Dragan Filipović, generalni direktor i predsednik Izvršnog odbora Generali Osiguranja Srbija, član je Srpske asocijacije menadžera, finalista za priznanje "SAM Menadžer godine 2019". Kroz autorski tekst istakao je članovima SAM-a savete kako da sačuvaju sebe i svoje zaposlene u ovim vremenima.
Dragi članovi SAM-a,
Kako vi vidite prilike u životu?
Dve konkurentske firme za obuću, osetile su da mogu da prošire svoju prodaju iz Evrope u Afriku. Svaka firma poslala je svog najboljeg prodavca da ispita tržište. Nakon nekoliko dana, prodavac iz prve firme se javlja generalnom direktoru u Evropskoj centrali i kaže: „Direktore, nećete mi verovati, ali ovde niko ne nosi cipele!? Ovo je čisto gubljenje vremena. Vraćam se kući". I direktor ga posluša. Rival iz druge firme istoga dana zove svoju glavnu centralu u Evropi i kaže: ,,Direktore, nećete mi verovati, ali ovde niko ne nosi cipele! Pošaljite mi što je moguće više pari cipela jer ćemo ih sve prodati. Ovo je pravo tržište za nas! " Naravno, direktor ga posluša.
Važno je kako vidite prilike u životu. Verujem da će vreme nakon završetka pandemije mnogima biti izgovor za loše rezultate i ostajanje pri starim, lošim navikama, ali će nekima sigurno biti i šansa da se transformišu i da izađu još jači iz svega.
Generali Osiguranje Srbija je izabrao ovaj drugi put.
Nadam se da ste vi i vaše porodice dobro i na okupu, da se strogo pridržavate mera za sprečavanje širenja korona virusa i da ste se privikli na nov način rada i života.
Verujem da ste organizovali posao u skladu sa trenutnim mogućnostima, da ste preduzeli sve mere da zaštitite svoje ljude i klijente i da ste većini zaposlenih omogućili rad od kuće. Verujem da smo sada svi još svesniji prednosti digitalizacije i robotizacije poslovanja i da ćemo im se u budućnosti još više posvetiti. Pandemija kovida 19 primorala nas je da se suočimo sa do sada neviđenom situacijom. Najvažnije je da ostanemo zdravi, bezbedni i pribrani i da sa još većom posvećenošću izvršavamo svoje poslovne obaveze.
U skladu s tim, moj prvi savet bi bio da zadržite lični, i radni elan i motivaciju svojih timova. Ne dozvolite da sve stane. Oni koji budu uspeli u tome lakše će nastaviti dalje kada se pandemija završi, jer je mnogo lakše ubrzati usporene procese nego pokrenuti mašinu koja je stala.
Karantin i fizička distanca između ljudi pokazali su se kao dobar recept za borbu protiv virusa, a upravo je suprotno potrebno za održanje poslovanja i radnog elana. Važno je da poštujete fizičku distancu, ali da ostanete u stalnom kontaktu sa svojim timom i redovno razmenjujete informacije, to je najbolji način da se obezbedi da ekonomska šteta od virusa bude relativno kratkotrajna. Za kontakt sa svojim ljudima iskoristite različite onlajn aplikacije koje omogućavaju video-razgovore sa desetinama, čak i stotinama ljudi. Otvoreno razgovarajte o problemima, podržite svoje ljude u naporima da nađu dobra rešenja, pohvalite svaki, makar i minimalni korak unapred. Sada je više nego ikada važno da pravilno koristite sve interne kanale komunikacije da bi prava informacija došla do svih. Ukoliko do sada niste ovako komunicirali, pravi je trenutak da počnete. Mi u Generaliju smo na ovaj način već održali redovni martovski kolegijum i još mnogo operativnih sastanaka. Zaposlene smo o epidemiji počeli da obaveštavamo još u drugoj polovini februara, a po objavljivanju vanrednog stanja pojačali smo obaveštavanje putem video-poruka, intraneta i redovnog nedeljnog NewsLettera. Uspeli smo da pravovremeno informišemo preko 1700 zaposlenih o preduzetim i planiranim aktivnostima i to se značajno odrazilo na entuzijazam u kompaniji. Ljudi su motivisani da daju svoj maksimum, što se odrazilo i na zadovoljstvo naših klijenata.
Drugo, napravite planove za prevazilaženje situacije i stalno ih proveravajte – ako treba, svake nedelje. Da biste lakše pratili situaciju, pravite redovne nedeljne izveštaje o uticaju kovida 19 na poslovanje. U izveštaj uvrstite: zdravstvenu situaciju u kompaniji, preduzete mere koje se odnose na zaposlene (bezbednost rada u poslovnim prostorijama, uvođenje novih vidova komunikacije sa zaposlenima, a posebno sa prodajnom silom, upravljanje troškovima rada), mere koje se odnose na klijente (ponuda proizvoda, briga o klijentima) i partnere, aktivnosti koje se odnose na nastavak poslovanja (krizni menadžment, digitalizacija internih poslova, digitalizacija prodaje, komercijalne aktivnosti za podršku prodaji i distributivnoj mreži).
Treće, pojačajte koordinaciju aktivnosti jer je ona ključna za jačanje samopouzdanja i pružanje osećaja stabilnosti kako zaposlenima, tako i klijentima. Ovde pre svega mislim na aktivnosti kojima se klijentima obezbeđuje kvalitet usluge na koji su navikli, pa čak i unapređuju postojeći prodajni procesi. Primera radi, mi u Generaliju smo zahvaljujući dobroj koordinaciji uspeli da za manje od pet dana od objavljivanja vanrednog stanja ponudimo raznovrsne digitalne mogućnosti za prijavu štete, obnovu i kupovinu osiguranja, a određenim klijentima smo i proširili pokriće na kovid 19.
Četvrto, saradnja. Još više stimulišite timski rad i saradnju među timovima. Ovo je možda i dobar trenutak da veće kompanije razbiju silose, koji su često prepreka za ostvarivanje vrhunskih ciljeva.
Moj poslednji savet bi bio da poseban akcenat stavite na psihičku, emotivnu sigurnost zaposlenih i klijenata, koja se gradi na poverenju i koja će biti ključna za oporavak ne samo ljudi, već i kompanija, lokalne i globalne ekonomije. Ako sada izgubite poverenje zaposlenih, klijenata i poslovnih partnera, teško ćete ga povratiti kada se - nadam se, uskoro - izborimo sa ovom opakom bolešću. Mi u Generaliju smo se obavezali da ćemo biti doživotni partner klijentima i činimo sve da ispunimo to obećanje.
Za kraj, razmislite da li ste dovoljno dobro zaštitili sebe, svoje zaposlene i kompanije od posledica neželjenih događaja, kojih će verovatno biti sve više i sve češće. Ne zaboravite da osiguranje može da vam obezbedi momentalnu finansijsku podršku i omogući nastavak poslovanja. Mi iz industrije osiguranja smo vam na raspolaganju za savet i konsultaciju. Razmislite i šta još kao pojedinac ili kompanija možete uraditi da pomognete u borbi protiv korona virusa.
Ostanite zdravo. Do skorog viđenja!
Dragan Filipović
predsednik Izvršnog odbora i CEO Generali Osiguranje Srbija
Message from Dragan Filipović, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Generali Osiguranje Srbija, to the members of the Serbian Association of Managers
Dragan Filipović, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Generali Osiguranje Serbia, is a member of the Serbian Association of Managers, the "2019 SAM Manager of the Year" award finalist. In his letter to SAM members he shared his advice on how to persevere in these difficult times.
Dear SAM members,
How do you see opportunities in life?
Two competing footwear manufacturers wanted to expand their sales from Europe to Africa. Each company sent its best salesman to test the market. After a few days, the salesman from the first company called the director of the European headquarters and said: “Sir, you’re not going to believe this, but no one wears shoes in this place. This is a waste of time. I'm coming back home." And the director said Ok. On the same day, the rival from the other company called his European headquarters and said, "Sir, you’re not going to believe this, but no one wears shoes in this place! Send me as many pairs of shoes as possible because we will sell them all. This is the perfect market for us!" Of course, the director did as he asked.
What matters is how you see the opportunities in life. I believe that in the time after the pandemic many people will use the pandemic as an excuse for poor results and sticking to old, bad habits, but some will certainly see it as a chance to transform and come out stronger on the other side.
Generali Osiguranje Srbija has chosen the second path.
I hope that you and your families are together and doing well, that you strictly adhere to the measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and that you are used to the new reality, in work and in life.
I have no doubt that you have made business arrangements according to your current capabilities, that you have taken all the precautions in order to protect your people and customers, and that you have enabled the majority of your employees to work from home. I believe that now we are all even more aware of the benefits of digitalization and robotization of business and that we will focus on it even more in the future. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to face an unprecedented challenge. The most important thing is to stay healthy, safe and calm, and to do our jobs with even greater commitment.
Therefore, my first piece of advice would be to keep your personal and professional motivation and enthusiasm of your teams. Don't let everything stop. Those who succeed in doing so will find it easier to move on after the pandemic, because it is much easier to accelerate slow processes than to start an engine again after a standstill.
Quarantine and physical distance between people have proven to be a good way to fight the virus, which is the opposite of what is needed to keep a business going and maintain our enthusiasm. It is important that you keep physical distance, but also to stay constantly in touch with your team and share information on a regular basis. It is the best thing we can do to make sure that the economic damage caused by the virus is relatively short-lived. Use different online applications to connect with your employees – they enable video chats with dozens, even hundreds of people. Discuss problems openly, support your people in their efforts to find good solutions, praise each step forward, no matter how small. Now it is more important than ever to properly use all internal channels of communication so that the right information can reach everyone. If you haven't been communicating like this before, this is a good time to start. At Generali, we have already held our regular March staff meeting and many other business meetings this way. We started alerting our employees about the epidemic as early as the second half of February, and when the state of emergency was declared, we started sending more notifications via video-messaging, intranet and regular weekly Newsletter. We were able to inform over 1700 employees in a timely manner about our current and scheduled activities and this had a significant impact on enthusiasm at the company. People are motivated to do their best work, which also had a positive impact on our customers’ satisfaction.
Second, make plans to overcome this situation and keep reviewing them – on a weekly basis if necessary. In order to monitor the situation more easily, draft regular weekly reports on the effects of COVID-19 on your business. Include the following: health-related situation at the company, measures regarding employees that have been taken (workplace safety at the premises, introduction of new forms of communication with employees, especially with sales force, operating costs management), measures related to customers (product offers, customer care) and partners, business continuity activities (crisis management, internal processes digitalization, sales digitalization, commercial activities to support sales and distribution network).
Third, enhance the coordination of activities because it is crucial for boosting confidence and giving a sense of stability to both employees and customers. This refers primarily to the activities that provide customers with the quality of service they are used to, and even improve existing sales processes. For example, at Generali, thanks to good coordination, we have been able to offer a variety of digital options for claim filing, insurance policies renewal and purchase, less than five days after the declaration of the state of emergency, and we have expanded coverage for some of our customers to include COVID-19.
Fourth: cooperation. Encourage teamwork and collaboration between teams even more. This may also be a good time for large companies to regroup their divisions, which are often an obstacle to achieving exceptional results.
My last piece of advice is to put special emphasis on the mental and emotional safety of employees and customers, which is built on trust and which will be essential for the recovery of not just people, but also companies, local and global economies. If you lose the trust of your employees, customers and business partners now, you will have a hard time regaining it when, I hope very soon, we beat this disease. At Generali, we are committed to being a life-time partner to our customers and we are doing our best to deliver on that promise.
Finally, reflect on whether you have done enough to protect yourself, your employees and companies from the consequences of harmful events, which are likely to be more common and more frequent. Remember that insurance can provide you with immediate financial support and enable you to continue your business operations. We, the insurance professionals, are here for you if you need advice and consultation. Think about what else you can do, individually or as a company, to help fight coronavirus.
Stay safe. See you soon!
Dragan Filipović
Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Generali Osiguranje Srbija
