Allstate Financial Experts’ Impact Unleashed
Dana Young, Staff Financial Analyst,
discusses the analyst's function
within
Allstate's business during the
Protection
Finance Alalysis and
Business Consulting
Certificate Program.
Allstate, the “Good Hands” company, is well positioned to continue meeting customer needs now and in the future. Allstate has successfully transformed itself from a traditional home and auto insurer to a comprehensive financial services provider.
Finance employees in Allstate Protection, the company’s business unit which combines the Allstate and Encompass property and casualty offerings through Allstate and Independent Agencies, are contributing to this transformation. “We’re assuring our people make substantial contributions to Allstate’s success by stretching beyond excellence in analytical and financial skills. We want them to also offer creative business solutions to their internal Allstate clients,” explains Mario Rizzo, Assistant VP, Protection Finance. With targeted, intensive training, Protection Finance professionals are expanding their business consulting skills to become their clients’ trusted business partners.
Kathy Leck, EVP, Lake Forest Corporate Education, affirms this vision. “Forward-looking organizations like Allstate recognize that functional experts such as finance professionals can enhance their impact using business consulting skills,” Leck explains. “These individuals hold a wealth of specialized knowledge; the innovative solutions and breakthrough ideas they generate by tapping into business consulting practices can be remarkable. Client relationship skills, strategic questioning, and knowing how best to utilize data are critical.”
To achieve its learning and development objectives, Protection Finance turned to LFCE and Red Rooster Consulting, Inc. Red Rooster consultant Suzanne Sitrin did an assessment verifying high-impact skills Protection Finance needed in both the home office and field operations. Then, working with Protection Finance’s learning team, LFCE designed and delivered the Protection Finance Analysis and Business Consulting Certificate Program. Over four days, this program covers a state-of-the-art internal business consulting skills curriculum centered on the identified high-impact skills and tailored to Protection Finance’sculture and business objectives.
“Allstate is very progressive. We don’t hesitate to take bold action to develop our people, even those who already are very successful,” explains Dudley Bright, Director, Protection Finance. “Our goal was to elevate our internal consulting skills to the same level of proficiency that external consultants demonstrate when they work with Allstate.”
“Allstate’s goal of developing internal experts to a level on par with outside consultants was our inspiration for innovation,” says Susan Vece, LFCE Director and program project manager. “Not only did we create a curriculum based on current best practices and recognized consulting models used by leading consulting organizations, but we customized the program to address participants’ diverse levels of experience and responsibility.”
The negotiations section of the curriculum illustrates LFCE’s ability to customize training to match each client’s goals. Effective negotiation skills are routinely utilized in consulting environments.Yet within companies, it’s particularly important to nurture ongoing relationships. Thus, internal consultants must use both negotiation and influencing skills to contribute. LFCE adjusted the program to teach essential elements of negotiation, and then helped participants incorporate influencing skills to achieve both their clients’ and their own needs.
In addition to negotiation and influencing skills, participants learned strategic relationship-building and communication skills as well as problem-framing techniques. Overall, participants gained working knowledge of the key elements of business consulting skills and earned hands-on experience applying these skills to real client situations.
“The customized, practical approach to internal business consulting education was a great match for us,” says Rob Blankenhorn, Sr. Financial Manager, who led Protection Finance’s learning team. “In four days, our employees expanded existing skills, widened their perspectives, built new skills, and transferred that learning to current projects.” Allstate’s Dana Young, Staff Financial Analyst and program participant, agrees, “The program had a profound effect on the way I work with my business partners and peers at Allstate. I’ve leveraged various techniques I learned and practiced during the program, and I believe I now offer my clients more than analytical expertise, but innovative business options as well.”
One more factor sealed the program’s success: the support and involvement of Protection Finance’s leaders from the program’s design through implementation. Their presence at each session’s kick-off reinforced the message that building internal consulting skills is a key element of Protection Finance’s business objectives.
Protection Finance plans to expand the program to over 100 additional professionals. The program also has generated examples of best practices hosted on Allstate’s knowledge management system as readily accessible reference material. “Looking at our results and our prospects for continued benefits,” Blankenhorn says, “we think our clients throughout Allstate are in good hands with us.”
