementation of a number of general requirements, along with five “Accessibility Standards” in the areas of: Customer Service; Information and Communications; Employment; Transportation; and Design of Public Spaces.
If your organization has 50 or more employees, as of January 1, 2014 you are now also required to comply with some general requirements as well as requirements under the Information and Communications Standard.
- The Establishment of Accessibility Policies and Multi-Year Accessibility Plans
You must develop, implement, and maintain policies setting out how you will meet your obligations under the AODA. These policies must include a statement of organizational commitment to meet the accessibility needs of persons with disabilities in a timely manner and must be made available to the public. In addition, you must establish, implement, maintain, and document a multi-year accessibility plan outlining your strategy to meet your obligations under the AODA. The multi-year accessibility plan must be posted on your website and must be updated at least once every five years.
- Incorporation of Accessibility Features for Self-Service Kiosks
If your organization designs or plans to acquire self-service kiosks, such as a self-checkout at a grocery store, you must now have regard to accessibility for persons with disabilities when designing, procuring, or acquiring self-service kiosks. This requirement applies only to new kiosks.
- Accessible Websites
If your organization has a website, you must ensure that it complies with certain accessibility guidelines, in two stages. As of January 1, 2014 new internet websites and new web content must comply with “Level A” of the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) 2.0. For example, websites need to be fully functional through the use of a keyboard. All internet websites and web content (retroactive to January 1, 2012) must comply with WCAG at “Level AA” by January 1, 2021.
By December 31, 2014, you must file an online accessibility report to confirm your organization is in compliance with these new requirements, and remains in compliance with any requirements that came into force at an earlier date.
Many obligations under the AODA will not be in effect for a number of years, such as the requirements under the Employment Standard. However, the requirement to develop and publicize accessibility policies and multi-year accessibility plans now means that you must consider well in advance how your organization will meet these future obligations. As these accessibility policies and multi-year accessibility plans will be readily available to the public, you will want to ensure your organization has an effective strategy in place for remaining in compliance with the AODA.
Learn more about the requirements of the AODA with ILScorp’s compliance training programs. The ILScorp AODA course has been accredited from RIBO for 1 credit hour in the Management Category. Electronic records for all staff who have completed the training are kept by ILScorp in case of an audit. Compliance includes training all employees on AODA standards. Failure to comply can result in fines of up to $100,000. Training with ISL can be completed completely online for only $30 per person. Register your staff today!
Excerpted from an article on Lexology.com
Mar 24, 2014 | News
Cyberbullies have grown up. Research from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, suggests that the online abuse that has been so prevalent among teenagers is carrying through to Canadian universities.
Research papers presented at a recent symposium in Vancouver say that undergraduate students are harassing their peers on social media, instructors are on the receiving end of student-led online smear campaigns, and faculty members are belittling their colleagues in emails.
“When you look at cyberbullying among younger kids, or kids in middle and high school, usually by age 15, it dies off,” said education Prof. Wanda Cassidy, who worked on the study with two others. “What was surprising was the fact that it is happening in universities to the extent that it is.”
While many studies have been done on cyber abuse involving adolescents, research on the behaviour among adults is limited. Cassidy and her colleagues looked at whether teens who bully others online still do it after entering university. The research team also wondered whether faculty staff are being targeted in cyberspace. They surveyed over 2,000 people and interviewed 30 participants from four Canadian universities — two in British Columbia, one on the Prairies and one in Atlantic Canada.
Though some of the data from two universities is still trickling in, the available information so far indicates roughly one in five undergraduate students has been cyberbullied, mostly through Facebook, text messages and email, Cassidy said.
Faculty members — mostly women — also said they’ve been harassed online by students or colleagues. In one interview, a professor said she was bombarded with emails and text messages from a student who called her lousy, incompetent and useless.
“I am reporting you and they will take away your licence, you are so stupid,” the professor recalled from one message.
In another school, an instructor found herself fighting a losing battle against a colleague who was convinced she was gossiping about her. “She texted me 73 times in one day, and over a week it was about 180 messages. When I didn’t respond, it was worse,” the instructor said.
Cassidy said the emergence of cyberbullying in an older population comes with grown-up consequences, such as ruined professional relationships or reputations, anxiety, sleep deprivation and thoughts of suicide.
“There was a fair proportion of people — both faculty and students — who said it made them feel suicidal … which is quite frightening, particularly when you think of faculty members. There should be some element of security that they don’t have to worry about colleagues bullying them, but obviously they do feel like maybe there’s no way out, there’s no way getting around it.”
The sense of helplessness is not uncommon, Cassidy said. The anonymity granted to cyberbullies makes it difficult to go after perpetrators. Just over half of the surveyed students and faculty said they tried to stop cyberbullying. But less than half of them reported success. Cassidy said that’s partly because few university policies specifically address online bullying.
The research team examined 465 policies from 75 universities between November 2011 and January 2012. The study found most universities did have policies around student conduct, discrimination and harassment, but not all were specific to online venues.
Jackson said devising clear-cut policies is a good start, but universities should also put resources into counselling and prevention to reduce cyberbullying.
“I think there needs to be an appreciation on the part of faculty and students that there is an impact to their behaviour and they should be acting respectfully,” Jackson said.
Excerpted from the Canadian Press
At ILScorp we encourage you to take a stand against bullying at home, school and in the workplace. We have developed a Bullying awareness course, for both employers and employees, to help you understand the meaning and consequences of bullying. With up to 40 percent of Canadian workers reporting feeling bullied at work, the issue goes beyond the school schools.
