Why to Choose the Right Coach?

Ann Walker, Head of Talent Management, Erie Insurance Group

Ann Walker, Head of Talent Management, Erie Insurance Group

As a Head of Talent Management at Erie Insurance Group, Ann Walker is highly effective in Human Resources strategic and operations leadership, with extensive experience overseeing leadership development and succession planning strategies that strengthen the organization from a fundamental level. She leverages a unique mix of strategic and analytical expertise, consistently exceeding performance goals by aligning the effort of strong teams of Human Resources professionals with organizational objectives.

What are the major challenges that you are facing in the career counseling space?

The current imperative is to have effective communication.The issue here, though, is that the leaders don’t have enough time or experience. Having solid expertise in talent identification and staff development is important. Therefore, we teach leaders how to recognize their own and their team members’ potential and then how to nurture it. The other issue that everyone is dealing with is Retention. Maintaining employee engagement allows us to visualize our own future in the company and understand how to get there; we have a better approach to keeping them around.

As the head of talent management, how do you envision the future of the career counseling space with all these potential disruptions?

I think employers can provide employees the prospect of a future career with the company by providing better coaching and assisting them in identifying their own development needs. It’s one thing to be told what to do, but when you’re being taught, you can recognize your own path. Their staff expects it. Talented people want to work for an organization that will support them in expanding their knowledge and abilities and advancing their careers.

Would you like to talk about any particular project that you have been working on and how it is making a difference in the career counseling space?

When we first started teaching leaders in 2013, which was kind of a foreign concept. Because executive-level coaching typically takes place outside of organizations, we wanted to bring it in so that every employee could receive coaching equally. As a result, we started educating leaders. Some of them understood what we were teaching, while others didn’t, and some simply stood out as shining examples of what a good coach should be.

“We have coach profiles on our website where individuals can read about the coach and their rank order so that they can choose the best”

Not just their employees but everyone in the company may learn to coach. For example, if someone works in claims but really wants to work in marketing, they may be mentored by someone in marketing to learn more about that field and how they might fit in. As a result, we built this professional coaching network in 2014, complete with formal policies, rules, and guidelines that must be approved. We also set it up and started inviting staff members to sign up. We have coach profiles on our website where individuals can read about the coach and their rank order so that they can choose the best. What we also discovered through this process is that the leaders that understood it and served as a beacon of light were also strong leaders who enjoyed and respected people. Additionally, we discovered that these executives have potential within the company. Since coaching makes a person an even better leader, we were also developing potential at the leadership level.

This program has a twofold purpose of developing and coaching employees while also continuing to develop our leaders. The initiative was successful, and soon there was a waiting list of potential coaches and employees who frequently signed up to receive coaching. We are so lucky to have leaders who recognize the importance of coaching others and how it may support the overall goal of employee growth and Retention. The initiative receives a lot of their recommendations, which raises the net promoter score significantly. Since we frequently receive appreciation from leaders, we are pleased to have that coaching network.

What would be your single piece of advice to fellow peers in the industry?

To give employees the impression that they are in a secure space and are not being judged, I would advise choosing the proper coaches and making sure you have a strong coach network. We provide employees a chance to express themselves by asking questions or perhaps sharing a private experience such as, “Here’s what I experienced in my coaching.” Afterward, we also participate in an annual full-day coaching training course provided by an IPF-credentialed coach, typically at the Master Certified Coach (MCC) level. There are many things to consider with DE&I; therefore, we wanted coaches to learn how to handle situations where one of their players is different from them and how to coach for that.