Distance learning
Penn Mutual has a challenge that is becoming increasingly common among businesses as markets go global. The company has more than 2,000 agents throughout the United States, and
Chappell needs to drive home the same company standards to all of them.
Communicating across long distances can be a headache for any CEO, and Chappell says if you’re looking for an easy way out, you won’t find one. You have to keep hammering away at the
same basic messages that you preach at the home office but using means that are less direct than face-to-face communication.
“It all goes back to communication,” he says. “You have to be able to talk, you have to be able to hear what they say and communicate. Different people learn in different ways, so a
lot of it is repetition, to follow up and make sure the words I use with you are the words you use with me. It’s not just a one-shot deal. You can’t do it for 30 days. It has to be done over
a period of weeks, months and years to get the message consistent.”
Chappell uses every communication method available to frequently communicate his messages, be it e-mail, Web broadcasts, phone calls or the occasional personal visit.
“We do every capability that is there,” he says. “You have to use all the available capabilities in different situations. It depends on what kind of point you are trying to make.”
If you have a major message to communicate, or really want your managers in the field to get their hands dirty working on a problem or a project, you might need to take the time for a face-to-face meeting.
And Chappell doesn’t use e-mail or phone calls to hash out an issue that requires more direct attention.
“If it’s a short point, you can make that in an e-mail,” he says. “But other times, when you want to have people really work through something, it needs to be a group meeting.”
Good communication practices come back to having your hand on the rudder of your company and steering your employees in the proper direction.
“You have to set the playing field,” he says. “You have to keep the relevant topics on the minds of your people and make sure that leadership teams are behaving in the way you’re asking
for. And then you have to make sure they’re carrying that communication through the company.
“It’s not just one person, it’s everybody, so you have to help cascade that through the organization so people on all levels have the same message.”
HOW TO REACH: Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., www.pennmutual.com