Achmea - culture change program

Becoming the authoritative market leader

As the largest insurance concern in the Netherlands, Achmea Sociale Zekerheid was working with its entire staff on a radical culture program. Goal: becoming the authoritative market leader. InContext facilitated a training called Colorful Results, which is geared towards behavior modification.

Miranda van Gils had been hired by Achmea as the architect of the culture program. She carried out analyses at Achmea and put together a broad program which would adjust the way a total of 800 people approached their work in the insurance branch. Van Gils: “In a situation like that there are things which can be implemented collectively, but at the team level, you have to deliver custom solutions. We thought up a number of training ideas to fit the bill and then went looking for someone who could facilitate them.”

Not a standard training formula or act arrogant

InContext was one of the parties Van Gils spoke with about her vision for what Colorful Results should look like. “One of the factors that were important to me was that the company we were going to work with was willing to incorporate my vision into the training. I didn’t want a club who would just use a standard training formula or act arrogant. InContext was prepared to search for a form which dovetailed with their expertise and my vision. That is how we established our partnership, right from the start.”

Britt Wehkamp, as HR-advisor for Achmea was directly involved in the practical side of the training. “We distinguished three types of behavior in the training based on the Human Synergistic model. Blue behavior is constructive behavior, meaning result and change oriented behavior with a commitment to the organizations while taking the person and his/her personal development into account. Green behavior is evasive, dependent behavior. Red behavior is the behavior of a troublemaker, someone who is always on the lookout for things that aren’t going well.”

People are challenged and get a chance to immediately practice doing things differently

For each team who goes through the training, the trainers make a selection of routine situations which are transformed into role-playing games in order to illustrate the consequences of the different types of behavior. The participants are then confronted with their own behavior (and that of others) by an actor playing the role. Van Gils: “What the actors do is hold up a mirror to the participants, but they also offer an alternative. People are challenged and get a chance to immediately practice doing things differently.”

The training, with its custom-written routine issues, was meant for all the departments of the insurance branch of Achmea Sociale Zekerheid. Wehkamp: “We did training with our own HR team. We had a case with a difficult internal client who made a request not related to our work. Green behavior is saying 'oh well, I’ll do it anyway'. Red behavior is just ignoring the request. Blue behavior is having a discussion about the situation, not granting the request, but helping the client in a way that does not put a burden on you.”

You start recognizing issues in the day to day routine

But is a one-time training with a role-playing game enough to wean people off their worn-in habits? Wehkamp: “A role-playing game on its own is obviously not enough, but it helps a great deal. Your colleagues are present during the role-playing and they give you feedback as well. Once it’s over, you start recognizing issues in the day to day routine, where people run into the exact same situations. You can identify the reactions of your colleagues right away and people can discuss what is going well or not so well. Now you hear people talking about blue, red and green behavior throughout the whole organization.”