Claims professionals are responsible for a lot of things, fromstaggering caseloads to complex investigations. We're in thebusiness of resolution, of helping restore a sense of normalcy topolicyholders who have suffered tremendous loss.

This involves utilizing various hard skills, technologies andresources; however, one too often forgets that it also involvesrefining “soft skills,” such as empathetic listening andcustomer service.

Carl Van, ITP, president and CEO, International InsuranceInstitute, Inc., realizes the crucial role that softskills play in the claims process. He is the author ofmore than 75 technical and soft skill workshops being taughtthroughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Van is also the Dean of the School of Claims Performanceand has earned many industry distinctions. Above allelse, he is an enthusiastic educator, one who knows howto help managers inspire their troops to achieve optimalresults.

At the 17th annual America's Claims Event (ACE), Van will share hisknowledge to help other claims managers catalyze and educate theirteams. When asked about the scope of his presentation, “The ThreeDriving Factors for Improving Claims EmployeePerformance,” Van stressed the attributes of exceptionalclaims professionals and the fact that claims is, and has alwaysbeen, “a customer service business.”

Below are some of the highlights of our conversation. For moreinformation about cultivating soft skills within your claimsorganization, be sure to attend the session, whichtakes place on June 19, 2013 at 12:45 pm, or one of the manynetworking events at this year'sconference.

What is your definition of a truly exceptionalperformer?

A truly exceptional performer is one who understands the bigpicture of what he or she is supposed to beaccomplishing. This person cares about doing an excellentjob, and has the job knowledge and skil setl to do itwell. Exceptional performers question the status quo butdon't waste time waging war on company policy or procedures. Theyare “givers” rather than “takers.”

Explain how this definition applies to claimsprofessionals.

In claims, we have an issue with the “big picture” part of thatdefinition. Usually, in our claims customer service courses, we askclaims professionals to use words or phrases to describe theirjobs. They will say things like: “investigate,” “negotiate,”“answer the phone,” “handle mail,” and “complete diary tasks.” Theymay also relay that they “write estimates” and about a thousandother things. What is almost never uttered, however, is“customer service.”

Claims is a customer service business. We don't build anything.We don't make anything. We are a 100-percent customer servicebusiness. We don't fix cars; someone else does that. We don't mendwounds; someone else does that. We don't rebuild houses. Wearrange for those things to happen, and that is the customerservice component. Sometimes we pay people, and othertimes we don't pay them but explain why. Even that ispart of the customer service we provide.

The very best claims professionals are those who are technicallysound, but it the end, understand we are here to help people. Anadjuster who doesn't understand that will say, “If you don't signthis form, we can't pay you.” An adjuster who does understand thatwill say, “If you can sign this form, we can begin paying you.” Anadjuster who doesn't understand that will say, “It sounds likeyou're confused. An adjuster who does understand that will say,“Maybe I didn't explain things clearly, let me try again.” Anadjuster who doesn't understand that will say, “We're going to takedepreciation.” An adjuster who does understand that will say, “Letme help explain why we take depreciation.”

What are the “three driving factors for improving claimsemployee performance” that you will talk about at the America'sClaims Event this coming June?

Performance is made up of two things, Attitude and Ability.Attitude is 80 percent, and ability is 20 percent. It's the ParetoPrincipal; the old 8020 rule. Driving up that performance can havemany avenues. I will be speaking on these three areas: Creating aculture of customer service awareness; setting a standard thatimprovement is part of the job; and providing the training andsupport for people to reach their potential.

Many claims organizations will say they do all these thingsalready, when the truth is that it is their greatest weakness.

In what tangible ways can these ideas be implemented atthe office?

Every interaction in a claims office is a potential trainingopportunity. Office meetings, break room conversations, casualconversations about procedure changes, etc. are all perfect timesto create a culture. Declarations in newsletters, emails, memos,wall signs and the like are very weak methods to garner support fora culture improvement compared to an open discussion in an officemeeting.

What is the one key takeaway that you hope audiencemembers will get from your talk at the event?

That improvement is possible, available, and much less expensivethan not doing anything. You can hire all of the talented peopleyou want, but in the end, if there is not a system in place toshape that talent, it's all a waste of time. In management we seemto accept that it is normal to have only a couple of exceptionalperformers, rather than believe we are in control of creatingthem.