IHN - People power

Since joining Ingram Hawkins & Nock 25 years ago, Elizabeth Foster has overseen many changes. Founded in 1965, IHN was a traditional local broker with a high street presence.

Foster was originally brought in to grow IHN's commercial client account but quickly started to ask for responsibility to oversee staff. It has now been three-and-a-half years since Foster acquired shares in IHN and became the managing director but she retains a close interest in the day-to-day lives of her staff.

She says: "When I first joined IHN, the company was very male dominated at the management level. They were very focused on the business and not the people, whereas I am very much a people manager. From the early days, I have done a lot to influence the way we approach staff training and feedback. It was good grooming for the role I play within the company now."

For Foster, staff motivation starts with small details. Employees are given a personal development plan with regular reviews, are encouraged to speak openly and are given an extra day's leave on 2 January to spend more time with their families over the Christmas holiday.

IHN held a dinner dance in June for all staff, partners, clients and other network members to celebrate the chairman's 40th anniversary. Foster believes that the community feel created by such small measures is responsible for IHN's low staff turnover: "Our staff said they were proud to be part of a company that can do that kind of thing. The little things can make a big difference."

Foster is one of the chairs for the Insurance Leadership Group within The Prince's Trust. As a parent, Foster wanted to stay involved in activities for young people when her son left school. Upon viewing an advert for the Insurance Leadership Group, Foster saw the perfect way to combine her business influence and passion for helping others, on which she says: "I have always had an interest in young people and believed they can do great things. My family has always been around to support me but so many people do not have that."

Foster tries to engage all of her staff in IHN's commitment to the Prince's Trust. Four staff members went to Namibia this year to participate in a Trust challenge, raising £50,000. Foster has pride in how the IHN staff supported the four volunteers to help with their training and believes that it helped develop office camaraderie.

IHN also sponsors the Insurance Leadership Group leaflet that goes out to all young people with business support from the Prince's Trust; it has secured a respectable amount of business from the entrepreneurs backed by the group.

"Our work with the trust has raised the profile of IHN considerably in the insurance market. The vast majority of those that come for recruitment interviews want to discuss our involvement with the trust at the interview, with many saying it helped them have interest in the vacancy," highlights Foster.

Ten years ago, IHN decided to join the Willis Commercial Network. Foster comments: "At the time, we were concerned about independence but we needed to join a network to gain standing with insurers in order to secure the best possible terms for our clients." She has been pleased with the results: "We were able to retain our independence while gaining access to Willis resources and state-of-the-art information technology. It was the best decision we have made. Our friendships with other network members are very important to our business; we can use each other as a soundboard on market issues."

When IHN joined the Willis Commercial Network, all members had to belong to the same software house. While this is no longer a prerequisite for joining the network, Foster is pleased with SSP and so does not see IHN moving software providers in the foreseeable future. She remarks: "I chair the working party on system development within the Willis network, which gives me a great opportunity to influence the development of the SSP system we use."

When the financial markets turmoil first hit, some staff members were concerned that IHN would be adversely affected. However, Foster believes IHN is on a strong footing and has reassured her staff: "It is important for staff to know their jobs are secure and that we have been relatively untouched by the turmoil in the financial markets. We have done this year what we set out to do."

Opening

As start-up brokers look to lower costs, IHN has secured its first appointed representative broker, the new commercial broker Denmark Green & Associates. Foster believes that, with continued market consolidation, there are a lot of opportunities available to start-ups in the profession and so she is looking to grow the newly created appointed representative area of IHN.

She comments: "I am not at all surprised to see start-ups at the moment. There is a great opportunity for client-focused brokers to gain clients that have lost the level of service from their existing consolidator broker. In the current climate, it is important to keep costs down. We are partnering a start-up broker that is client facing and we will do the broking with our access to the Willis network. We are hoping to develop more of these partnerships in the future."

Before joining IHN, Foster worked in the claims department at Provident. She states that making the transition from working at a big insurer to a small family business while moving skills over to a sales environment was probably her biggest career challenge to date. However, Foster believes that her time within the insurer - combined with the experience of fellow director Neale Ingram - has helped IHN to develop strong insurer relationships.

"Insurer relationships are one of our strengths. Insurance is a people business: we know the people and how best to work with them. We don't move our business around unless we have a good reason to move the risk. Our relationships enable us to drive up the insurers' service levels, which helps us to drive our client relationships. Last year we had a 98% retention rate," says Foster.

Foster believes that a continued economic downturn could prove difficult for maintaining good insurer partner relations. She says: "We may see a change next year as insurers look to raise rates while clients look to cut costs. It could be challenging but we hope to maintain our relationships and do the best for both our clients and our insurer partners."

Despite the wider outlook, Foster is confident about the future of IHN: "Life is built on challenges; it is how we respond to them that makes us the people we are. The future is good for the independent broker that focuses on service for clients. We can overcome any problems by just doing what we do best."

Ingram hawkins & nock

Managing director: Elizabeth Foster

Established: 1965

Locations: Birmingham, Stourbridge

Number of staff: 22

Main lines of business: Commercial and affinity

Gross written premium £7.2m

The Insurance Leadership Group

The Prince's Trust Insurance Leadership Group is a networking forum for leaders of insurance companies, brokers and underwriters in the UK.

The group was formed with the support of leading figures within the profession to provide an innovative way for supporters from the insurance sector to fulfil their corporate social responsibility objectives while enjoying significant networking benefits with government, insurance peers and potential customers.

Members so far have pledged £3.6m to help The Prince's Trust deliver projects that help disadvantaged young people to gain skills and help their lives progress.

The Insurance Leadership Group also has plans to use its members' leverage to influence how the insurance sector relates to young, unemployed people and ex-offenders.

For more on The Prince's Trust, go to princes-trust.org.uk.