2001 Best Practices Study

Analysis of Agencies with Revenues Greater Than $10,000,000

B USINESS P LANNING

“Business planning is one of our greatest strengths. We don’t try to take on too much, but what we take on, we make certain that we accomplish.” “The employee’s participation in the planning process is one the most positive things that they have the opportunity to do. Not only does it help them to be informed, but it also gets them involved and gets them committed to the plan that they agree to.”

Historically, business planning was something that few firms invested much time and effort in and something that few firms were very good at. Well, times have changed and the business practices of the leading agencies have changed as well. A look at these Best Practices agencies clearly indicates growing commitments to business planning. For the most part, these agencies’ principals do not see business planning as a terribly complex process. As stated by one agency principal, “It is more fun to get people together, get them informed, let them decide where you want to go and then get them committed to accomplishing it.” This type of process does require a willingness to share information with employees and to allow them to participate in the decision-making process. It also requires an investment in time in preparing for planning sessions, the planning sessions themselves and the follow-up required. Firms that are successful at business planning recognize that plans should not only be long-term and strategic, but also should translate to very specific action steps that identify the actions to be taken, the responsibility for taking the action and the time table that is anticipated. Once a business plan is put in place, it must be reviewed regularly and those assuming responsibilities for implementation of the plan must be held accountable to execute on a timely basis. Employees also must be given the latitude, tools, and resources needed to execute the portions of the plan for which they are responsible. L EADERSHIP D EVELOPMENT As good as these Best Practices agencies are, leadership development is an area where very few consider themselves to be doing a good job. Very few of them would list this as a core competency and yet the same time, virtually all of them recognize how important leadership development is if they are to be in a position to grow the organization and to support the perpetuation of its ownership and operations. The biggest challenge faced by most of these firms is a lack of leadership talent. Experience has shown many of these firms that the best talent is not going to naturally gravitate to the insurance agency business, but is going to have to be recruited. Once recruited, many firms have found it difficult to develop the talent that they have. Most would recognize that leadership is a natural ability that either exists or does not exist. At the same time, people with leadership potential can be taught and can learn to develop their leadership skills. This occurs most readily when they have a personal example that they can learn from within the agency itself.

“The hardest problem we have in developing leaders is finding the raw talent.” “We had a hard time developing leaders. Our greatest success has come from hiring people with demonstrated leadership ability and then giving them an opportunity to use it.”

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