One of my favorite management-related sayings is one that I've grown up hearing: Mike Moynihan, my grandfather, used to say this often, and I was pleased to hear National Underwriter Property & Casualty's own Barry Seigerman reference it in his column this month.
"Proper planning prevents piss-poor performance." This is also known as "The Six Ps."
Another way of saying this is: If you're not thinking ahead, then you're really not thinking.
If you're not the type of person who values a carefully crafted strategy for the goals you set (assuming, of course, that you are setting them), then it might be time to ask yourself why that is.
One reason may be that you might not like to plan ahead; you don't want to think about the future. You're busy trying to sell, you're in the moment; you don't want to think about where your agency will be two months from now, much less 10. Planning can wait, you might say.
Here's the thing, though: Now more than ever, planning doesn't wait. Gone are the days of two-week vacations, long lunches and seasonal lulls. There is always going to be something else that lands in your inbox or on your desk that requires your immediate attention. Always.
You, therefore, have two choices: You can take some time right now at the start of a new year to chart a course for the growth of your business, set realistic goals and determine what responsibilities each of your staffers will have in order to reach those goals, or you can keep running in place.
It's a brand-new year. Step back and take a good, hard look at your business. Where are your strongest areas of expertise? Know what those are. Have those strengths changed over time? Are the right people doing the right jobs?
Many P&C insurance professionals, especially agents, complain that they're working harder than ever just to retain clients. Fine. If that's true, consider new strategies. Is it time for you to start thinking about personal lines? If it's that important to retain your current business rather than push to acquire new customers, can you upsell your existing client base? Many of them already trust you with their commercial-lines business. Why not build upon those relationships and expand their palette of coverages?
Others don't like to plan ahead because of one simple thing: Fear of the unknown.
When I was growing up, my grandfather used to drill me with the same question, every time we saw each other: "Shawn, do you know what fear is?"
I knew the answer by heart, and to this day, it has stayed with me.
"Ignorance of the outcome of any situation."
"That's right," he'd say, very pleased with himself.
There will always be impediments to seeing your vision through. But the thing is, you have to have one, and proper planning can take some of the guesswork — and fear — out of your professional life if you allow yourself to plan.
Actually seeing some success may just turn out to be the "worst" thing that could happen.
Shawn Moynihan is Editor-in-Chief of National Underwriter Property & Casualty. He can be reached at smoynihan@alm.com.
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