Senior manager

Steve Harwood

Milton, ON 416-***-****

**************@*****.*** www.linkedin.com/in/steve-harwood

Senior Manager

Drive Profitable Growth Expertly Deliver High-Value Client Experience Optimize Team Performance

Passionate, collaborative, customer-focused leader with extensive experience delivering outstanding results and creative solutions in diverse, fast-paced environments. Translate goals into well-defined tactics to exceed external, internal, and staff targets. Motivate, influence, and inspire staff to achieve full potential, engaging employees and building high-performance teams that meet or exceed organizational goals and customer expectations.

Expertise includes:

Operational Excellence Succession Planning Organizational Change Executive Lean

Professional Experience

FSB Group Insurance LTD, Concord, ON. 2019-

Senior Manager, Insurance Operations

Reporting to the owner, oversee and lead the sales/service operations of personal lines and commercial lines brokerage with 150 staff.

Lead, manage and develop supervisors through interactions and motivation

oFoster a culture of team spirit and accountability

oRemain highly visible and accessible to team via floor presence

oMonitor and coach administrative supervisor related functions

oEffectively manage attendance/absenteeism

oMonitor and address attrition risk management (alert, communicate and mitigate any potential risk)

Manage and deliver operational results in accordance with service/sales KPIs

Recognize and advance Talent

Drive the selection process for team members

Own the end-to-end CX process and measures as well as ensure fostering of client centric culture

Drive process improvement by recognizing, communicating and acting on opportunities

Embody and reinforce values-based culture

Effectively and efficiently manage resources to optimize operational results

Make decisions based on full awareness on direct operational cost and revenue implications

Align and collaborate with other functional areas

Ensure stakeholder communication and/or management

Evaluate daily key performance indicators and develop improvement needs.

Coordinates with leadership to interface with client and handle account management issues.

Conduct performance appraisals for direct reports.

Establishes performance objectives for supervisors and direct reports.

Conducts open forums and team meetings to communicate productivity and performance goals and to motivate employees.

Steve Harwood **************@*****.*** Page Two

HB GROUP INSURANCE, Mississauga, ON

Senior Manager, National Group Contact Centre 2012 to 2019

Led team of 2 assistant managers, 21 supervisors, and 240+ licensed insurance representatives (LIR) in Mississauga, Ontario, Moncton, New Brunswick, and St. John's, Newfoundland. Managed daily operations, supporting overall sales, client relationship, and management strategies. Reported directly into Vice President (VP) Operations for Cooperators General Insurance Company (CGIC).

Operational Excellence:

Managed and executed services and back office processes, enhancing service for clients, developing staff, and growing business.

Led team that sold 3194 policies, breaking 6-year monthly sales record; old record was 2945 sold in 1 month.

Initiated business case and led project team during WFM vendor selection (2013). Attained 2.4% efficiency gain in schedule adherence, reducing operation cost approximately $1M annually.

Designed new IVR routing / call flow to address service gaps, reducing time-to-queue 17 seconds.

Implemented quarterly meeting with Regional Manager to share best practices, ensuring national consistency of processes and practices.

Talent Development / Employee Engagement:

Drafted and implemented work-from-home (WFH) strategy, enabling 30% of staff to engage fully in WFH or participate in desk-sharing program. Saved approximately 25% floor space while increasing staff engagement score 30% (work / life balance section) and productivity 10% for LIRs working from home.

Implemented development opportunities, addressing compliance, audit gaps, and employee engagement challenges.

Modified and implemented new LIR productivity spreadsheet with key performance indicators (KPI) that included ‘Did Well and Next time’ component to ensure balanced coaching, improving focus on behavioral improvements.

Introduced formal mentoring program for staff, supporting and advising on challenges, career planning, and professional growth.

Created and led staff focus groups to address engagement gaps and challenges. Increased staff engagement score by 7 points YoY (2013, 2014) while company average decreased 2 points.

Designed, developed, and implemented 18-month rotational leadership-in-development program, taking front line staff through hands-on course on leadership, business, work force management, interpersonal skills, budget, and employee engagement.

Change Management:

Planned and launched extended hours and Saturday rotation for staff, ensuring no disruption to clients.

Transformed Call Centre culture (historically overachieved on service level targets at beginning of the month only) to meet or exceed expectations every day at every interval.

TD INSURANCE, Toronto, ON

Vice President, National Client Services 2009 to 2011

Led national team of 5 managers to implement and maintain governance for risk and compliance, quality processes, process improvements, client satisfaction, and preaudits. Enhanced operational results of regional service centres. Reported to SVP.

Introduced preaudit program that coordinated work schedules and site visits prior to formal audits. Reviewed processes, documentation, and records and completed overall risk assessment, including recommendations; achieved first Green audit status for TD Insurance.

Steve Harwood **************@*****.*** Page Three

Used audit findings to become first business unit within TD Insurance that developed and applied consistent process documentation and controls; improved governance and risk mitigation and initiated central repository for standardized information, accelerating training of new staff and audit preparations.

Redesigned coaching model, reducing 8 full-time equivalents (FTE) nationally while increasing 1-on-1 coaching time for each analyst.

Coordinated development of specialized reports to address ‘worst’ performance issues first, reducing national handle time 8 seconds (equivalent saving of 6 staff).

Delivered national tracking system for risk events; drove process changes stemming from root cause, increasing promoter scores on client experience index (CEI) and reducing complaints 10%.

Revitalized employee engagement through creation of employee loyalty program focused on succession planning, rewards, recognition, and personal development plans; reduced staff turnover 2% and increased year-over-year employee satisfaction scores (3.57 to 4.01).

Collaborated with technology team; used Lean Six Sigma to maximize efficiencies / effective use of staff and resources, resulting in 4 new initiatives and net gain of $3M+ annually.

Created, implemented, and monitored client loyalty program that generated $16.2M in additional revenue by retaining most profitable clients; program became mandatory requirement for all analysts and were implemented as part of coaching model.

MELOCHE MONNEX / LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE, Unionville, ON

Vice President, Client Services 2001 to 2009

Directed daily operations with approximately 375 staff across Canada. Reported to President.

Implemented direct sales focus, transitioning staff from service-focused only to multifaceted approach; increased sales 9% and reduced calls-per-transaction from 2.8 to 2.1.

Developed and introduced new coaching model targeted on changing behaviors.

oIncreased employee satisfaction, decreasing turnover 7%. Enhanced sales and analyst productivity, cutting hold time 29% and outbound / transferred calls 57%.

Redesigned leadership teams and scope of responsibilities.

oConsolidated all new staff into 1 team, reaching full productivity 25% faster.

oImplemented leadership buddy system, ensuring all teams had on-floor coverage during vacation and sickness.

oCreated more manageable supervisor-to-analyst ratio and increased coaching time 25%.

Earned Manager of Year and Team Leader of the Year honors for significantly improving sales, decreasing turnover, and achieving KPIs through effective utilization of rewards and recognition.

Consolidated 28 small local offices down to 6 during merger and acquisition with Meloche Monnex. Assessed profitability of each office and mitigated potential loss of clients and staff within each office, achieving turnover well below forecast and no deterioration of sales / service results over 16 months.

Additional Related Experience

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE, Toronto, ON, National Director, Group Client Services

DAVIS & HENDERSON INTERCHEQUES, Unionville, ON, National Director, Teleservice and Sales

Education / Professional Development

Bachelor of Science (BSc), McGill University, Montreal, QC

Registered Insurance Broker of Ontario (RIBO# R36277)

2018 Strategic Service Institute and Service Management, WP Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

TD Executive Leadership, Ivey Business School, Toronto, ON

Executive Lean (White Belt), The Co-operators, Mississauga, ON

Community Involvement

Volunteer, Terry Fox Run, Milton ON

Hockey Coach, AA Milton Winterhawks, Milton, ON

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