Don’t Lower Your Insurance Standards
This is the culmination of our videos on knowing when to fire an employee, and the big message is this: don’t lower your insurance standards. As someone who is running an agency, you need to be constantly architecting your entire team, and when you have people that you wouldn’t hire again on your team that are not A players, or even B players, then you’re making an excuse for your agency.
“As a leader you need to be constantly architecting your entire team, and when you have people that you wouldn’t hire again on your team, that are not A-players, that are not even B-players, you’re literally making an excuse for your agency.”
Here’s why you shouldn’t lower your insurance standards:
You won’t regret getting rid of an employee dragging you down
Every agency we’ve worked with who has gotten rid of an employee (after giving them a fair shot) has never regretted it, even when they were short staffed. In order to feel confident in your decision, put the employee in question on a performance improvement plan, see if they sink or swim, and move forward.
Know that you have the courage to make difficult decisions
Having difficult conversations and terminating an employee can actually be a tough thing for agency owners. But don’t let these types of employees hold you hostage. If they’re costing you time, making mistakes, have a bad attitude, not cross selling, and have low closing ratios, you need to have the guts to have that difficult conversation.
You’re the one who is truly suffering
If you have dead weight on your team, know that the one who is suffering at the end of the day is you. That employee is not going home and thinking about how to make your agency better. They’re not even thinking of how to make the agency better while they’re at work. Have that difficult conversation, take back control, and don’t lower your standards.
Realize that people change
It’s important to realize that people change over time, and it’s possible that when you hired someone, they were an incredible employee. But over time, they became burned out, and now everything is an uphill battle and a problem. You need to release the way that you remember them in their glory days, and have that wake up call.
If you’re paying someone, don’t lower your standards and accept a lesser quality of employee. And if you are happy with those B or C players, then own it and don’t complain about it. But if you want to have an A team, you need to keep your standards high, and make those difficult decisions.
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