The rise of individual accountability for insurance executives has highlighted the importance of bridging the gap between ‘thinking about ethics’ and ‘doing ethics’. Ethical decision making is a set of skills designed for that purpose.
Read MoreLeadership on Ethics
Digital, regulation, trust – all rely on leadership on ethics. It’s not that the sector lacks ethics – far from it. It’s more about delivering clear, practical results that reinforce the right attitudes and perceptions. And for that, insurers needs managers and directors with the knowledge and skills to put leadership on ethics into practice. That's what you’ll find here.
Choose from one of these 'leadership on ethics' themes. If you just want to browse, click here, or use the search box below.
Ethical Risks and Objectives
Your leadership on ethics will count for little if it doesn't have focus and direction. That's why knowing about your firm's ethical risks is important.
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Client Project
A long established committee within a large insurer wanted to be sure that the ethics related priorities it was planning for the business were appropriate and set the right expectations. I provided the committee with a mix of guidance and challenge, helping them to test their ideas and see them from a different perspective. This influenced how those plans were communicated and rolled out across different business units
The Right Knowledge and Skills
Setting a personal example is not enough and on its own rarely works. Ethics requires particular leadership skills, applied with focus and diligence. Download the roadmap and take a look at the course.
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Why every insurance firm needs an ethical vision, and 12 steps to build one (link)
Ethical leadership – there’s more to it than just ‘setting a personal example’ (link)
Setting a Personal Example – why it often fails, and how to fix it (link)
How to teach leadership on ethics in a way that actually works (link)
9 ways to set a better ‘personal example’ (link)
Why insurance executives need to think like a decision architect (link)
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Codes and Values
Codes of ethics and the values statements that often accompany them are an important component of your leadership on ethics. That's because they should reflect the ethical vision you have for your firm. My review found that many codes were adrift, lost in time or just difficult to find.
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Client Project
This small insurer wanted to make sure that an important supplier selection was thoroughly researched and weighed up. My role was to cast an independent eye over the ethics of what each supplier was proposing. Some anomalies, one significant, were identified and by factoring these in, the board was able to make a more confident decision
Accountability
With personal executive accountability on the rise, getting your leadership on ethics right becomes central to what you want to achieve for your firm, and for yourself. Being a 'good person' is fine, but it's not enough. Something more concrete is required and this is where you'll find it.
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Executive accountability is raising concerns – here’s the best response (link)
The Great Accountability Challenge facing Insurance Leaders (link)
2 barriers to improving a firm's ethical culture (link)
Accountability in a digital age is a challenge, yet it's also more important as well. Understanding the language of ethics, knowing what you want to achieve for your firm and the role trust plays in all this - that is what leadership on ethics is all about.
Some Insight on Leadership and Ethics
Ethical leadership and leadership on ethics are two sides of the one coin. Which means of course that they’re related but different. Ethical leadership is about the manner in which you lead. Leadership on ethics is about how you lead on a particular theme – in this case, ethics. Clearly, if you get the first wrong, the second will fail. Yet getting the first right doesn’t mean the second automatically follows. Being a good person is not enough. Leadership on ethics needs to be planned, organised and delivered. At the same time, it feels different to say leadership on claims operations or leadership that builds teamwork. And there are reasons for it feeling different, which are explored in some of the resource available here.
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I help claims people to understand more about ethical issues so that they can make better decisions...
I work with firms to identify and address the strengths and weaknesses of the leadership being given on ethics. The renewed focus that emerges provides more results and an evidence trail for the firm’s ethical culture
Middle and senior people benefit a lot from learning resource on leadership on ethics. My courses fill gaps, provide simple skills and boost confidence to go beyond just setting a personal example.
With an ethical radar for the insurance sector that is both broad and detailed, I often help leadership teams identify where to focus their ethics programme and what expectations to work to. The aim is always to achieve results.
Senior people can often be too close to their operations to recognise where their exposures to personal accountability are highest. I often play a critical friend role within firms to open up their thinking.
Get in touch for an informal chat about how I might help your firm - my details are on the contact page.
Ideas
Working with the market, as well as outside of it, means that I'm able to watch developments unfold with more of a detached yet informed perspective. With over 18 years experience of how the market works, these further articles exploring the idea of leadership on ethics, and what makes it work or not work. They're full of insight and a bit of challenge as well.
Client Project
A committed senior manager had identified ethical issues that needed to be addressed, but was facing a sceptical executive team. I was brought in to map out some ethical scenarios and write a business case that made sure the business moved in the right direction. This relied on my reputation for recognising trends and communicating their consequences. The result was progress that then reinforced a wider commitment.
Recent Articles on Leadership...
Data and Power pt4 – the right skills are vital to success in data ethics
A commitment to data ethics will only succeed if the people delivering this transformation of insurance have the right skills. Insurers have a long way to go on this.
Read MoreData and Power pt2 – the two big threats to insurers’ digital strategies
Insurers are going to find that discrimination and access represent the two biggest challenges to their digital strategies. How insurers engage with these issues is critical
Read MoreData and Power pt1 – the starting point for insurers’ data ethics journey
The most significant ethical theme that insurers need to address over the next three years is data ethics. Yet it is complex and nuanced, so insurers need to think carefully about how to organise their response.
Read MoreIs your code of ethics good enough?
You’d be surprised how codes of ethics vary across the insurance sector. What matters though is whether your firm’s code of ethics is good enough for the ethical challenges it is facing.
Read MoreThe lessons that claims people should learn from the exam grades debacle
The recent exam grades debacle in the UK provides insurance people with lessons on what will befall them if current trends in claims practices continue.
Read MoreWhy pricing data can send out all the wrong signals
Insurance people used to think of pricing as just a market thing. Now they recognise that fairness has to be factored in as well. Yet the ethics of insurance pricing has other dimensions that need to be factored in. If they’re not, the current pricing review will take even longer and become even more tortuous.
Read MoreThe big questions about vulnerability that your firm needs to address
The regulator’s new guidance on vulnerability presents insurers with some serious questions to address. Understanding the ethical context from which they emerge will help your firm really get to grip with the issues.
Read MoreThe radical ways in which time is changing insurance
The need for annual or long term insurance policies is being questioned. A new temporality of insurance is emerging, with significant ethical implications.
Read MoreWhy cognitive diversity can boost ethical performance
Cognitive diversity can be hugely influential when it comes to ethics. Views are encouraged, voices heard and challenges met. In such changing times for insurance, this matters
Read MoreWhy conflicts of interest are an exponential ethical risk
Conflicts of interest are an exponential ethical risk because of the powerful signals they send out about how your firm is managed. This creates all sorts of reputational risks.
Read MoreNudging, ethics and modern insurance design
Nudging is a concept at the heart of much ‘new thinking’ about insurance. Yet it’s a complex thing and insurers need to take care when using it in the design of new products and services.
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