Many organizations want to implement curated learning but lack a game plan. This use case outlines how a major disability insurer chose to leverage curated learning to train its middle managers by using a learning strategist from the training associates to help them define the process and outcomes.

1. 1.800.241.8868 Info@TTACorp.com www.TheTrainingAssociates.com
The Training Associates and TTA are trademarks of The Training Associates Corporation
Background
Unum is a highly ranked insurance company that protects 33 million people, serving
181,000 businesses in the United States and United Kingdom. They are posi oned
258 on the fortune 500 as well as market leader in disability, group life insurance,
and voluntary benefits. Unum is 10,000 people strong, with loca ons in Portland,
Cha anooga, Columbia, Worcester, Baton Rouge, the UK, Ireland, and Poland. Their
product is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a workforce that includes diverse
age groups, growing ethnic diversity, and changing family dynamics.
Business Challenge
When Kim Bolton became Unum’s Program Director of Leadership Development,
mid 2016, she acknowledged Unum’s need to evolve its manager training program as
their market place, clientele, and staff changed. Employees were promoted to
managerial posi ons based on job proficiency and received limited so skills training
during the transi on. A large number of managers knew the technical aspects of
their job but lacked leadership skills.
The manager training program in place was cumbersome and was not standardized
company‐wide. While it was helpful to individuals with managing experience, the
program’s content had not been designed to train employees whose previous roles
did not involve leadership. Unum was at risk of loosing staff, par cularly Millennial
managers, as a result of this training model.
Unum needed a leadership development program centered on clear goals for
corporate strategy, coaching to higher performance, suppor ng employees through
change, and modeling leadership at all levels. Kim describes her inspira on for the
new learning model, saying, “When you think about insurance companies, you
usually think of words like corporate, rigid, regulated, and risk averse. As our market
changes, our customers and employees are also changing— so our culture has to
change.” Kim’s goal was to equip Unum’s 1,200 managers with the skills to lead their
company toward a collabora ve future.
To facilitate this change Unum purchased Everwise, a pla orm to host the program,
but did not have an L&D team experienced with it’s use or curriculum design.
Insurance
INDUSTRY
Design a Manager Training
Academy centered around
crea ng leaders and driving
cultural change
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Leadership Development
TRAINING TOPIC
Current and Future
Managers
LEARNERS
Content Development and
Instruc onal Design
SERVICES
“When you think about
insurance companies,
you usually think of
words like corporate, rig‐
id, regulated, and risk
averse. As our market
has changes, our custom‐
ers and employees are
also changing— so our
culture has to change”
KIM BOLTON
PROGRAM DIRECTOR OF
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
CASE STUDY
Turning Managers Into Leaders That
Drive Cultural Change

2. 1.800.241.8868 Info@TTACorp.com www.TheTrainingAssociates.com
The Training Associates and TTA are trademarks of The Training Associates Corporation
TTA Solu on
The crea on of Unum’s Leadership Academy began with a team of senior managers,
represen ng all internal func ons, which iden fied four key competencies that
related to their universal managing needs. Interpersonal effec veness, leading
change, eleva ng performance and strategic decision making were defined as the
key areas the program would need to address. TTA’s crea ve team designed a
learning system to facilitate the professional growth posi oning management staff to
drive cultural change. The program was designed to be accessible for learners of
varied age groups, skill levels, and management styles.
The Manager Learning Experiment, a prototype of the Leadership Academy, only
focused on interpersonal effec veness. In January of 2016 , the pilot program was
launched. Fi y managers were selected to take part in the six week learning
experience, which divided the core competency into one to two hour long modules.
Groups of 7 to 8 people were asked to complete collabora ve ac vi es and self
study missions. Teams were given access to an Expert Moderator, Kim, who would
provide feedback, guidance, and exper se. There was also an experienced facilitator
involved to answer general ques ons and provide Everwise support.
Business Results
As Unum embraced The Leadership Academy it was clear that the team‐oriented
nature of the new learning system had fostered a culture of collabora on. Managers
in the program were mee ng with their supervisors and teams to review their
experience. Since the pilot closed, a poll of management staff at Unum has revealed
that confidence levels have risen from 45% at the beginning of the program to 70%.
The most telling results are reflected in program a endance, which increased from
50 learners in the ini al pilot to 200 for the first full deployment in 2017. “As I moved
into the second cohort demand stayed very high. The response to the program has
been overwhelmingly posi ve,” recalls Kim.
TTA and Unum are working together to evaluate the effec veness of the program
through learner and facilitator feedback. Jerry Gschwind, TTA Learning Strategy
Consultant, recalls a recent change made to the program based on this feedback,
saying, “Through focus groups we’ve heard a desire for live interac on, and we’ve
responded to that by installing live mee ngs in future cohorts. That way we will be
able to facilitate collabora on between managers in Cha anooga, Portland, and
even in England that are all in the program.”
“As I moved into the
second cohort demand
stayed very high.
The response to the
program has been
overwhelmingly posi ve”
KIM BOLTON
PROGRAM DIRECTOR OF
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
“Through focus groups
we’ve heard a desire for live
interac on, and we’ve
responded to that by
installing live mee ngs in
future cohorts. That way we
will be able to facilitate
collabora on between
managers in Cha anooga,
and Portland, even in
England that are all in the
program.”
JERRY GSCHWIND
TTA LEARNING STRATEGY
CONSULTANT
CASE STUDY
Turning Managers Into Leaders That
Drive Cultural Change