Winning Strategies

Leadership keys that will transform your agency

Key steps will help “produce” a good agency leader

By Larry Linne

Most independent insurance agencies are led by great salespeople. In many agencies, the CEO manages the largest book, has produced more than any other producer, and can sell better than anyone in the agency. But most have never been trained to lead and manage effectively. Many CEOs sell so much business that they end up growing the agency beyond their ability to lead. Leadership is critical for the success of the agency and for its perpetuation. So what can a CEO do to become a stronger leader? The following six keys will help any CEO become a successful leader:

A worthy vision

Following is the story of two agencies that have taken different approaches to the soft market, with different results.

The first agency’s leaders schedule regular meetings and discussions with employees, telling them how bad things are, how they’re going to have to work harder, how they should prepare for cutbacks, and so on. That depressing atmosphere can only lead to feelings of hopelessness. The bottom line is that it’s counterproductive: This agency’s revenues are down this year.

The second agency’s leaders, on the other hand, are talking to their employees about 15% to 20% growth this year. Their attitude is that new clients aren’t a soft market issue, but a 100% new revenue issue! They talk about the growing importance of risk management and how the economy is poised for tremendous growth with differentiated product offerings. They’re giving a clear, big-picture vision so that their employees will be excited and hopeful. The future is filled with exciting opportunities!

Guess how the second agency is doing this year? Gangbusters! Over the last 12 months, their revenue is up 26%. The second agency’s leaders have imparted a passionate vision that inspires their employees. It’s a culture of hope and opportunity vs. one of gloom and doom.

Please note that I’m not talking about false hope, posters on a boardroom wall, or empty phrases and slogans. In fact, a worthy vision is not even necessarily about sales growth. It’s about clarity and why the agency should be hopeful. Maybe at your agency it’s about expanding your product line or adjusting your way of doing business. As a leader, it’s up to you to inspire confidence and give employees a purpose. Would you rather play on a football team whose coach says, “We are really underdogs this year but our mission is to play hard and hope for the best,” or for a team whose coach says, “We’re the best and we’re going to win the Super Bowl!” Employees want to be part of something great, not average!

Create a recognition culture

I once worked in an agency with about 90 employees and wanted to gauge their need for recognition. To do so, I blind-copied the same e-mail to all of them, simply stating, “Congratulations, great job!” Of the 90 recipients, 62 wrote back thanking me for noticing their on-the-job efforts. Comments like “thanks for the recognition” and “thanks for noticing” were common in the responses. That told me there were 62 people who thought they had done something worth recognizing that day. (I’m guessing that the others thought so, too, but weren’t sure how or if to respond.)

The reason I conducted that little test was to show the agency’s managers that people are doing things each day that they think are pretty special and they want to be recognized for it. But all too often, we don’t give them that positive reinforcement they seek and to which they typically feel entitled. We all must be on the lookout to recognize a “job well done” if we hope to keep our employees.

It’s important to keep in mind that in today’s world, we’re not entitled to top employee performance; we have to earn it via recognition, appreciation, encouragement and frequent words of thanks. Remember, today’s workforce is composed largely of young adults who grew up getting blue ribbons just for trying—not necessarily for winning. I don’t recommend creating an average culture by recognizing average behavior. But when leaders give frequent recognition for top-level performance, others will strive for the same recognition.

We’re in a world where we’re competing for the best talent. Employees have choices. Therefore, to earn the right to keep the best talent, you’d be wise to recognize good employees’ contribution to your agency. If not, be prepared to lose them.

Treat employees as if they’re your best clients

We see CEOs and other senior-level leaders who will walk through the office and not even look at their employees. The amount of work they have to get accomplished is overwhelming, and they believe they cannot afford an interruption from the staff. Employees have become tools for the success of the business and are not recognized as people with high individual value. The employees are taken for granted and become part of the furniture.

Yet if a client were sitting in their office, how would these leaders act? Chances are, they would greet the client immediately, ask what they could do for them and generally treat them with great respect. The objective would be to make the client feel welcome, appreciated and honored. That is how an employee will treat a client if the CEO treats the employee that way. When employees feel appreciated, they will become energized and will perform at high levels.

Conversely, they won’t want to follow you if you treat them as subordinates who mean nothing to you. They simply won’t want to do their job. Therefore, if you can truly transform your attitude in a way that allows you to see each staff member as a valued client, and treat that employee accordingly, you will dramatically improve your effectiveness as a leader.

Give frequent feedback

This is a modern business issue. These days, people’s identity is no longer defined by work. Instead, a job is viewed more as a tool that enables them to pursue their passions and interests outside of work. Because of that, your ability to retain good employees will depend on how much they like what they’re doing and whether or not they feel as if they’re contributing. Otherwise, they’ll find work somewhere else.

That’s why feedback is key to keeping top employees on the job. As a manager, you have to let them know how they’re doing and if they’re meeting their objectives. They want to feel appreciated and be recognized for what they do well. It is critical that you catch them in the act of doing things right!

Employees who receive regular feedback feel less like a pawn or just another tool to help owners get rich. Without it, they won’t want to follow you—or even be there. To help them want to be there, it’s tremendously important that you provide clear expectations, recognize their performance and show them that you care.

For example, a few years ago when I was working with a group of employees, I distributed a list of performance objectives, outlining what was expected of them in their jobs. Thirty days later, I sat down with them to review the list and give them feedback on their objectives. Not one of them could tell me what was on the list that I’d given them a month before. I think they were in a state of shock that I actually followed through to give them feedback on their performance.

You can imagine how surprised they were when I followed up again and repeated this exercise 30 days later. This time, however, all of the employees knew at least half the performance objectives off the top of their head. The third month, they were less shocked and incredibly pleased that we were meeting again. What’s more, they could recite every single objective on their list and explain how their performance compared.

What did I learn from this? First of all, I learned that employees usually don’t know what we expect from them. If we don’t give them clear expectations and regular feedback, they are going to be working as hard as they can and hoping for the best, which is not very productive. The other thing I learned is that people relish getting feedback, whether it’s good or bad. They want to know how they are doing from their supervisor.

Feedback helps you as a leader. A leader is one who is followed. Are you the kind of leader employees want to follow? Look around you and see if people are going in the same direction you are. If you’re standing alone, it’s time to reevaluate.

Manage and lead when employees are there

We have a tendency to get so busy that we don’t have time to manage. Perhaps you put that off to the end of the day after everyone has left, or to the night when you get home. That’s a mistake. Managing won’t help when no one is there to manage.

I’ve been working on this with one of my coaching clients. Typically, he gets so involved with client issues and everything else that happens during normal working hours that he doesn’t devote any time to working on employee issues, writing performance objectives or solving agency problems until the evening. Even though he’s putting in the time, his timing is way off.

In order to lead more effectively, he’s had to adjust his workday. For instance, he has started blocking out half-days during the month to address employee issues only. Also, he has implemented an open-door policy that encourages interaction with staff members during specified times.

So make it a point to focus your management time when people are in the office. Lead during the day. Better yet, commit to scheduling specific times each week to actively manage and lead your agency.

Lead employees as if they’re free agents

I did a search for “Personal Branding” on a popular book site and found more than 260 books on the subject. As an author, I can tell you it is very difficult to get someone to publish a book unless the demand is high. With so many books written on personal branding, I am sure it is a topic of great interest. The desire for personal branding is a symptom of something much deeper. Over the last 10 years, the concept of free agency has expanded from professional sports to the workplace. This free agency mentality is why personal branding has become so popular. What does this mean to a leader?

As a CEO, if you want to attract and retain the best people, you have to treat employees as if they’re free agents. Employees in today’s workforce think like free agents and are looking for the best deal in the marketplace. Loyalty is not gone, but it is short-lived. The loyalty of employees is conditional, based on a leader’s ability to show them they need to be loyal. They want to know we will win (see “A Worthy Vision” above), if they will be allowed and encouraged to contribute (see “Recognition” above), and if they will benefit from the victory.

Great sports leaders have figured this out. They have found ways to keep the best talent and encourage them to remain on teams for less money. They do this by showing personal interest in each individual and by doing the things described above. To lead in business, we have to be purposeful and not continue to simply work hard and hope for the best.

The moral of the story is: If you want to lead, give huge purpose. Create a culture that catches people in the act of doing great things. Treat your employees as if they’re your best clients, give them feedback and care about them more than you care about your own success. Earn the right to have your employees follow, and believe me, they will. *

The author
Larry Linne is president of The Sitkins Group, Inc., which offers the Vertical Growth Experience™ programs exclusively to a private client group known as Sitkins International™. These programs are delivered through training, coaching and networking experiences that literally force vertical growth in an agency.