Welcome to 2017! In my previous columns, I've given you straight talk about maximizing insurance and financial services businesses for fun and profit. I've shared proven strategies and the things we could and should be doing to reach agency goals.

That is, until now. I have a clear vision of how our business will evolve and how we should prepare for the future. This vision is based upon more than five decades of experience in the insurance and financial services arena as an agency founder, owner of a multi-line independent agency, bank director of a public company and CEO of a bank-owned agency.

Every organization, whether business, military or sports, needs three essential elements to win:

Leadership: Leaders have the vision and responsibility to establish the mission, set and articulate the strategy, and build the teams.
Teamwork: In order to accomplish the mission as a team, candidates with the best skills must be selected and trained to execute the tactics.
Team leaders: These are the ones who lead the team to achieve its objectives and focus on team success.

Think about it. A sports team is made up of players with different skill sets selected by leadership (the GM) and team leaders (the coaches), to build the best team possible, aligning the skills of each individual to achieve success.

In the military, these concepts are even more obvious from leadership (the generals) down to the man on the ground with the rifle. As a young Army infantry officer and platoon leader, I learned firsthand how effective and essential teamwork was. Those organizational skills stayed with me throughout my business career.

For example, in the insurance agency business, too often the emphasis on leadership and team building is ignored. A producer is often sent out alone to “sell,” but what? The service people carry out their duties individually, focusing solely on personal, commercial, life or benefits. The success or failure of their co-workers has little to do with their individual jobs. The same holds true in the areas of operations, administration and finance.

Can you imagine the chaos this kind of environment would create for a sports team or a military unit? With each person just doing their individual job with no awareness of whether or not their efforts and the organization are successful? It's impossible to even consider.

Putting a team together

To build an effective and winning “dream team” in the insurance or financial industries, as a CEO, I would do the following:

For insurance agents and brokers: Build a diverse team of people with different skills and create a single unit of a personal lines customer service rep/marketer, a commercial lines CSR/marketer, a producer licensed in all P&C, life/accident & health/benefits, and a team leader to manage and direct the unit. The team leader's responsibility is to inspire everyone to work together to meet the team's goals. Compensation is based on the team's results. The team leader should have general knowledge of all areas with at least one specialty skill in sales, service or marketing.
For bank-owned agencies: Supplement the previously described insurance agency team with banking staff skilled in wealth management and traditional banking functions: the “Universal Banker.” The team can be developed to become a multipurpose insurance and banking team that can truly handle all of the customer's needs.

A key driver is compensation: On top of salary and as the major portion of their annual bonus, each team member should be compensated equally for achieving the team goals.

Just as important as each team member's skill sets, emphasis must also be placed on building a team that is culturally diverse, inclusive and with multlingual individuals. The world is changing and too many insurance agencies, companies and banks are just not keeping up with the marketplace.

So can you imagine your dream team? How would you establish a diverse team of people with different skills and the ability to work together toward the same goals?

Related: Becoming an 'insurance hero'

Barry Seigerman is an independent broker/producer. Email him at bmseigerman@gmail.com.

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Building your insurance agency &lsquo;dream team&rsquo; in 2017

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Building your insurance agency ‘dream team’ in 2017