For those of you that don’t watch much TV, Michael Scott is Steve Carell’s character on The Office.
How could this have happened? I was so careful? I work so hard.
There are many ways to have an epiphany and many more ways to react to it. In our experience, a lot of insurance agency owners come into work one day to discover that everything had changed, right under their noses. They find out that they’ve developed a blindspot, and now they’re business looks totally unfamiliar.
They thought they had an agency filled with enthusiastic effective employees, managed by a diligent and engaged owner. In fact, somewhere along the line, they lost that diligence and engagement. Without realizing it they became more engaged in the personal relationships than the work. They developed a family at work, but lost sight of productivity.
They became Michael Scott.
The Return
If you wake up tomorrow to find the same situation, don’t worry. You are not the first, you won’t be the last and there are ways to get back on track. You don’t have to be Michael Scott for the rest of your career. Now that you have identified the problem, there are a few steps you can take to turn things around.
The Coup
The first step is to retake the power. Your employees may be taking liberties at the moment, because they don’t see any consequences for failure. Michael Scott did everything possible to avoid upsetting his staff. You need to let them know that failures will not be tolerated.
That doesn’t mean you should go in all guns blazing. You can be very politely, and clearly outline what is expected of each employee. Remind them what you need from them and then stick by those requirements.
The Dundies
That’s not the only way to re-establish control. Another way to re-engage your employees is to bring in achievement based incentives. Reward the employees that hit their targets, encourage healthy competition and you’ll get an agency that is happy to focus on efficiency and goals.
The Client
The most important thing is to always look at your employees through the eyes of your clients. When there’s a problem, or your producers are underachieving, ask yourself what your clients would think of the situation. If your client wouldn’t accept it, you shouldn’t either.
No matter how careful you are, no matter how hard you work, complacency can sneak in at any time. The best way to avoid it is to remember what you could become, don’t let yourself turn into Michael Scott.
There are challenges at every stage of the insurance agency lifecycle. Download our whitepaper for advice on how to handle them.
