Senior Vice President Matt Frazee pointed out back in August that, “successful organizations don’t stand still, they proactively face the challenges of their business head on.”
That’s when National Life reaffirmed its commitment to educators, the retirement business, and our flow annuity offering.
On October 1, a group of the folks responsible for growing the retirement business met to start the process of team alignment and creating a strategy.
Matt kicked the meeting off stating, “We are committed to this business and we are looking for you to collectively help National Life win in this space.”
The workshop focused on developing a high performing team. Using our culture workshop framework, discussions included “why my job matters.” Facilitated by the People Center and Consultant Mary Putnam, who retired from the People Center a few years ago, they worked to answer three key questions:
- What actions are essential in working together to achieve our goals?
- What current or anticipated roadblocks/obstacles can block progress?
- How do we remove or overcome the obstacles?
Today we are focused on TEAM. How we align, perform, and grow (the business and as a functioning team).
Before we can grow the business, understanding how we connect is key, stated Darlene Flagg, vice president and head of our retirement business. High performing teams establish trust, overcome language and cultural barriers, increase the quality and quantity of distribution partners, plan sponsors and policyholders’ interactions by equipping them with strategies they can use to support education, enrollment, and flow increases.
Flagg’s hope was that by the end of the first workshop each attendee would have a better understanding of his or her role and how it aligns to the growth of our Retirement Business. She further expressed that together their goal was to ensure National Life can keep its promises by remaining a relevant retirement provider in the market.
Partnering with Mary Putnam and Kate Shore, the Retirement Business partners took the first step toward discovering how National Life can enhance how we show up in the market, to our clients (policyholders and plan sponsors), and to our distribution partners. Part II of the Retirement Business Workshop is scheduled for November 2.