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

As much as possible, meet with principals and managers from all facets of the insurance industry and share ideas and challenges. In every segment of this industry, we have more in common than we have as differences. It seems that there are a few universal issues for managers and they almost invariably touch on or relate to personnel. That certainly makes sense given the fact that most of the resources of any small- to mid-size organization are related to personnel (and when you think of resources think about time, not just money).

Every manager I've spoken with recently has expressed the same concern as to how they are allocating their resources. Regardless of which part of the business they're in or what geographical location, hiring of experienced, quality people is a significant challenge, one that managers must be prepared to consistently devote 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: personal knowledge or referrals, ads or job notifications, and search firms or hiring consultants.

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

We've had success finding employees who are not currently within the insurance industry, including a mortgage broker, a legal assistant, an attorney, and a food service professional. Agencies have hired individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, and while it may take a little longer for training and to get them up to speed, there are some benefits. The employee will understand and embrace your systems and style of work, have loyalty to the company, and offer a fresh perspective on how your business functions. The latter is not always pleasant or easy to deal with, but it's always beneficial.

Advertisements include newspapers, trade publications, internet services, and the like. But don't be afraid to seek other alternatives. Local community colleges, trade groups, job posting boards, and your own company's web site are just a few of the options available. If you get creative, you'll be surprised how many ways you can get the word out about a job opening.

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

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

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

If you are a very small entity and have no one else within your office, find someone outside your office. Consider asking a broker or a manager from a local insurance company to help. Maybe it's a friend from outside the insurance business, or perhaps it's your spouse. If you've never considered seeking an “ear” from outside your agency, this may sound strange at first, but anyone with hiring experience can be an asset in this situation. Wherever they come from, you need resources to help you make the best decision possible, so don't be constrained by what you've always done in the past.

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

Now What?

Once you've hired an employee, you now have the ongoing management issues to work through. It's impossible to list all of the areas you will contend with or the resources to use, but let me encourage you in a couple of ways. Most importantly you have to continually gather information. If you are a baby boomer like I am, you may have resisted or minimized using the Internet in the day-to-day management of your business. If you're not using the power of the Internet to gain information, you're losing ground to your 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 some value-added services that come along with the coverage, including an HR specialist you can use as a resource. This will usually be a consulting firm or a law firm specializing in employment law. If you don't have such a resource available with your current coverage, you need to revisit this at your next renewal. If you don't have EPLI coverage for your agency, you need to buy the coverage today. It's easily obtainable and affordable so there's no excuse not to have it. If you don't have access to these tools, find out which law firms near you specialize in employment law and ask them what type of workshops, seminars and, training is available if you are a client (if you've not already done so, check your client list for HR consultants or attorneys).

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

Retention I'm placing this in a separate category even though it overlaps with discussions about employment and HR. More and more firms are specializing in retention consulting. Current labor force shortages that we all are experiencing plus demographics and trending models continue to show that a lack of qualified employees is to be expected for the next several years. If you conduct a web search on retention, you'll find all sorts of information that will help you with new perspective and ideas.

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

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