How Zurich Insurance Built a Leadership Development Partnership

Client

Zurich Insurance, a global insurance group with U.S. operations that include a fully built-out learning and development team. Zurich manages leadership development for a large, multi-level workforce spanning frontline managers through the top 120 senior leaders.

The Challenge

Melissa Versino, Learning & Development Leader, was charged with finding a partner for a leadership development program for their top 100 senior leaders.They wanted a program that would be:

Highly engaging and distinct from traditional leadership development training.

Zurich was looking to help these top executives flip their perspective and mindsets around things like purpose-driven leadership and enhancing enterprise collaboration. The end goal was for leaders to think beyond their own business units, improve collaboration across departments, and learn to tell a story that could inspire their colleagues and direct reports. It was an incredibly high-pressure situation because it involved leaders at top levels of the organization.

Why Ariel

Ariel had previously worked with Zurich in both Europe and the US. When the talent development team was charged with finding a partner for this high-stakes program, Ariel’s inside-out approach stood out: the emphasis on reflection, perspective-shifting, and a facilitation style rooted in performing arts techniques.

The dynamic nature of how Ariel facilitates and engages an audience is next level. And it makes sense because that’s what you are also training on. That’s your sweet spot.

Melissa Versino highlighted two other areas where Ariel stood apart from other partners:

• Ariel’s “world class” facilitators
• Ariel’s flexibility in customizing programs to fit the needs of the organization and team.

The learning consultant leading the project remarked:

This is not just another off-the-shelf solution. The thoughtfulness Ariel brings to the partnership, and the way you shape the material around our specific needs, is a real differentiator.

The Solution

Senior Leader Learning Journey

Ariel partnered with Zurich to design and deliver a three-month learning journey for the top 120 leaders. The program focused on purpose-driven leadership, enterprise collaboration, and communicating vision in a way that motivates people across layers of the organization. NPS scores for that cohort were among the highest the team had seen for a program at that level, and from there Zurich continued to partner with Ariel.

High Potential Leadership Program

Building on the success of the initial engagement, Ariel became a core partner in Zurich’s six-month High Potential Leadership Program. The program develops mid- to senior-level employees identified in succession plans for VP-level and above roles. Ariel delivers three sessions as part of the experience: Leadership Presence, Leveraging Leadership Roles, and High Impact Communication.

Many of these leaders are deep technical experts, highly knowledgeable specialists in their fields. Now, we’re helping them build the leadership skills required at the next level: telling their leadership story effectively, engaging with presence, owning a message, handling tough questions, and adapting how they show up based on the situation. That flexibility is essential to leadership.

It’s about helping leaders develop a new muscle, Melissa adds.

This year, Zurich added Ariel’s AI Practice Portal to the program. After learning concepts in the session, participants can practice in a safe, secure environment and receive real-time feedback on topics like sharing a difficult message or communicating with presence. For a capability that has historically been difficult to measure, the portal opens a new door.

I’m really excited for the implications – the Practice Portal could allow us to track progress, to say, this cohort is getting better at this skill that’s really hard to measure at scale.

New Leader Program

Zurich also integrated Ariel into a program for leaders stepping into their first enterprise-wide role. They’ve been a manager, or a frontline manager, or a mid-level manager. Now they’re stepping into that first level VP role. This program challenges them to say what’s different. Ariel’s storytelling and collaborative leadership content pushed the leaders to ask bigger questions: How do my goals connect to what’s best for the company overall? How do I paint a vision that travels multiple layers down the organization?

Executive Coaching

Whenever a new leader joins the ranks of company’s top 120 leaders, the business unit has the option to offer them Ariel’s executive coaching for leader transition support. It is an offer, not a mandate, and several leaders have taken it up.

Outcomes

Ariel sessions consistently earn the highest NPS scores across the High Potential Program, often between 50 and 70. Pre- and post-program surveys show meaningful gains in participants’ confidence in leadership presence, high-stakes communication, and owning a message under pressure.

High Potential Program graduates also show significantly higher retention and internal mobility rates compared to peers at the same level in the three years after completing the program.