What skills do adjusters need for professional success in 2014?Certainly, technical skills are a must. This includes a workingknowledge of law, medicine, construction, insurance policy contentand interpretation, and subject-matter expertise specific to theclaims they handle. Aside from technical skills, though, successfuladjusters need soft skills.

Don't think that just because these skills are called “soft,”that they are easily acquired. While most people would agreeon the types of hard skills needed for claims success, there isless consensus regarding which soft skills are essential.Nevertheless, I will nominate six soft skills essential for today'sclaims professional.

#1. Listening

Hearing and listening are not synonymous. “God gave us two earsand one mouth and we should use them in just that proportion.” As seasoned claims people, we understandably feel we mustshow our expertise. Silence discomfits us, and we feel compelled tofill the void with our own words.

Sometimes, take-charge approaches work against us though.Instead, switch the frequency from “send” to “receive” mode. Keepthe ears open and the mouth closed. Kevin Hromas, a Houston-areaclaims specialist, recalls his stint as a Mississippi “cat”adjuster post-Katrina. He often sat on a home's concretesteps with an insured, because that was all that was left of thestructure. They just talked. Hromas adds, “Sometimes weprayed. Sometimes we cussed. Many times, I justlistened.”

According to Hromas, listening “is the one thing that too manyadjusters, managers and executives don't do enough of.”Everyone is too “busy” getting to the next claim. His suggestion:“Stop for a moment the next time you converse with someone andconsciously think, `Am I listening to this other person … or am Ithinking about what I'm going to say next?'” He asks, how manylawsuits could we avoid with just another hour spent doingnothing but listening?

#2. Empathy

By definition, adjusters work with people under stress. Theywould not contact an adjuster unless misfortune had visited. Notonly are they stressed, they may be angry at whatever or whomevercaused their loss. They may take out anger, unjustly, on the claimprofessional. Sadly, many people hold adjusters in low regard,lumping us with bill collectors and used-car salesman. (Have youever seen those TV ads run by personal injury attorneys?) Thisshapes a negative impression that many consumers have of adjustersas people out to shortchange them.

Adjusters with soft skills possess empathy and see beyond thesefactors, putting themselves in the proverbial shoes of the personwho has suffered a loss. They realize it's not personal! They havea thick skin about barbs aimed at them. Yet they do not develop ahard-shell or cynicism. They realize that one of the positivesabout working claims is being able to help people in times of need.This requires empathy, a key soft skill.

#3. Emotional intelligence

Daniel Goleman popularized this term in his book of the samename. It involves the ability to “read” another person's mood andreact appropriately. Emotional intelligence is a key soft skill forsuccessful adjusters facing angry claimants, skeptical plaintiffattorneys, demanding bosses, abrasive coworkers, demanding vendorsand reluctant witnesses. Each person merits a different approachand demands that adjusters gauge the mood and emotional state ofthe person with whom they interact.

#4. Emotionalself-control

Successful claims people exercise impulse control. They mightlove to give the claimant or policyholder a piece of their mind.They might pine to invoke Johnny Paycheck, telling the boss to“take this job and shove it!” They could fantasize about telling aprickly client to take the business elsewhere. Maybe they tire ofbeing the lightning rod for irate claimants, policyholders, vendorsand attorneys. Often adjusters feel like punching bags, absorbingshocks and blows from multiple angles. By the end of the workday,they feel beaten down. However, successfully navigating the rocksand shoals of a workday requires that adjusters master theiremotions and curb the impulse to do what feels natural, to strikeout and retaliate.

#5. Time management

Time is the adjuster's scarcest resource and is nonrenewable. Wecan argue semantics as to whether or not anyone can truly managetime. Time management is actually self-management, workingproductively and making sure that each decision and action on aclaim file maximizes the return on investment. This means adjustersmust be able to identify each hour and each day their – MostImportant Thing. They prioritize and constantly reassess plans inlight of new demands, case assignments, policy changes, andunforeseeables.

Jason Tuccy, a claims team leader in the Tampa, Fla. area, saystime management is a crucial soft skill for successful adjusters.Particularly vital, he believes is the ability to properlyprioritize tasks, to see the number one focus and then, the abilityto complete the highest priority items consistently. “You must beable to walk away,” Tuccy maintains, “as you will never finish allof your work. Otherwise you burn out.”

Adjusters are professional jugglers. They have many balls in theair at one time: caseloads, phone calls, e-mails, meetings andprojects. Today's claims professional faces distractions andchallenges that adjusters of 30 years ago did not: social media,e-mail, web surfing, smart phones, instant messaging, etc. So manystimuli vie for adjusters' attention that it is tough to focus ontasks requiring sustained thought.

#6. Adaptability to change

In claims operations as in corporate America, the more thingschange, the more they stay the same. Today's adjuster workenvironment is dynamic. Change comes daily, often withoutwarning.

You get a new boss. The company switches to a new software thatyou must learn from scratch. Procedures change for the company orfor clients. Layoffs ensue. Your employer is acquired by ormerges with another company. Two of your adjusters quit or transferto another department. You have to relocate to anotherbranch. A key attorney you rely on for claim defenseretires, relocates or repositions her practice to the plaintiffside. Your settlement and reserve authority is slashed. The bossreturns from a corporate retreat, brimming with ideas from thelatest book by the business guru du jour, holding the panacea foroperational problems.

To paraphrase a bumper sticker, “stuff happens.” Change isinevitable in the dynamics of a claims department. The ability toroll with the punches and adapt to change is critical.

Scott Kilgras, a senior claims representative with Mutual ofEnumclaw in Medford, Ore. says, “The hardest thing about being anadjuster is balancing two very different sets of personalitytraits.” First, he notes a claims adjuster must bedispassionate. Amidst confusion, uncertainty and wide rangingemotions, an adjuster must see evidence logically, avoid addressingproblems personally, and approach decisions on a fact-based andlogical basis. Second, Kilgras adds that an adjuster must balancethe logical dispassion with genuine warmth, sincerity and empathy.“Many unsuccessful or unhappy adjusters don't lack the training todo the job,” Kilgras states, “they lack the basic personalitytraits to be claim adjusters.”

It's a wonder that we call these six traits “soft” skills. They're hard to master but critical to success in any businessenvironment.

Successful claims professionals will blend a toolbox oftechnical expertise with finely honed soft skills to launch theircareers and drive their companies to success.