Several years ago, I was speaking with an insurance agencyprincipal about the future of the agency. This is a profitableagency with a solid history and equipped with the tools andresources to surge ahead.

I asked the principal his goals for the agency over the next5–10 years and his answer surprised me. Instead of talking aboutgrowth and expansion, he spoke aboutmaintenance and survival.

As I travel the country speaking with agency leaders, company representatives andother thought leaders, I have come to realize that this mindset isall too common.

In fact, I believe that a high percentage of insurance agenciestoday are not focused on explosive growth, but instead are simplytrying to keep their heads above water.

So why are so many insurance agencies stuck?

Well, there could be many reasons agencies are stagnant, but Ibelieve one stands out.

Insurance agencies have spent too much time adding followers andnot enough time developing leaders.

Maintenance or multiplication?

A high number of agencies live in maintenance mode. Instead oftrying to make progress, the goal is to simply to avoid losingground. That is the lowest level of agency leadership. To gaininfluence and move from maintenance to multiplication, you mustlearn to develop your people.

There are five stages that exist between maintenance andmultiplication:

1. Scramble

One of the most common phrases I hear when speaking with agencyleaders around the country is, “We just can seem to find and keepgood people.” Typically the rationale is that people today don’twant to work as hard as they used to or that young people don’tlike insurance.

While both of these reasons may carry some level of validity,the truth is that they are not doing anything to develop theirpeople. As a result, the attrition rate is off the charts.

Around 20% of agency leaders live on the lowest level ofleadership development. These are the agencies are typicallyscrambling to find people to compensate for the ones they arelosing.

This level of leadership causes extreme frustration, low morale,and exhaustion.

2. Survival

The next stage of agency leadership development is survival. Thisaccounts for about half of the current insurance agencies.

The survival stage is often due to a level of complacency fromleadership that migrates throughout the agency. Often times, peopleshow up only to collect a paycheck. The agencies may have employeeswho have been a part of the agency for many years, but there hasbeen little to no growth and development.

The agency is average at best and employees are generallyapathetic. The leadership approach is generally, “If it ain’tbroke, don’t fix it.” The problem is that this stage of agencyleadership is broke and does need to be fixed...they often justdon’t want to.

There is little hope or optimism in survival mode and the focusis generally on analyzing problems vs. creating proactivesolutions.

3. Siphon

The next stage of agency leadership development may be one of themost frustrating. That’s because this is the stage where agencieshave done some work to develop their sales producers, customer service representatives, and managers,but they have neglected to build ongoing relationships withthem.

Related: Building your insurance agency 'dream team' in2017

Therefore, emerging leaders leave the organization to pursueother opportunities. Although emerging leaders can and do leave anyagency, this level of leadership often misses an opportunity tobuild rock solid relationships. Emerging leaders feel equipped, butnot appreciated or empowered.

4. Synergy

A smaller number of insurance agencies reach this importantleadership level called synergy. Synergy is hard to describe, butyou can feel it when agencies have it. In fact, I can feel positivesynergy the minute I walk into growing and profitable agencies.

Synergy occurs when the agency leaders build strongrelationships, develop their people, and empower them to reachtheir true potential. This is the level where the high-performingagencies function.

Synergy agencies have people who get excited to come to workbecause there is high morale, great energy, progress, and momentum.Personal egos are pushed aside for team growth and development.Therefore, everyone wins.

5. Significance

At the very top-level of agency leadership development issignificance. My leadership mentor believes that only about 1% oforganizations reach this level. After synergy, many agencies feelthat they have accomplished their mission, but significance is thelast step.

Significance is where multiplication occurs.

Leaders of significance develop and reproduce leaders who staywith the agency, help them reach their potential, but there is onemore critical area that occurs when agencies reachsignificance.

When you attain this level you can tap into almost limitlessgrowth and influence potential. More importantly, you can changethe lives of your team members, your community and the clients youserve.

So how do you move from maintenance to multiplication?

If you are an agency leader that is stuck in the scramble,survival, or siphoning stage, how can you begin to move forward inyour leadership development?

The first step is mindset. Begin to commit todeveloping leaders, not followers. Everyone organization needsfollowers but desperately seeks leadership. It’s beensaid, “The function of a leader is to produce moreleaders, not more followers.”

Next, you must commit to developing yourself.You can’t give what you don’t have. Do you have a personal orprofessional growth plan? Are you investing in yourself?

Become a mentor

Lastly, you must become a mentor. If you want todevelop more leaders, grow your agency, and become an agency ofsignificance you need to mentor others.

Pour yourself into others, empower them, share your experiencesand then release them to go out raise up other leaders.

Every day is a chance to sow seeds into those around you. Thisprocess...and it is a process takes time. Nothing happensovernight. Robert Louis Stevenson stated, “Don’t judge each day bythe harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. ”

I want to leave you with one last thought I learned from mymentor:

“Everything rises and falls onleadership. When you raise up and empower leaders, you positivelyimpact yourself, your organization, the people you develop, and allthe people their lives touch. Reproducing leaders is the mostimportant task of any person of influence. If you want to make animpact you have to be committed to developing leaders.”

Related: Why mentoring is critical

Brent Kelly is akeynote speaker, trainer, coach, and certified partner with theJohn Maxwell Team. He provides inspirational and purposefulbusiness growth for insurance professionals. You can connect withhim at www.brentmkelly.com or email himat [email protected].