Team Lead, Insurance Operations (12 Month Contract)

Career Opportunity

Role Title

Team Lead, Insurance Operations (12 Month Contract)

Purpose of role

The Team Leader for insurance operations is a subject matter expert and is accountable for achieving the required business results through effective process, workflow, and quality management. The Team Leader will ensure a consistent and exceptional service experience for internal and external customers by ensuring the front line employees are motivated, coached, and skilled to meet the department’s performance targets. Service delivery will consist of operational efficiency with a focus on enhancing the customer experience and relationship with Foresters Financial. The Team Leader will also play a key role in supporting the implementation of major change initiatives.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

• Build, manage and sustain a high performing service team ensuring that service and quality objectives are being attained and maintained on a consistent basis.
• Ensure the highest level of customer service and facilitate all actions necessary including research and follow up to positively satisfy customer needs.  This includes building and forging strong relationships with field partners and internal customers.
• Ensure team members are trained and fully competent in all the required functions and company-approved technologies and tools to effectively assist, support and resolve all customer inquiries.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and mentoring to the staff to develop their competencies and position them for success.
• Support a positive, motivating work environment that values the people and encourages participation, creativity, learning and accountability.
• Manage all scheduling, phone coverage and workflow for the US Inforce Teams ensuring daily workflow is managed within compliance, audit, quality and SLA standards.  Customer Service Team Leads monitor associate calls for quality standards, providing coaching and constructive feedback to associates
• Conduct gap analysis, root cause and validation for continuous improvement opportunities.
• Initiate and implement process recommendations, with appropriate approval. Act as a change sponsor to ensure successful implementation of new processes, procedures, systems, etc. Facilitate feedback from Team members to one-up Manager.
• Handle escalation resolution with minimal to no supervision.
• Collaborate with other leaders and staff within Insurance Operations to ensure that all functions are fully integrated and are in accordance with the Company’s goals and objectives, ensuring that all overarching SLAs are considered, met and/or exceeded.
• Proactively support the Management Team with required reports, summaries, investigations, feedback, and potential challenges.  Effectively liaise and negotiate with other business units to resolve and enhance customer service expectations and business deliverables.
• Represent Insurance Operations on audit investigations providing clarification and details of processes and any exception-based decisions.
• Be an active listener and demonstrate empathy and patience in a non-scripted environment.

Key Qualifications

• Minimum 2+ years of progressive leadership experience, preferably within the insurance/financial services industry.
• Strong people leadership skills with the proven ability to adapt and implement on-going changes, ensuring a seamless transition to the customer.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor front line employees to create a high performing team
• In depth product, system and regulatory knowledge with proven ability to adapt and implement on-going changes, ensuring a seamless transition to the customer.
• Strong sense of personal accountability, mature judgment, confidence and flexibility.  Ability to exercise independent discretion at all times.
• Well developed problem solving, analytical and decision making skills, including the ability to analyze situations, diagnose problems, develop and implement solutions, often within narrow timeframes, e.g. preventing complaints from escalating further and turning potentially damaging caller situations into positive caller experiences. Further includes being able to facilitate creative problem solving with others. Also includes being a forward thinker.
• Ability to forecast anticipated changes to work volumes and successfully achieve established service level agreements (SLA) within a fast paced environment.
• Must have the initiative and ability to look for and champion improvement opportunities. Adaptable to on-going change and lead by example.
• A "take charge" attitude along with the ability to self-manage workload and priorities in a changing and evolving environment.  This includes effective and efficient time management, multi-tasking and prioritizing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize own work and work of others; can work effectively under pressure and time constraints within a fast paced environment.
• Advanced verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills required to effectively communicate with all levels of employees and customers.
• Exceptional customer service orientation.
• Ability to work in a new and ambiguous environment where tasks, processes, procedures, and lines of authority are evolving and changing. Also possessing an aptitude in teaching and guiding the effectiveness and usability of new systems and tools.
• Understand the implications of data input, content and quality to all systems, departments and end customers.
• Takes initiative to increase knowledge of Foresters Financial business and how own job contributes to our corporate and department objectives. Applies this knowledge to be productive and successful.
• Intermediate to advanced level proficiency with computer applications (Microsoft Office).
• College Diploma or University Degree an asset.

• Location – Don Mills & Eglinton
• Business hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday to Friday
• This role requires flexibility with the business hours on a rotational basis. 

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Equal Opportunity Employment and Inclusion – at Foresters Financial, we are committed to sustaining an equal opportunity environment for all job applicants. We embrace Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) as a core strategic objective for building strong, innovative teams in which all our employees can show up wholly and authentically as themselves.

Foresters Financial strives to provide an accessible candidate experience for prospective employees with different abilities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodations during the recruitment process, please email [email protected] in advance of your appointment.

Thank you for choosing Foresters. Only those candidates who will be selected for further consideration will be contacted by our Talent Acquisition Team.