When Manny Acta took on the role of managing the ClevelandIndians, he was faced with a team that, in recent years,perpetually resided in the AL Central basement. But he didn't takehis role lightly, seeing the raw talent that could be a contenderif only the team could focus on fundamentals.

The Cleveland Indians don't have a lot of household names; atleast not yet. Shin-Soo Choo, Fausto Carmona, and Astrubal Carreracontinue to shine as they enjoy this year's journey from anonymityto celebrity in front of the crowds now packing ProgressiveField.

What the Indians of 2011 are doing is nothing more thanfollowing the rules that will take an organization from ordinary to extraordinary. Like a professional baseball team,claims organizations can enjoy the same success by sticking to thebasics. In other words, blocking and tackling on the fundamentalsto get the job done.

While many pundits critical of the Indians point to their lackof statistical leaders, they seemingly miss the point that theTribe leads in the most important statistic: games won. Byexecuting on fundamentals, the end result will take care of eachand every statistical category.

The same holds true in the claims organization, where acalibrated approach to providing an accurate end result willaddress every other metric currently measured during the life of aclaim.

ReadMore of Chris Tidball's Blog Posts at Blocking &Tackling

Far too often, organizations can get hung up on these types ofmeasurements. From timely contacts and inspections to cycle timeand subrogation referrals, there are an infinite number of metrics that can potentially be measured.

In some instances, they can be beneficial, in others they haveunintended consequences. Consider the example of a carrierrequiring 48 hour “inspections” where field adjusters would takepictures over tow yard fences, write incomplete estimates, fail toget agreed prices and face a 30 percent (or higher) supplementrate—yet the metrics showed vehicles consistently inspected within48 hours.

By focusing on the end result, or the quality of the output,these types of metrics are addressed. During my tenure leading thequality assurance program at a top 10 P&C carrier, we achievedsuccess by shifting the paradigm from piecemeal success to thetotality of the results.

As the paradigm of the organization changed, so too did thequality of the work product. In the end, this improved severities,increased customer satisfaction, and drove customer retention.

For the boys of summer, it's called playing Wahoo baseball. Forthe rest of us, it's focusing on the fundamentals to achieveresults.