How to Lead an Insurance Agency: Share the Plan
Owners, managers, and agency leaders, this week’s series is specifically for you. We’ve been honing in on the nitty-gritty details, because, let’s face it: most of us were never actually taught how to lead insurance agencies.
“Leaders always develop other leaders. Leaders are always looking to impart their knowledge, their wisdom, their experience on other people to develop other leaders.”
More often than not, those of us who work in insurance studied something like marketing or sales, and whether we planned to end up in insurance or not, we likely had very little training when it comes to leadership.
So far, we’ve talked about strategizing instead of reacting, by looking into the future and creating a plan. We’ve also talked about measuring everything and sharing those metrics with your people, because of the impact that can have on your team.
Today, we’re talking about not only creating a plan for the future, but the importance of actually communicating your plan to your team, including both leadership, and the rest of your team.
Being a Visionary is Just the Start
As an agency leader, it’s so critical to have vision and to plan for the future. You should have ideas for what you want to do one, two, five, and even ten years down the road. As we discussed, you can’t always be putting out fires, and instead, setting those goals puts you in a position to take steps to achieve them.
But that’s the thing: creating a goal or having an idea of what you want to accomplish is one thing. You then have to create the perfect plan that will help you get there.
Let’s say your goal is to grow 10%, or to have a 2% bump in retention. While that’s a great goal, how are you going to get there? What exactly is your plan, your strategy?
Creating a plan for achieving those goals is a huge undertaking. And when you do create it, the last thing you should do is keep it to yourself.
No, after you actually create your plan, your next step should be to share it with your team. First, you should share it with leadership. Then, you should share it with everyone in your agency.
Share the Wealth
Your plan for achieving your goals is monumentally important, because it can lead to real action. That’s why it’s so important that you actually share that plan with the rest of your team.
By sharing your plan with your leadership team first, you ensure that everyone is on board, and that decision-makers are taking steps within their power to help you get to where you want to be. Then, your leaders can share the plan with the rest of their people, to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
If your plan is a little more specific and granular, it should definitely be laid out in detail, so your people know exactly what you have in mind.
But here’s the thing that happens after you share your plan with your people: when the right people are involved, they can actually lay out that plan, so that steps are taken to execute it.
The Leaders Who Implement
You’ve probably read about different types of leaders and leadership examples, and have noticed that there are plenty of different types of leaders. But for the sake of this topic, we can talk about two distinct types: the leaders who have only vision, and the leaders who have the forethought to determine how to strategically put that vision into motion to make it a reality.
So part of deploying that strategy and realizing your vision is handing it out to other leaders and people in your agency who can make that plan happen. Because from there, you’re much more likely to have the whole team on board this plan.
Leaders who implement don’t only have vision. They have real, concrete strategies, and thoughtful steps, to help that vision become real.
How to Communicate your Plan
Communicating your plan helps your team not only realize your vision, but also feel encouraged to accomplish those goals. That’s why we say that a great way to share your plan is with a big meeting. It can even be more like a party or a celebration, in order to get everyone energized.
No matter how you decide to organize it, think of the event that communicates your plan in a fun and exciting way. You can announce your plan, talk about exactly where your agency is today, and even share those metrics with your team (as we previously discussed).
You can break down your goals, year by year, and really dive into your vision.
This is also a great opportunity for you to encourage your team members, no matter where they’re at in their careers, to step up. The best agency leaders always develop other leaders, and are also always looking to impart their knowledge and their experience to develop other leaders.
And truly, good leaders are infectious and are people that others want to follow. So look for those people, and encourage those people to step up and be an active part of that leadership plan. You can give them a small task or two, and they can show you if they have what it takes to be a bigger part of your agency.
True Leadership is Sharing Vision
At the end of the day, in order to really lead your agency, you need to have a clear vision, and share that vision. By sharing your plan, you give others the chance to help you realize it, and in the process, you’ll be inspiring and cultivating other leaders.
As an agency leader, nothing is more exciting than seeing others excited for the work that you’re all doing together. By sharing your plan, you give them the opportunity to fully be a part of it, and for it to have the best chance of being accomplished.
Follow Us on Social Media
Follow us on social media to get a daily dose of our 3 Minute Videos, to help you on your journey to becoming a Ridiculously Amazing agent. We share our videos on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
