Do you feel that you're getting 100% out of each employee in the office? When talking to agency principals, it's very rare to hear them say that all of their employees are always giving 100% every day. Grace Bauer discusses the power of goals, for your employees and for your agency, in this document.
Let's try an experiment. Start talking to employees about their goals. Discuss agency goals. Compare employee goals against agency goals. Implement programs to attain agency goals through employee goals. Then, watch them work together.
START TALKING TO EMPLOYEES
Ask employees about their goals; not necessarily their professional goals (where they'd want to be within the agency in a year or two), but where they'd like to be in their lives in the next five to 10 years. What would they like to see happen? Would they like to be in a new home? Would they like to start a family? Would they like to plan a trip of a lifetime? Would they like to go to a three-day workweek? Would they like to retire within five years? Whatever the goal, pay close attention to it. Take notes and get a true picture of where each employee would like to be in five years.
DISCUSS AGENCY GOALS
The next step is to start thinking about your agency. Where would you like it to be in five years? Would you like to have more complete accounts? Start account rounding to secure better insureds and increase lasting relationships? Do you want to bring in more sales? Make the agency more profitable — increase revenue? Would you like to retire and possibly prepare the agency for sale in five years? Discuss the goals of the agency with your partners or principals and then write them down.
COMPARE THE TWO
Take a good look at the employees' goals and those of the agency and start finding ways to match them up. How can the agency help the employees achieve their goals — and vice-versa? For example, consider developing an account-rounding program and discuss incentives with your employees. How much money can they make on a monthly basis if the agency meets its account-rounding goals? How much money a month can the agency make if the employees attain their goals? Discuss all the details and work together and help each other create a win-win situation!
WOW!
Boy, is that an understatement. If you want to start achieving some major goals within the agency, start paying attention to those employee goals.
Goal setting has made a big difference in my life. Recently, I started to think about my life and where I wanted to be in six months, one year, five years, and 10 years. I narrowed it down to a six-month goal of having every bill paid. I thought about what achieving that goal would mean to me: Peace of mind, fewer worries, and so forth. I asked myself what steps I needed to take on a monthly basis to make this happen. Then I went into action. It's been three months now, and I've met my plans and goals. This was a goal I really wanted to achieve as a basis for attaining other goals. It actually worked.
If you want to start achieving your agency goals, start looking at the employees' goals. Compare the two sets of goals. Find out how the agency goals can meet the employee goals. Implement a program, and see things happen. Do the experiment. Try it today. It worked for me — and it will work for you.