When asked to discuss agency management issues, my first thoughtwas, “What can I tell managers and principals that they don'talready know?” Even if you have plenty of experience, there may besomething included here that you haven't thought about recently orhave put off for awhile. If you're a new manager or just nowgetting involved in certain aspects of management, this informationmay give you one or more ideas to consider.

As much as possible, meet with principals and managers from allfacets of the insurance industry and share ideas and challenges. Inevery segment of this industry, we have more in common than we haveas differences. It seems that there are a few universal issues formanagers and they almost invariably touch on or relate topersonnel. That certainly makes sense given the fact that most ofthe resources of any small- to mid-size organization are related topersonnel (and when you think of resources think about time, notjust money).

Every manager I've spoken with recently has expressed the sameconcern as to how they are allocating their resources. Regardlessof which part of the business they're in or what geographicallocation, hiring of experienced, quality people is a significantchallenge, one that managers must be prepared to consistentlydevote time to each week.

Getting Applicants in the Door

When hiring new staff, the first step has to be how to “source”candidates. There are only a few ways to do this: personalknowledge or referrals, ads or job notifications, and search firmsor hiring consultants.

The best option is almost always hiring from a group of peoplealready known by you or your employees, and then being professionaland ethical in approaching them if they work for a competitor.However, my advice is to try to find people without taking themfrom the competition. If you're new to the ranks of management, asksomeone you respect with some experience to find out why.

We've had success finding employees who are not currently withinthe insurance industry, including a mortgage broker, a legalassistant, an attorney, and a food service professional. Agencieshave hired individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, andwhile it may take a little longer for training and to get them upto speed, there are some benefits. The employee will understand andembrace your systems and style of work, have loyalty to thecompany, and offer a fresh perspective on how your businessfunctions. The latter is not always pleasant or easy to deal with,but it's always beneficial.

Advertisements include newspapers, trade publications, internetservices, and the like. But don't be afraid to seek otheralternatives. Local community colleges, trade groups, job postingboards, and your own company's web site are just a few of theoptions available. If you get creative, you'll be surprised howmany ways you can get the word out about a job opening.

If you can't find qualified people through personal contacts orads, you may need to consider using professionals to assist you.Personal experience says that very large entities almost have tofind at least one search firm that they trust and that can deliverqualified candidates. The smaller the company, the harder it is toget any real traction, though, as most search firms expend theirenergy on clients with larger fees and revenues.

Get to know a top quality search firm as well as you would acompany or customer. Talk with them extensively on the phone, go totheir office if possible, or meet them for a cup of coffee. If youever use their services, especially for a higher salaried employee,you will pay a search firm a significant amount of money, soinstead of being reactive, be proactive about finding someone youcan work with. Like any industry, some search firms are moreprofessional and ethical than others, and it's up to you toidentify which is which. Treat this decision as if adding aprofessional service provider. Ask for plenty of references andcontact them, and ask your friends in the industry about theirexperiences with potential firms.

After identifying several candidates, many believe the hard partis over. While it's better than not having anyone to interview atall, the work is just beginning. Make sure you have several peoplein your organization whom you can trust to meet with and interviewthe candidates. Determine the correct number of people to utilizefor this process in your operation, but remember that too manyinterviewers can be just as problematic as having too few.

If you are a very small entity and have no one else within youroffice, find someone outside your office. Consider asking a brokeror a manager from a local insurance company to help. Maybe it's afriend from outside the insurance business, or perhaps it's yourspouse. If you've never considered seeking an “ear” from outsideyour agency, this may sound strange at first, but anyone withhiring experience can be an asset in this situation. Wherever theycome from, you need resources to help you make the best decisionpossible, so don't be constrained by what you've always done in thepast.

In addition to subjective reasoning and gut feelings, you needsome objective data with which to work. If you're not using atleast one personality or aptitude profile, you probably should be.While there are many options, price ranges, and levels ofcomplexity, the Omnia Group is fairly brief, reliable, andinexpensive (it takes the prospective employee about 10 minutes andcosts less than $150). Don't use this unless there is a fairlyserious interest in the candidate, and even then it should only atool, not the determining factor.

Now What?

Once you've hired an employee, you now have the ongoingmanagement issues to work through. It's impossible to list all ofthe areas you will contend with or the resources to use, but let meencourage you in a couple of ways. Most importantly you have tocontinually gather information. If you are a baby boomer like I am,you may have resisted or minimized using the Internet in theday-to-day management of your business. If you're not using thepower of the Internet to gain information, you're losing ground toyour own employees and to your competition.

A few quick thoughts on some other management related areas:

HR If you have an existing EPLI policy you should have somevalue-added services that come along with the coverage, includingan HR specialist you can use as a resource. This will usually be aconsulting firm or a law firm specializing in employment law. Ifyou don't have such a resource available with your currentcoverage, you need to revisit this at your next renewal. If youdon't have EPLI coverage for your agency, you need to buy thecoverage today. It's easily obtainable and affordable so there's noexcuse not to have it. If you don't have access to these tools,find out which law firms near you specialize in employment law andask them what type of workshops, seminars and, training isavailable if you are a client (if you've not already done so, checkyour client list for HR consultants or attorneys).

Benchmarking Some of your time should be used to determine howyour operation fares versus your competitors. We use MarshBerry asone of our resources, but there are numerous companies and sitesthat provide the information you need to make the analyses. You mayhave to pay an annual fee to a consultant, investment banking firm,or business brokerage operation, but typically it's not veryexpensive (less than $1000 annually) and you will have access todata, reports, and online forums.

Retention I'm placing this in a separate category even though itoverlaps with discussions about employment and HR. More and morefirms are specializing in retention consulting. Current labor forceshortages that we all are experiencing plus demographics andtrending models continue to show that a lack of qualified employeesis to be expected for the next several years. If you conduct a websearch on retention, you'll find all sorts of information that willhelp you with new perspective and ideas.

This really just touches the tip of the iceberg on the subjectof management, but I hope it either affirms your own concepts orcauses you to consider an old concept in a new way.