Looking at change as a positive challenge
It’s not easy to be in charge during times of consolidation: staff get laid off, those remaining feel frustrated and a general cloud of malaise and uncertainty reign.
But it was exactly at the time Great-West Life consolidated all its local health and dental offices into one large central head office in Winnipeg that Lucette Wesley, then the company’s regional manager, Benefit Payment Office, ranks as one of the biggest accomplishments of her career.
Giving back to the community gives you some meaning in your life.
Her office in Vancouver was being shut down, people were being let go and she was about to be out of a job.
“Yet we still met all our service targets,” says Wesley, who had worked at Great-West for 15 years. “No one even knew there was a change, everything was so smooth. I was glad I was able to keep people motivated during this period…and to continue to have pride in what they did.”
Great-West liked her approach so much they sent her to Winnipeg to help set up the new office, but after nine months away from home and her husband, she headed back to the west coast, working first for WorkSafeBC, the Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia, then back to Great-West as regional manager of the Disability Management Services office for 10 years.
Words of wisdom
She’s been Director, Disability & Life Claims at Pacific Blue Cross in Burnaby, B.C., for the past seven years.
“I look at changing jobs as positive challenges,” says Wesley. “I’m the type of person who likes to take on more challenges.”
Those are also words of wisdom Wesley has for young women starting out in the business today. About 90% of insurance claims offices are filled with women, she says. It can be disconcerting, however, to see the level of women involvement in positions drop considerably in the more senior titles.
She herself has taken “every insurance industry course there is,” such as LOMA, HIAA, ICA and portions of CEBS. She has also taken a number of leadership courses – important when working in an industry that often asks for long hours and budget cuts.
Wesley suggests industry newcomers take as many courses as they can, attend conferences and seminars and participate in relevant webinars. “Keep yourself in the know. The more you know, and the more involved you get, the more interesting it will be for you.”
And while some people like to separate their work from their volunteer lives, Wesley seems to have filled in the cracks of one with parts of the other.
Partly work-related is her role as president of the BC Collaborative for Disability Prevention, a group whose aim is to prevent needless work disabilities and poorly managed illnesses that hamper the future working people.
When a co-worker and friend discovered she had lymphedema as a result of cancer treatment, Wesley became involved in the B.C. Lymphedema Association, where she has been president for the past seven years.
As well, she is a champion of mental health for Pacific Blue Cross and is a spokesperson on behalf of the Canadian Mental Health Association, attempting to lower the stigma of mental health and encourage those with a problem to seek help rather than hide away their illness.
For fun, Wesley is a director at the South Burnaby Garden Club, and she grows all manners of vegetables such as peas and beans, and a dozen different types of berries as well as apple and pear trees on a standard city lot.
“Giving back to the community gives you some meaning in your life,” she says.
