Tewtip, Puk, and I visited two "up-country" branch offices yesterday. For me, the goal was to see what these offices are like – their employees, their business operations, and their infrastructure – so that I can consider the needs and challenges of these offices when developing a training strategy.
Most of the day was spent at the branch office in Suphan Buri -- about a 2-hour drive from here. Not sure how far it actually is in terms of mileage, since just getting out of Bangkok took quite a while given the morning traffic. But we had definitely crossed over into a different world when we arrived at the office.
The branch office is run by Kuhn Lek. She is one of (if not the) top producers in Thailand and consistently generates a lot of money for the company each year. She was with Narai -- one of the family-owned businesses that we bought to create LMG Insurance. I would put Kuhn Lek in her early 60s and she is quite a character. Obviously a force and a savvy business woman, but she also takes a "motherly" approach toward her employees. Makes sense since quite a few of the employees seemed to be family members. For example, we were shown around by her second-in-command, who turned out to be her niece.
The office is in a three-story building. Customer service and underwriting and collection are on the first floor, with all female employees (about 10 in total). Claims is on the second floor, with all male employees (about 8). (Claims needs to operate 24-hours a day, and Thailand labor laws do not permit women to work overnight shifts. At least, that's what I could gather from Tewtip, who was translating from Lek.) On the top floor, there is a conference room and two small rooms with beds in them -- for the Claims guys when they are working the night shifts.
Essentially, these branch offices operate as mini-companies -- working with brokers/agents/customers, giving quotes, doing the underwriting and policy production, and handling claims. I had heard that there used to be considerable fraud in some of these offices when we first bought the companies and I can see how -- people pay their premiums in cash! Definitely a need for tight control. But I would guess most people would not want to cross Kuhn Lek!
After the tour, she took us to her house for lunch. We literally went out the back door of the office, across a driveway and into her home. Did not see that one coming! She gave us a quick tour -- showed us pictures of her husband, son and daughter -- and then we ended up eating lunch at her dining room table, surrounded by china cabinets filled with glasses and vases and dolls and small statues. She is a force and told a number of stories -- none of which I could follow, of course. But you could tell from her energy and the way that the other people were hanging on her every word that she was a compelling speaker.
And very hospitable – she had assumed that being a foreigner, I would not want to eat Thai food so she had pork cutlets for me. Good thing, since noodles and boiled blood were on the menu for everyone else. But it was very odd – it seemed like some of the junior employees were the ones doing the cooking and the serving. As Kuhn Lek told her stories, she would periodically turn to me and say something emphatic in Thai and then put some food or fruit on my plate. Had my first tastes of rambutan and mangosteen (local fruits) as a result. Good thing those were tasty because I would not have wanted to say “no” to Kuhn Lek. She gave us all gifts as we were leaving – an LMG Thailand canvas bag and a little flashlight that you can pump with your hand to power the light. Then, she got into her car – with a driver, of course – and sped off. To bring in some more business, no doubt.
On the way back, we stopped at another branch office in Northaburi -- run by a cousin of Kuhn Lek, of course. This one was much smaller -- only 3 employees, plus the manager. They mainly do customer service, quoting, underwriting, and production. Because they are closer to Bangkok, they can make use of the Bangkok office claims services.
All in all, a very interesting trip. And definitely good to see how these offices operate and the kind of infrastructure they have. There are 650 employees in LMG Insurance and 300+ of them are in branch offices. So, when we're thinking about training strategies, we need to consider what would work for these offices and employees too. Currently, new branch employees come to Bangkok for a day of orientation and then go back to their branch office and learn through on-the-job training. For most, their one day of new employee orientation is the only formal training they receive and our only chance to give them a sense of working for LMG and to instill corporate values and vision. My guess is that most of these employees see themselves as working for their local branches and never think about the bigger LMG here in Thailand -- and certainly not that they are part of a multi-national company based in Boston, Massachusetts.
No comments:
Post a Comment