New leadership roles for Cornish Mutual
Two new leadership roles have been created by South West rural insurance company Cornish Mutual leading to the promotion of a key manager.
With immediate effect, the current Member Services Manager Sharon Plowright (pictured) takes up the new position of Head of Operations. The firm is also currently in the process of recruiting a new Head of Business Development.
As part of Cornish Mutual’s future strategic growth plan, Sharon and the new Head of Business Development will be part of a four-person senior management leadership team, alongside Managing Director, Alan Goddard and Finance Director, Peter Beaumont.
Sharon, who is based in the company’s Truro head office, will be working across the organisation and now has overall responsibility for HR with her new role taking in the areas of recruitment and training.
Commenting on her new role, she said: "Over the past eighteen months we have made some great strides forward improving the overall levels of service that we’re able to offer all our Members in the Westcountry. We have become more efficient as an organisation and much more focused on the quality of service we provide. As a company, we have a 95 per cent customer retention rate and our aim is to maintain this and give an excellent experience every time."
Sharon, who lives in Truro, has a background in customer service and sales, fulfilling similar roles at Sky TV, Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, Westminster City Council and Birmingham City Council.
Since she was appointed in November 2009, Sharon has helped to introduce a number of new measures to improve customer service for Members across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
This includes new computer software which instantly calculates insurance premiums and manages customer accounts (Transactor). Cornish Mutual has also put new team leaders, a quality management system, and accuracy measures and targets in place.
Internally, Cornish Mutual has introduced a new recruitment, selection, induction and appraisal process and is investing more than £80,000 a year in training for all of its people – a figure which has doubled since 2008. The company’s aim is that all staff will learn the skills to coach others.
Alan Goddard, Managing Director of Cornish Mutual (also pictured), added: "Our Members are central to everything we do and these appointments are an investment in our continued success. These two new roles are really significant positions within the company and further strengthen the management structure. Sharon has a strong record of achievement and considerable skills in leading our talented, loyal team of committed people."
