Make the Plays With Teamwork on the Insurance Gridiron

In professional sports, the coach’s responsibility is to recognize individual talent and recruit those people who will contribute to their team’s success. The principal of an insurance agency has the same role in creating a successful sales and service team. As the general manager and coach of a pro football team must consider the leaders and players who will make their team successful and generate wins, the principal must also put together offensive and defensive players in pursuit of their goal: successful, profitable accounts.

There must be a skilled offensive coordinator (sales manager) to lead the offense (producers) with a specific game plan. While the goal is always to score the most points and beat the other team, the game plan specifies the players involved for each tactical move toward the goal and provides a quantifiable method of tracking success and failure.

Once the team scores, the defense takes over. Their part of the equation is to keep the other team (competitor agency) from scoring. The defensive coordinator (service manager) must have a talented, knowledgeable and effective defense (account managers) to “hold the line” and not let the other team encroach on their business.

The blending of so many talented people with strong personalities will inevitably lead to conflict among certain players at times. There is enough competition and animosity on the insurance playing field without creating more among members of the same team–regardless of who plays offense and who plays defense.

For better or worse, the coach brought the team together because he or she recognized the innate abilities that each individual possesses. In addition, the coach believed in each player’s ability to contribute to the team and to support the other players, so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. In any great professional organization, and more especially one that deals with relationships and the blending of personalities, not everything is perfect. Some players will require development in order to maximize their contribution. Rookies have a lot to learn about everything; veterans sometimes need to learn that they don’t know it all. No one is immune to potential improvement!

The team that plays together
Sometimes it is essential that players work on their interpersonal skills and remember they are on the same side–playing together in pursuit of a common goal. It is difficult to be “the team to beat” in the marketplace when there is obvious divisiveness among the players. When this occurs, the team beats itself by making the competition’s job easier.

It is important for the team to come together on occasion to celebrate successes and each other. There must be events and opportunities to interact with one another in a casual atmosphere, to do things together, to show appreciation for each other and to foster relationships. Learning what personal talents each person has and discovering the things about which they are passionate naturally brings people closer together and improves the team. Agencies often hold open houses for customers and industry partners; the same must be done for the agency players.

There are many opportunities for the coach or management to show appreciation to the players. Bringing in fancy pastries or breakfast sandwiches one morning, or pizza for lunch on a Friday are simple ways for management to say thank you to the staff–which probably happens in most agencies on a regular basis.

More important, though, is for the players to put aside any differences they may experience from time to time and do something fun with each other. To have the coach’s support–at least for the idea, if not financially–is essential for growth and contributing to unity. How is this accomplished? What can people do together to build their friendships?

Stereotypes have the producers going out to play golf while the account managers stay in the office; account managers get together after work for happy hour–and does the coach even still work here? Now, everyone has such diverse interests that we can be very creative in enjoying each other’s company. Adult arcades; salon services; paintball wars; going to sporting events; batting cages; wine parties; casino nights–or even playing golf! What the team decides to do together is less important than the actual being together.

Account managers must remember that they are on the same team–as each other, as the producers and as the managers! All the players should be encouraged by the camaraderie that they experience during these personal interactions, and keep that familiarity at the forefront of their minds when disruptions occur. Players should defend each other, support each other and encourage each other. That team spirit does not just apply to offense to offense and defense to defense. What about special teams (i.e., administration and accounting)? What about the mascot (receptionist)? What about the cheerleaders (agency marketing)? They are the behind-the-scenes people that help make the team successful, and probably could teach the field people more than a little about support and encouragement of everyone!

People will have conflicts and misunderstandings–that’s human nature. When they happen, there are two choices: hold a grudge and bring everyone else into the conflict, or be an adult, agree that everyone has differences and that no one is exempt from mistakes, and then get over it. Choice number one will divide the team–other players are forced to take sides or ignore the players involved. If one player is not talking to another, then communication breaks down.

If the team is divided, they are working for the competition! Choice number two shows that the players are mature enough to realize that not every one is going to agree with someone else’s point of view all the time. By taking the high road, the players demonstrate that the team’s success is more important than the players’ being “right” on one issue. Balls get dropped on occasion. It doesn’t matter if the throw was bad or the receiver just couldn’t get there. When it happens, resolve to improve the situation and then start over in pursuit of the goal–get back to the game at hand!

Conflict is for the competition
Save the conflict for the other guys down the street–the competitor agency. Strategize against them, not your own team. Producers, realize that your account is not the only thing the account manager is working on right now, and that she cannot always just drop what she is doing to resolve your issue. Hard as it may be to believe, some things are more important. Account managers, realize that being a producer is not just the glory of landing the big account and being out of the office all the time. For every one the producer wins, they probably lose two more. Producers have big egos that hurt when they lose–but they keep getting back up and going out there to play again. Management, try to remember what it was like when you were out there getting tackled, sweating and bleeding, and giving your all in pursuit of the goal. Calling the plays from the sidelines provides a different perspective on the game. And staff, know that just because it looks like the coaches have a sweet deal over there on the sidelines, who knows what goes on when they meet with the general manager–they may take harder hits than you!

When everyone stops thinking about their individual positions, and considers how their cooperation contributes to the success of the team, the agency cannot help but win. Each individual and each department would not be the same without each player that makes up the whole–the individuals in each department, each department in the agency make up the “us,” and the other agency is “them.”

Maintaining that team atmosphere is an every day job and may be a struggle, but the struggle is worth the effort. Just remember, when the Cowboys win the Super Bowl, every player gets a ring–not just Jerry Jones. The teams that play together win together. So stick together! It’s just more fun that way.

Keri Morris began her insurance career in 1994 and has been with Legacy Texas Insurance Services since 2002. She is currently head of the Commercial Middle Market Department.

Morris was selected by the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research as the 2004 Texas Outstanding CSR of the Year and was also a finalist in the national competition. She holds multiple professional designations including CISR, CIC, ACSR and AIM.