A New Approach to Employee Development.
Companies that will lead in this changing economy will be those that understand social dimensions of doing business, ones that can gather insight from working with leading innovators, and learn to deliver products and services with limited resources. Responding quickly to these challenges will require responsible leadership. Allianz, a leader in insurance and financial services with nearly 155,000 employees worldwide, has identified a unique opportunity to utilize its own internal quality management methodology, known as “OPEX” which stands for operational excellence, to give back to the community while supporting the growth of its own employees.
Together, Allianz and Volans have created a unique global leadership development program, called Social OPEX, that not only intends to prepare leaders and managers for the future but to also have a stronger and lasting impact on society. This program brings specially trained experts from Allianz together with established social enterprises to tackle their current business challenges, improve business operations and increase their overall social impact. At the same time, it benefits Allianz employees by building their innovation quotient, encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, applying their skills in a different environment, and acquiring leadership skills.
Paul Achleitner, Chief Financial Officer of Allianz SE and sponsor of the Social OPEX program, says: “I have a firm belief that those companies who are more attune to current and upcoming social and environmental issues have a competitive advantage over those who narrowly focus on a single bottom line. Volans and the programs in which we engage together help us maintain and improve this broader perspective and intelligence.”
In Autumn 2009, Allianz completed the first test pilot stage of the Social OPEX program in both Asia and Europe. MyBnk, one of the organizations involved in the first pilot, is a social enterprise that aims to increase financial literacy and develop young people’s enterprise skills by giving them hands-on experience on organizing, running and using a real bank with real money. Allianz and MyBnk worked together to design a franchising framework that will allow the unique MyBnk proposition to be deployed both in the provincial UK and internationally. Together, the team created a robust and documented franchising process along with a blueprint for a partnership model.
“The OPEX framework allowed us both to see things anew and to see a logic to a process that was both daunting and confusing previously. The OPEX exercises have proved to be extremely effective, straight forward and user friendly. I feel I could replicate some of them and apply them to other areas of my work.” Lily Lapenna, CEO of MyBnk
Volans is pleased to have been working with Allianz in rolling out the Social OPEX program since 2010. We continue to provide advisory services to Allianz and broker relationships between the social enterprises and Allianz participants.
