When I spoke with an insurance IT executive last week, she brought up a point that is too often overlooked in the development of an IT team. IT staffs are traditionally thought of as being all about the technology—what the carrier needs to run a successful operation and how to improve and maintain the technology for business users—but that completely ignores the business equation.

Many CIOs will also tell you their biggest worry for the future is finding qualified people to staff their IT department. You would think people would be clamoring for high-paying jobs in technology, particularly as personal technology has come to take such an important role in our daily lives.

It is even more perplexing when you consider the fact that the insurance industry is digging itself out of a business hole thanks to the adoption of new technology, particularly mobile applications and telematics. But even insurance IT leaders are unable to agree why insurance IT has earned such a bad rap among potential employees.

One area that will help young people consider insurance for future employment opportunities involves the support they receive from their bosses. The IT leader I mentioned above explained to me that the key to being a good leader was taught to her by a mentor.

The mentor explained that an IT leader needs to be just as excited about the career development of her staffers as she is about seeing a technology initiative completed. Such selfless attitudes are difficult to discover in the business world; to find a boss that is looking at your potential and how it can be developed rather than pushing cuts, cuts and more cuts while demanding more and more service from the staff is a nugget to be cherished.

This is a results-oriented business, though, so we need to be realistic. If the work is not getting done on time and at budget, it doesn't matter how many gold stars the boss hands out, people are going to pay the consequences.

But good leaders can never forget that the people that work with them are hoping for a future that includes more and varied opportunities as they move along. Such a leader is the definition of a mentor. Everyone should be lucky enough to have one along the way.

Special Reports /

Is Mentoring Insurance IT Professionals a Lost Art?

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