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Mid-sized insurance company · ICO

An insurer that sold well and served poorly: silo culture between sales and claims

Complaints about claim turnaround were growing, and each department was sure the problem lay with the other.

47 → 60Overall index
RegularFormat
610Respondents (69% response rate)
Context

Insurer with about 880 employees, a portfolio concentrated in auto and home, and sales through brokers. Commercial growth in recent years had not been matched by changes in claims operations.

Challenge

The rate of complaints filed with consumer protection agencies was rising, and brokers were threatening to move business elsewhere. Improvement projects got stuck in disputes over who owned each step of the service journey.

Instrument applied

Organizational Culture (ICO)

Why this instrument. ICO measures consistency across departments and customer focus as dimensions of culture, which made it possible to treat the problem as a pattern of behavior rather than one department's failure.

Format: Regular · Respondents: 610 of 880 (69%)

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First application

Where the organization stood

Overall index
47 Band: Emerging 0100
  • Stagnant
  • Reactive
  • Emerging
  • Structured
  • Advanced
  • Benchmark
Results by pillar
Mission and Direction 56 Involvement and Empowerment 41 Consistency and Integration 48 Adaptability and Customer Focus 39 Leadership and Coherence 50 Trust, Communication and Psychological Safety 46
Plan executed

From results to action, in three waves

  1. 90 days

    Results shared with teams and first priorities agreed.

  2. 6 months

    Management routines adjusted to reduce friction between areas.

  3. 12 months

    Culture tracked as an executive indicator, with reapplication.

Reapplication

Before and after, pillar by pillar

Reapplied after 12 months: 47 (Emerging) → 60 (Structured).

BeforeAfter Mission and Direction 56 66 (+10) Involvement and Empowerment 41 56 (+15) Consistency and Integration 48 60 (+12) Adaptability and Customer Focus 39 55 (+16) Leadership and Coherence 50 63 (+13) Trust, Communication and… 46 60 (+14)
Business outcomes

What changed in operations

  • Overall index moved from 47 (Emerging) to 60 (Structured).
  • Average settlement time for simple claims fell from 14 to 9 days.
  • Complaints to consumer protection agencies dropped about 25%.
  • Broker portfolio retention stabilized over the period.
Lessons

What this case teaches

  • Clear direction is not enough when departments measure success differently.
  • Giving authority to the front line was the lowest-cost, highest-impact action.
  • A shared metric reduced disputes more than alignment meetings did.

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Cases are presented without identifying clients. Sectors, sizes and figures are examples built to show the method.

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