Happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz: Nine states are taking action to reform third-party litigation financing, while Tesla owners may face rising insurance rates due to targeted vandalism.

Nine States Pursue Third-Party Litigation Reform

Third-party litigation financing—when outside firms fund lawsuits they believe have a strong chance of success—is facing increased scrutiny across the U.S. These funding companies support a variety of commercial and consumer claims, including cases involving trucking incidents. Truck drivers, their employers, and insurers often bear the brunt of excessive and costly litigation related to personal injury claims, creating ripple effects throughout the supply chain. In response, states from Montana to West Virginia have implemented measures to curb litigation financing, with several others now considering similar reforms. Read more here.

Targeted Teslas Could See Insurance Rates Rise

Tesla owners may see rising insurance premiums as acts of vandalism against the brand continue to surge. Protests against Elon Musk—sparked by his role in the federal government’s DOGE initiative—have led to attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations. Reports detail cars being spray-painted, set on fire, and having their tires slashed. While many incidents have occurred at dealerships, individual Tesla owners have also been affected. If the trend persists, insurers may adjust rates to account for increased risks related to theft and vandalism. Read more here.

For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list.

By: WAHVE Work at Home Vintage Experts

Leaders often use the phrase, “This [insert project name] isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon.” When applied to business strategy, the phrase means that change takes time. Be patient. Don’t rush. Prepare. Train. At the finish line, you’ll break through the tape victorious. While the phrase is intended to remind everyone that big changes don’t happen overnight, there’s a flaw in its wisdom for today’s leaders and employees – because it implies that there is a finish line.

 

These days, it might be better to take a note from Nike’s 1977 print ad campaign that said, “There is No Finish Line.” Think about that for a minute. Do you approach strategic imperatives as if there’s a finish line? Or do you acknowledge that in an age of continuous disruption, there can be no finish line? Put another way, are you planning your future as if there’s going to be a return to status quo, or are you building a culture of adaptability?

 

When leaders plan as if there’s a finish line, they tend to focus on tactics and rigid rules that will get everyone to a final destination. The problem is, by the time they reach the final destination, everything has shifted again, and the original solution doesn’t address the current problem.

 

So, why do leaders often default to this type of thinking? For one thing, there’s pressure for leaders to have “the right answer” or the “final solution”. There’s comfort in driving toward a finish line.  It’s the model we know. Surely, we all want to understand where we’re headed and feel a sense of accomplishment when we reach our destination. This isn’t to say that tactics and goals aren’t important. They are. But they are point-in-time solutions to situations that are temporary.

 

In a recent McKinsey & Co. study, researchers refer to this type of short-term thinking as “the finish-line effect”. When leaders fail to build a culture of adaptability, it can increase attrition and dissatisfaction.

 

Employees want to work for companies that can stay ahead of the curve rather than be drowned by the next rising tide.

 

Many leaders today are grappling with how to address the changing work environment. A finish line approach is to launch a policy that defines specific days that employee must be in the physical office. An adaptable approach means meeting your workforce where they are today and leaving room for the policy to quickly adjust if you need to bring employees into the office daily or if you need to enable them to all work remotely again. You could even decentralize decision making and let teams decide how to best to accomplish their jobs as projects, people, and tasks change over time.

 

Making adaptability part of your overall strategic mindset requires change and practice. If you want to build an adaptive culture but you (or your team) are resistant to change, it won’t work.

 

What does an adaptable workplace look like?

 

1. They accept that uncertainty is here to stay.

2. They hire diverse team members.

3. They hire leaders who are adaptable.

4. They present several possible paths to a solution.

5. They are open to experimentation, interpretation, and

    failure.

6. They are not rule bound. There’s a navigational north

    star, but it doesn’t define the paths you take to reach

    and surpass it.

7. They think beyond near-term tactics to longer-term

     goals.

8. They encourage constant learning.

 

Stop thinking about the sprint. Stop thinking about the marathon and finish line. Build a culture of adaptability. To quote another famous Nike ad campaign, “Just Do It.”

By: Elizabeth Kordek; CPCU, Wahve Placement Specialist

 

For many of our wahves, a new job in the insurance industry is a lot like getting a new car.  If you’ve been in insurance for 15+ years doing the same kind of work, such as retail account servicing, claims, etc… there’s usually not a lot of difference in how the work should get done from one company to the next.  But, just like an experienced driver getting a new car, you still need to understand where the button is for the trunk release, how to turn the back windshield wiper on, and oh, that new beeping sound…that’s the lane departure warning.

 

Just because you’ve driven a car for decades, doesn’t mean the newness of the new car is any less, well, new. 

 

And so, getting the same job in a new company is also still new.  This is where a solid onboarding program come in to play in a successful wahve engagement.  The wahve is going to need some time to get to know new processes, procedures, software, etc.  Our wahves are proud that they have years of experience in the insurance industry and they want to be successful.   They will need resources (a helpful co-worker or manager) and tools (written procedures, for example) to get them on the right track.

 

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about training. Just like the new car scenario, for an experienced wahve, training doesn’t necessarily need to be a three-weeks long, all encompassing, bumper-to-bumper overview of everything. 

 

 

But having no formalized introduction to the infotainment system (I mean, agency management system) is setting the wahve up for potential failure. 

 

Here are some helpful tools to consider having ready for your next wahve hire:

 

1. Decide on a dedicated person in your office who will get the wahve up to speed quickly.

2. Determine if your written procedures need an overhaul. Are they current and relevant for your current processes?  Do they include how to navigate in your software programs? 

3. Does the team understand what work the wahve will be doing and how to work with the wahve as part of the team? Does a new workflow need to be developed to avoid any confusion?

 

 

While you don’t need to give driving lessons to the wahves (thankfully, they are past that nail biting stage!) you do need to invest in their learning some new car systems to ensure they continue to be successful. 

By: Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC | Founder & CEO, Work at Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE)

This article was originally published in our September Wisconsin Independent Agent. Read more from our September issue here. 

 

In-house hiring practices don’t often translate to hiring employees that will work remotely. What modifications do you need to make your hiring process? 

By all accounts, the pandemic-related work-from-home business model is here to stay, at least for the time being. For the most part, many companies were able to transition quickly, albeit not without some significant challenges.

Yet now another significant challenge is looming: how to hire employees you may not meet in person, either during the course of the pandemic or for the duration of their employment with your company. 

For the insurance industry, that challenge is multiplied by a shortage of viable candidates. Veteran insurance professionals are retiring at an alarming rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that between 2016 and 2020, 400,000 insurance  

professionals will head off to retirement.

The situation is made more dire by the fact that millennials are showing little interest in insurance industry careers. According The Millennial Survey conducted by The Hartford, a mere 4% of millennials would consider an insurance industry career.

Yet the very pandemic that has challenged insurers to adopt remote work strategies may be somewhat of a saving grace in the quest to find remote workers. According to World Economic Forum data, 85% of millennials are seeking full-time remote work opportunities. What’s more, 82% expressed higher company 

loyalty to those companies with remote work programs. 

In fact, remote work is appealing across a wider age demographic than just millennials; a recent Zapier-commissioned Harris Poll reveals that 95% of all knowledge workers (those working in a professional setting and using a computer as part of the job) want to work remotely. That means companies that were forced to shift to a remote work arrangement are now facing the very real challenge of trying to build a remote hiring process. 

No matter how big or small your agency is, remote hiring takes planning. But if executed properly, your hiring process could do more than just help you hire good talent – it can elevate the 

number of candidates to choose from, and deliver candidates that have the exact skills needed.

But First, Soft Skills

Yet your new hires need a few more traits than a standard in-house hire. Because remote work can be isolating, employees need the right set of traits to be able to perform effectively and productively.

Before you hire, make sure to understand common soft skills that make for a successful remote worker. Your next remote employee should to be able to work with minimal supervision. Ideally, your remote worker should be able to manage time effectively so that daily tasks as well as projects are completed on time. 

To do that, your employee should demonstrate the ability to solve common issues as well as some of the more complex challenges that they may face. And your employee should be comfortable with remote communication tools and methods.

Interviewing from a Distance

Any organization that has worked remotely recently knows the need for video conferencing. That same technology is what’s needed to conduct remote interviews. While phone interviews can work for initial screening, they fail to pick up on physical cues, such as body language and facial expressions. Plus, video conferencing is a way to vet those candidates on their comfort level with technology your company uses.

That comfort with technology should extend to all technology your company employs. How familiar is the candidate with those tools? Have they shown proficiency in related technologies? In some cases, technology can be similar, so that the learning curve for your particular application would not be prohibitive. 

What could be problematic is your candidate’s ability to maintain connectivity with your team. Spotty internet may not be a deal-breaker unless your team needs to be able to connect quickly during office hours. By conducting a distance interview, you can assess the quality of the connection.

You can assess also how conducive the candidate’s available workspace is to the tasks at hand. For instance, if you’re hiring a salesperson, having a noisy location or too many people in the residence could hinder the salesperson’s ability to connect with prospects. Your ideal candidate should have a distraction-free location, or a plan for keeping it quiet and distraction-free during work hours.

 

That last point can be difficult to navigate. As many families are home with young children and daycares are closed, your ideal candidate may have temporary distractions. If that’s the case, shift the questioning a bit: Would your candidate be able to put in hours after children are in bed or napping? Would a more flexible work schedule help them complete the work necessary?  

Identifying the Self-Starters

Another question to consider: How much training will your new hire need? Every organization has a unique set of processes, and new employees need to learn them. However, in a remote 

position, that means your new hire needs to be able to train on their own with minimal supervision. 

To ensure they can, find out how they best learn: in-class instruction or independent, self-paced learning? Have they completed any self-guided learning before? What were the results? How easily can they get used to new systems or technology? What challenges them most about technology?

 

That matters because in remote work, technology is key to getting the job done. And by asking these questions at the outset, you can set expectations for your candidates so that they know what is expected of them.

Hired: Now What?

That’s important too after the candidate is hired. We recommend using the hiring process to outline both your expectations and how you will measure their performance.

One suggestions we ask you to consider is dropping an hourly expectation and replacing it with a per-outcome expectation. As mentioned previously, not all candidates can do their best work during traditional nine-to-five hours. By measuring your new hires, as well as all your employees, by benchmarks met and project outcomes, you will get a true measure of their productivity. 

Moreover, such a move boosts employee morale and motivation. In an environment in which employers and employees alike are trying to carve out the best way to conduct business, adopting a more flexible employee management style makes the most sense, and helps workers succeed in a remote setting.

Hired, Retained 

That success results in higher employee satisfaction, which translates into better employee retention. In a global workforce environment that is adapting to what could be permanent

changes to business, your business has a great opportunity to grow and to thrive. A strong remote hiring process, complete with vetting for soft skills, setting expectations, and outlining new 

management strategies can help your organization gain an advantage of those organizations that are still trying to do everything through the traditional business lens.

By setting your remote business on the right path at hiring time, your organization can adapt quickly to whatever changes may come in the future. That flexibility can keep your entire 

organization moving into a stronger, more resilient future.

By: Roger Sitkins | Chief Executive Officer, Sitkins Group, Inc.

 

One of the best questions I ever heard came from Andy Stanley, the founder and pastor of North Point Ministries in Atlanta: “What will your story be when it’s time for your story to be told?”

 

Whenever I’ve asked this question at our senior leadership programs or producer programs, it tends to spur considerable thought. I can see that people are asking themselves, “When the time comes, what is my story going to be?” I think this question applies to you regardless of your role in the agency, whether you’re a leader, a producer, or any other team member.

 

Although we may not be aware of it, we all are creating stories that someday will be told. Perhaps a better word is “legacy.” What legacy are you going to leave? As I’ve said before, eventually everybody leaves their business.

 

Granted, most of my readers will be in this business for another 10, 15, or 20 years, if not longer. Why? Because it’s a great business that’s creating opportunities and freedoms that most can only dream of. To seize these opportunities and freedoms, however, you must act! As I’m sure you’ve heard me say in the past, “If you’re going to put the time in anyway, you might as well be great at it.”

 

So here’s another question: If your agency could talk, what would it say? What would it say today, and what would you like it to say five years from now?

 

Before you answer that, let me share with you the story of a Best Version Possible (BVP) Agency as it unfolds in my perfect world. It starts with asking “What’s it all about in your agency today?”

 

The 3 Cs

 

This is how the BVP Agency responds:

Here at the BVP Agency, we embrace several key themes, the first of which is The 3 Cs:Clarity, Consistency, and Commitment.

 

Clarity means having a clear view of our vision. It’s what we want and why we want it, based on our understanding of the vision’s purpose and value. In terms of Key Performance Indicators, our agency and all of our team know exactly where we are today, where we want to go over the next three years, and exactly how we are going to get there.

 

We know the resources and tools we need. We know the personal development plans for each team member. And we know our agreed-upon behaviors and strategies.

 

We’re all on the same page concerning our business plan. In case you’re wondering how it’s possible for everyone to be on the same page, it’s because our business plan is on one page. Unlike most agencies, we have a single-page summary of our Strategic Business Plan that everyone can rally around.

 

Further, we believe that direction and destination must match up. Because we have absolute clarity on our desired destination, we have to keep checking to make sure our current direction matches that desired destination. Just like an airplane or a ship at sea, if we get off track just a little bit and “stay the course” without recalibrating, we’ll miss our target by a lot.

 

Consistency is all about our team members never deviating from our “agency’s way of doing business,” which is quite specific. We have
documented processes and procedures that explain with absolute clarity (there’s that word again!) how things are done in our agency. We know our new business processes in all departments. We know our continuation processes in all departments. (As you know, we don’t renew accounts, we continue relationships.) We know how claims will be handled. We know how all day-to-day transactions will be handled. We know how our technology and automation systems apply to our jobs and how to maximize them.

 

In all areas, we have identified best practices, which are mutually agreed upon and followed. There is absolute buy-in from all team members. We
accomplish this by asking team members for their input before making any improvements (which is an ongoing process). We know that if they’re
part of the design, they’ll buy in more quickly and enthusiastically.

 

Commitment holds it all together and starts at the top with our leaders, who are committed to our plans. They’re also committed to continual and never-ending improvement because in our agency, good is never good enough. Our leaders are committed to “over-communication,” which, by the way, can never happen. Most agencies under-communicate, but have you ever seen an agency that communicates too much? (You haven’t, because it doesn’t exist!) Our leaders and our team are committed to our Clients, Colleagues, Carriers, and Communities.

 

The 4 Cs

 

We want our Clients to have the absolute best experience that creates raving fans who buy all of their insurance and risk management needs
from our agency. These clients would never think of leaving us, and they love sending us referrals and introductions.

 

Next, our leaders are committed to all of our Colleagues, our team members. They want to attract and retain the very best. They provide
personal development opportunities for everyone. They truly do provide a “Best Places to Work” atmosphere. It feels like family, because it is!

 

Further, we’re committed to seeking out the best assortment of Carriers to represent. We want deep partnerships, which is why we don’t represent every carrier out there. We know the 80/20 Rule applies to our carriers, and we believe that less is more. We also are committed to crevice marketing, so we represent carriers that let us specialize, thereby
enabling us to go “narrow and deep” in our marketing.

 

Our final commitment is to our Communities. They are critically important to us! We live here and work here. We realize how blessed we are, and we want to give back. Although we don’t assist/contribute to 100% of the projects out there, we have a Community Service Committee that helps us identify and select opportunities to support and the ways that we can give back. We’re proud to say that more than 75% of our team members have contributed, whether through time or money, to the community projects we’ve chosen.

 

Our agency’s overall theme is truly to be our Best Version Possible. It’s a constant work in progress. We’ve simply never allowed “good” to be good enough. And while we’re respectful of our competitors, we believe we’ve become the “category of one” in our marketplace, emerging as the agency that has transcended commoditization and that defies comparison.

 

We simply don’t want commodity-based clients. If price is the only reason someone comes to us, it will also be the reason they leave us. We’ve raised the bar on everything we do. We’re risk advisors who provide solutions well beyond the simple placement and purchase of insurance products.

 

We are the feared competition, the point of comparison against which all other agencies are measured.

 

If your agency could talk, how would it compare to the BVP agency described above, and how do you want it to compare five years from now?

 

Your BVP is out there waiting for you to arrive. Are you ready for the journey?

 

The author

Roger Sitkins, chief executive officer of Sitkins Group, Inc., is the nation’s number-one “Agency Results Coach.” He established The Sitkins Network™, a territory-exclusive network of high-performing agencies, and The Better Way Agency, a web-based training program that shows agency owners ways to make significant improvements in all areas of the agency. To learn more, please visit www.sitkins.com.