Introduction to Aviva

Aviva is a British multinational insurance company. It has 33 million customers over 16 countries. It is the larger insurer provider in the UK. Digital Garage in London was an initiative of Mark Wilson, Aviva's CEO. Aviva has other innovation hubs in Singapore and Canada. The role of these Hubs was to transform the company through the digitalization of projects. Away from the bureaucracy of the headquarters, the team at the Hub would bring Aviva into the future.

With the task to navigate complexities of a huge organization. Accountable for the Customer Experience alongside Research and UX Leads with a focus on UI and Visual Language. Also establishing new ways of working and processes. Collaborating with Product Owners across the business & Senior Stakeholders. Contributing to the Design System team to Aviva Framework. By consulting use cases of the different components and to create new components and behaviours within the System.

As a Manager, Alix was accountable for Team development & mentoring and management of eight direct reports.

At Aviva Digital Garage, Alix was a Visual Design Lead, part of the Leadership & Management team of 7 people. Reporting to the Head of Design. Responsible together with User Experience & Research Leads to define new ways of working for many products. In different locations globally such as the UK, Singapore, France & Poland. Ventures were both for Personal purposes, where users can manage their Personal and Saving products. & Business purposes (e.g. Business Risk & Claims and Investors portal).

Aviva’s Hub Space for digital innovation in London (named Digital Garage) experienced an earthquake in early 2019. Because of a change of Business Strategy that came with a newly appointed CEO. As a result, most of the teams were affected by a redundancy process.

In early 2019, after 9 months in the role. With the nomination of a new CEO (Maurice Tulloch) a new strategy was established at Global level. As a result of tighter cost control, the decision of reducing the size of the workforce across all teams in all locations took place. The Digital Garage in London was affected too. A big part of the team was facing redundancy.

Even if impactful, in the business world this was no news. With years of experience, there is time to go through some things. Tanned in a thousand battles, like the crisis in 2008. Alix was appointed to be part of the Decision Tribunal as Consulting Manager & representative of Direct Line reports. Together with colleagues from other teams.

There are many duties a Manager and Leader perform. To share a clear direction, creating a kind of environment for the team, helping bring new perspectives and ideas. Inspiring, nurturing the next set of leaders, providing space for creativity, improving performance…. 

For the couple of months that the Consultation Process took place, dealing & handling conflict and supporting the team was the duty. In sync with ensuring to get the best of the team engagement in these hard/extraordinary circumstances. A pool of open roles was settled, and team members had to apply for the shorter number of roles. Discussions held whether the individuals meet the role criteria. And slots available in the new structures. These discussions, of course, were focused on evidence (focus on Execution and Leadership depending on the level). Detailed the selection criteria. From not having the required skills & expertise to delivering exceptional performance. Core competencies prescribed (Accountability, Communication, Execution, Business acumen, technical expertise…). Where two equal candidates debate discussing deciding factors. Selecting Managers will make the decision on who will be appointed to the roles.

HR, Employee Help Program, Employee Representatives, and of course Managers, supported the team. Facilitating listening & speaking with a transparent and clear communication is key. providing clear timelines, understanding the preferences of individuals at different levels. Being fair & objective and providing guidance always looking for ways forward. Acknowledging emotions, understanding that not every individual is equal. As a manager a key quality is empathy and to morph to adapt to each team member.