I haven’t thought much about this lately as the offices I have been visiting the last few months seem to have little if any “blue” language.  However, in the Parade Magazine in our newspaper this week there was a short piece on “Gordon Ramsay, Meanest Man on TV?”  For those of you that might not know this TV personality, his shows are all blue language.  I don’t watch his show, however, on one of our recent visits to a hospital emergency room, his show was on.  I was surprised and offended.  There were a number of children present and felt that it was certainly inappropriate viewing for these young people.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was raised by a truck driver with very blue language and I learned most of it at a very early age and I have been know to use a few curse words.  However, there are a number of places such language is just inappropriate.  I know many people that think it is never appropriate.  But I know others that think nothing of just letting this language fall out of their mouth, in their posts on Facebook and in their other writings.

I was taught in high school that we shouldn’t be offended by curse words in the books we read.  We were told that this was reflective of the particular situation.  In two of the companies in which I worked in the 1970s, blue language was rampant.  During this period I was reading a book about a law firm.  My mother-in-law asked what the book was about.  I told her and she said she would like to read it when I was through.  So I passed it onto her when I was finished.  A few weeks later she gave the book back to me.  I asked her if she enjoyed it.  She said “I really liked the story, but I didn’t like some of the language”.  I didn’t understand.  Later I was discussing this with my husband.  He told me that during her 25 years at the lumber company where she worked, no cursing was allowed in the office.  The president of the company had advised the men in the yard that they were not allowed to curse if they came into the office and if Miss Edna was in the yard, they were not to curse in her presence.  I visited with her about this the next week.  I told her that the language in my workplace was similar to that in the book.  Thus, since I was conditioned to such language in the workplace I had not noticed it in the book.  She was appalled to think that people really talked like that at work.

In my consulting career there have only been a couple of offices that I have visited that had this problem.  At one, it was really only the owner.  When he went on one of his tyrants on the first afternoon, the staff were extremely embarrassed that this was happening when I was there.  The next morning a couple of them apologized.  I thanked them but told them they had nothing to apologize for.  They were not the offensive party.

Mr. Ramsey seems to think that it is perfectly okay to curse at his employees, anyone he meets and in his home in front of his four children.  This really made me think about today’s workplace.  I know they are not all perfect and that these situations must exist.  While it may not offend those in the office, might it offend a customer?  Over many years I have learned that frustration can be expressed without cursing.  I work hard to be sure that language I have know my whole life and used in the past stays put away as much as possible.  There are much nicer ways to offend those you want to offend.  I have learned how to do that while smiling.

If you have faced this problem in your office, how have you solved the problem?  What similar cultural problems have you faced and solved or are facing in your office.

Last week there were several news reports about ladies in their 90s receiving Master Degrees.  One such lady is Helen Small show graduated from University of Texas Dallas.  Here is an article on this amazing lady. http://tinyurl.com/29rrbhb.  So what do people like this have that others don’t?  Why do they keep learning when they could be doing leisurely things all day?  When working with agencies I hear a number of excuses related to learning.

The excuses I hear most often are:

• I am too old to learn computer stuff.
• I am retiring in a couple of years and I am not learning anything new.
• My accounts are different from everyone else’s in the agency and they won’t fit the system so I don’t need to learn it.
• I can’t learn new things in a group setting.
• I have been here a long time and I know too much for them to let me go if I don’t learn this.
• If I learn more, I will have to do more.

Wow, are you surprised by these or have you heard them too?  I read somewhere recently that you can’t teach people who don’t want to learn.  And my experiences seem to prove this out.  I guess I just don’t get any of these excuses.  I loved school and I loved to read.  I was an only child until I was ten.  I lived in neighborhoods that didn’t seem to have any other children.  So my social life was at school.  Good grades were expected by my parents, no excuses.  Books could take me anywhere in the world.  One of my grandmothers cleaned houses for wealthy people in Lubbock, TX.  In the summer when I stayed with her I would get to sit quietly in the libraries of these houses and look at books.  One seemed to have every copy of National Geographic Magazine ever published.  I loved going to this house and the time I got to spend with these magazines.  I believe reading fueled my desire to travel.  I usually have 3-4 books in progress at all times.

The learning gene seems firmly implanted to this day.  When I am working with an agency and I hear one of these excuses I often just look at the individual speaking.  The too old one just doesn’t get any traction at all.  I have yet to find an account that could not be managed in the system.  In a very few cases, some additional resource are needed to support multi-location billing where a system doesn’t handle this.

The issue about learning new things in a group setting is really puzzling.  Didn’t you go to school?  The last time I checked, school is a group setting unless you are home schooled or have a private tutor.    I know a number of home schooled people and they are well adjusted and learn well in group settings.  So how did you get here?

Those individuals that think they know too much or are too valuable to be let go just may be in for a big surprise.  When profits are down and agencies do restructure, they just may decide that others know enough to take over your work.  I believe these individuals live in a vacuum.  They ignore the fact that there are others in the agency that do know what you know.  More than once I have seen staff step up and learn very quickly when a disagreeable individual or someone who thinks only they can do this work is gone.  Other staff is often relieved when this person is gone and happy to do the work.  I have seen a total shift in the attitude of the office staff to one of a positive, can do atmosphere.

I read an article several years ago about the use PCs in the insurance industry.  This was before insurance carriers had PCs on desktops.  The article advised insurance professionals that if they wanted to succeed in the future, they had better purchase a PC for home and learn how to use it.  How true this became.  In the mid 90s I managed a general agency that employed several underwriters that had previously worked at carriers.  We were a PC shop.  A couple of these underwriters had not previously used a PC and doing so was a challenge for them.  However, they each took on the challenge and learned fast and well.  They were both over 55 at the time.

Some days our work is not particularly challenging.  But others can challenge you beyond anything you could imagine.  I believe this will only continue to increase as our world continues to become more integrated and complicated.  I do like that in our more connected world, we can reach out to others for information and help.

What are your challenges in learning?  What are your tips to learning new technology?  What are your tips to learning new insurance information?

Technorati Tags: Insurance Agency processes, insurance agency culture, insurance learning, technology learning, national geographic magazine

This article was created after reading “Driven by Distraction – How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive Workers” from the March 2010 WIRED Magazine. I would encourage you to read the entire article.

My prospects and clients often tell me that they want everyone in their agency to do things the same way. That is what they expect me to accomplish when they engage my services. Well, what exactly does that mean? Do they want a bunch of robots that can’t think for themselves? It is very important that an insurance agency has standards, procedures and workflows and that everyone follow them. But these defined standards, procedures and workflows address processes. What about thinking, negotiating, customer service, marketing and a host of other situations that arise everyday?

What happens if you have hired robots and they can’t think on their feet, so to say? Is there one standard answer when one of your clients has an issue with an insurance carrier? Is there only one way to negotiate the terms and pricing on an account. Are all of your clients the same which makes it easy to know what your staff is going to say to them in every situation? I fear if the answer to any of these questions is yes, that your agency has become one of those direct writers that advertise on TV.

The article in WIRED Magazine really got me to thinking about this. I often have my best ideas or find the solution to a problem at times when I am not immersed in work. Haven’t you had a great idea in the shower, with no place to write it down? And sometimes you forget the idea before you can get to something to capture your thoughts. So apply this to your staff. Where to they get their relief to have creative time. It might not be via Twitter of Facebook as suggested in the article, but there are other outlets. I always encourage agencies to look at business models outside the insurance industry. In many other industries firms employ a number of tools which incorporate the work life and other activities into the work day.

I recently saw a piece on TV about a firm that adopted a school in their area. Members of the firm became volunteer tutors at the school. While the students at the school benefited greatly, the staff members of the firm said they were the ones that had benefited more. I know a few insurance agencies that have competitions with prizes. Think Wii bowling, trivia and other fun games. I have always found that fun and laughter are great for the creative juices.

I know some of you are sitting there thinking so what is creative about the insurance business. Think about these ideas:

1. Putting together the best coverages for a difficult risk usually takes some creative thinking. These might include, what markets do I need outside current markets, would the client take more of the risk and how do I convince them of the benefits of that. As a broker in the surplus lines market for 25 years, I had to be creative many days.
2. Negotiating terms and pricing on accounts. It is important that all of the facts, the good, bad and ugly about an account be divulged to the insurance carriers. However, does your staff know how to put this information in its best light and negotiate effectively. I do not mean the squeaky wheel or high pressure approach here. I don’t believe that works in the long term for you or your client.
3. Your client has just had a serious loss. While it is properly covered there is still lots to deal with. Will a standard, predetermined answer or process necessarily address the issues. You and your staff may need to roll-up-their sleeves and be prepared to help your client deal with the details of getting all the information needed by the adjuster and wading through the paperwork, emails, phone calls. Remember you told your prospect that you are their trusted partner. Now is time to deliver.
4. Marketing must be approached with a creative mind. In today’s world there are more marketing outlets and ideas than ever before. You will be stuck in the old mold if you don’t get your creative juices and ideas rolling on this.

These are just a few examples of where creative thinking is needed in the ever day operations of an insurance agency. Solutions and ideas come at the most unexpected times. Don’t suppress the creativity of your staff. Because yes there should be creativity in an insurance agency. Would you please share with us the tools you use to help your staff think and act creatively?

Technorati Tags:
Insurance Agency processes, insurance agency workflows, insurance agency culture, creativity, twitter, facebook, Wii bowling, negotiating

Over the past couple of months I have been having my website re-done into a blog forward site.  I want to share my thoughts and experiences on:

• Best Practices for insurance agencies.
• How to integrate and maximize your technology.
• Discuss issues relating to agency culture and attracting and retaining the next generation of staff.
• And other subjects of interest to you.

I want to hear from you about the subject that interest and concern you.  I am using Intense Debate for comments.  You will find this a more interactive format for comments and discussions.

Insurance agencies face so many challenges today.  Most agencies aren’t yet thinking about, discussing or thinking about the challenges of the future.  If you aren’t working on the future while working on the present you will be left behind.  In many ways agencies are always playing catch up in technology.  I don’t believe you will be able to do this in the future and be profitable and be able to sustain your business.

Your clients and your future staff continue to become more technologically savvy everyday.  To attract and retain both you will need to be able to exceed their expectations and stay ahead of the curve.

Subscribe to the RSS feed and join the discussion.  I look forward to talking with you.