From a Pop Warner to the NFL, the key to success on the gridiron lies in the fundamentally sound principles of blocking and tackling. Game-day results are in direct correlation to how effectively players execute what is practiced and preached daily. Teams are measured against a number of statistics, the most important being the final score.
As a society, there is wide spread acceptance of scores, ratings, and grades to hold people accountable for results. Just as coaches push their teams to win, parents push their children to get A's, ultimately growing up and entering the business world where they encounter managers pushing them to get results.
In the end, it comes down to numbers, which are often measured through inconsistent criteria that vary from one company to the next. So what truly defines perfection for claims organizations?
While perfection may be elusive, chasing it will result in excellence, which should be the goal of each and every person in a claims organization. By striving for perfection, the bar is raised to a point where improvement is inevitable.
From the onset of the claim to ultimate disposition, there are steps that can be measured. Like school grades or sports statistics, adjusters can be measured on a variety of indictors such as timeliness and customer service, with the ultimate goal being an accurate settlement.
Having established claims quality assurance (QA) processes in the past, I know there are certain elements that can drive outcomes. What is important to remember is that what business leaders are focusing on may not be what adjusters understand. While actuarial triangles are of vital importance to executives, they are a foreign concept to the line adjuster or appraiser. However, driving certain behaviors that these employees understand will pay actuarial dividends.
Far too often, the claims staff is looking backwards as the result of a reactive workflow. They are constantly playing catch-up while being barraged with new inventory. Managers are working from old to new in a never-ending question to simply "be" in files every five, 10, or 20 days. This is a classic example of a measurement that is simply that: a measurement. But what does it accomplish?
There comes a time in every organization when starting over is the best option. Certainly refining workflows can be beneficial, but only to the extent that they don't contain fatal flaws. Like football, claims-handling is an art of execution. If a particular play consistently fails, then it is time to huddle up and come up with something new. By the same token, if adjusters are off diary 90 percent of the time, then perhaps it is time to convene as an organization and examine the underlying process issues.
The key to succeeding in this endeavor is to understand each and every aspect of the claims organization. Simply rolling out edicts won't drive results. Rather, you must spend time with every level of staff, analyzing workflows and identifying organizational gaps that will enable you to develop a process against which the entire organization can be calibrated. It is this level of detail and understanding that allows for success.
The three critical elements of this success are people, processes, and infrastructure. If any portion of this foundation is flawed, cracked, or broken then failure is inevitable. This is where the role of the manager, or coach, becomes critical in their execution of fundamental blocking and tackling drills.
Just as a lineman opens up holes for the running back, the manager must do the same with clogged workflow processes. Just as team owners give their coaches leeway to make critical game-day decisions, claims executives must do the same with managers while holding the entire organization accountable for results.
Far too often people fall into the trap of overcomplicating matters. They look far and wide for solutions, hoping that there is a magical elixir to fix internal problems. Sometimes simplicity is the best answer.
There is a reason that a football is run between the tackles more often than not. It's not sexy, it's not glamorous, but it does one important thing with its timely delivery of a consistent outcome.
As the great Vince Lombardi once said, "Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things – blocking and tackling." The same can be said for insurance claims.
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