Do you have a superstar employee? Is there someone who makes everyone else look good because he or she is on top of things? You want more people like that at your insurance company, but you’re not sure how to achieve this. Should you play motivational speeches? Should you provide coaching? There are many ways to help your employees excel in their insurance jobs: here are a few that work especially well.
Clarify the Value of Each Position
You can make your employees feel like you value them, but do they really value what they contribute to your agency? Do they understand their unique value to the company? According to Springboard Business Coaching, many employees are unclear about the value that they bring, and “Confusion about their roles usually results in wasted or duplicated efforts and subpar performances across the company.”
Instead of just having a “what you do every day” sort of job description, consider having a description of the position’s value to the company. For instance, your administrator may answer emails, but that person is not just the person who answers email, he is the efficient and personable frontline face of your company. That’s the value that position brings to your company.
Once you clarify why your employee’s position is valuable, then you can work to make sure that your employees excel in that position, since you’ll have a better idea of what excellence looks like. What does the best frontline face of your company look like? Does it look like exceptional response times to emails and the ability to bend the rules to make customers happy? Set up an aspiration and plan to achieve that with your employees.
Find Your Employees’ Strengths
When you’re helping your employees excel, you could focus on areas for improvement. People are constantly setting goals and trying to improve areas where we’re weak. However, part of valuing your employees is valuing what they bring to your agency already. According to Spark, “The best managers and leaders — those that most effectively lead others toward success — have a focus on maximizing employees’ unique strengths instead of trying to overcome perceived, or real, weaknesses.”
When you’re coaching your employees, focus on boosting those areas of strength, allowing them to use those areas to boost their all-around performance.
Focus on Your Real Work
When you’re encouraging or training employees, don’t focus on random scenarios selected from a book. Instead, focus on the real world scenarios that your employees are working with right now. Give them the opportunity to train and to receive feedback on a question or capacity-building need that is really relevant to their job and your company.
Encourage Enjoyment
Work doesn’t need to be a party, but it doesn’t need to be an exercise in drudgery either. Encourage your employees to exercise on their lunch break by setting up a fitness class. Have a party to recognize exceptional performance. Have fun together, and your employees won’t just want to stay, they’ll also work harder because they’ll feel invigorated and encouraged by your work community.
At American Agents Alliance, we want you to find the best fit for your insurance jobs. We offer a partnership to help you with hiring and an insurance classifieds board as well. Contact us today to learn more about how a membership can help your insurance agency grow.
