How Failure To Delegate Obstructs Business Growth
February 2003
Small insurance-related businesses can be
prone to the “failure to delegate” syndrome, leaving little time for strategic
issues and long-term planning. Effective delegation allows everyone to win and,
with the help of an easy-to-learn delegation model, can provide management with
more time to focus on assessing company accomplishments and shortfalls and allow
it to take advantage of business opportunities that otherwise may go unnoticed.
by Wendy
Capland
Vision
Quest Consulting
The tendency to do everything yourself rather than delegate responsibility
is a common trap for many executives, but it presents unique challenges for
insurance agencies, brokerages, and small business offices with fewer than 100
employees. Many insurance executives find themselves so caught up in the day-to-day
details of running a business that they have little or no time to devote to
strategic issues such as analyzing and setting goals for their book of business,
determining loss exposure, and identifying risk by insurer.
The spiral continues as these hands-on managers become frustrated by the
lack of time for long-term business planning and by the difficulty of shifting
from the fast, reactive-pace of fire fighting to more thoughtful, big picture
activities.
This article will discuss why small businesses such as insurance companies,
agencies, and brokerages are prone to the “failure to delegate” syndrome and
how it can be minimized using quick and easy-to-learn delegation techniques.
It will also provide a template to help assess last year’s accomplishments and
shortfalls and set work goals for the future.
The Small Company Dilemma
“It will take less time if I do it myself, and I’ll know it will be done
right.” This common refrain runs through the minds of many small company executives
every day and the reasons are frighteningly similar. First, there’s the need
to control everything so you can be the master of your business’s destiny. Second
is the issue of being understaffed which leaves everyone overworked—regardless
of how effective the systems are that are keeping everyone busy. After all,
who’s got time to think!
The third symptom is insufficiently trained or inexperienced support employees.
Rather than enrolling employee X in a class on Excel, for example, you just
keep creating all the charts yourself! The last reason is often difficult to
admit, but some managers just find it easier to answer e-mail and phone messages
than to think or take time to plan.
There are several negative implications of this delegation-deficient management
style. Days and eventually months go by filled with the never-ending demands
of running a small business. The executive hasn’t had any concentrated chunks
of time to think about whether the agency is meeting its present goals, let
alone how to plan for future growth.
Management’s total immersion in the day-to-day activities also has implications
for the staff. It prevents managers from having time to mentor or develop employees
which not only leaves the staff frustrated and feeling undervalued, but also
makes it next to impossible to get out of the trap.
Effective Delegation Allows Everyone To Win
Here are two examples illustrating how effective delegation can benefit managers
and staff members.
Example 1. The manager of a small insurance
office felt overwhelmed by his workload and was having difficulty getting anything
done, yet always complained to his administrative assistant about how busy he
was. She found this very frustrating because she had expressed her willingness
to take on more responsibility on many occasions.
When I first visited the manager to assess the situation, his office looked
like a cyclone had hit it. His desk and tables were overflowing with piles of
paper, his PC was loaded with e-mail, and his phone rang continuously throughout
our conversation.
I began my evaluation by looking at the administrative assistant’s role.
I suggested that if she screened all of his communications—from phone to voice
mail to e-mail to written correspondence—and problem-solved and filed many of
them, it would free up time for him to handle more strategic issues such as
setting underwriting goals and developing an action plan to achieve them.
We agreed that for 1 week the manager would come in to the office an hour
later so that the assistant could have time to put a few systems in place. She
began screening both his e-mail and regular mail, indicating those that required
his immediate action or direction and, importantly, taking care of dozens of
requests herself. In some cases, the manager was able to provide additional
direction for the assistant to move the process forward—still saving time and
developing her skills simultaneously.
I also suggested that he delegate the role of setting the agenda for the
weekly staff meeting and gathering input ahead of time from participants. He
also made her responsible for maintaining his calendar and scheduling meetings.
The administrative assistant now feels more challenged and valued, and the
executive is tackling more strategic issues affecting the company’s growth.
Example 2. During my assessment of the workload
of a small brokerage, I learned that the manager was spending approximately
2 hours each week gathering and collating information from his four direct reports
in order to produce a report analyzing his book of business for his boss each
Friday. Because the data was rarely turned in when it was due, the manager had
to waste time tracking down his staff to get the data. This happened week after
week. The manager was frustrated and his boss was dissatisfied when the report
was late. Sound familiar?
I suggested that perhaps one of the four staff members contributing to the
report could be given responsibility for compiling it. Reluctantly, the manager
gave it a try and found it worked! This freed up the manager to handle more
strategic issues and made the employee feel more invested in the business.
Delegation Model
Effective delegation is like starting a new exercise program. You know it’s
the right thing to do and you’ll love the results, but it’s tough to make a
commitment and get started. Just as a personal trainer can get you on the road
to fitness, leadership expertise can help with this situation. Make a promise
to try the following exercise (your muscles won’t be sore!).
- Assess your current workload by reviewing and/or writing a job
description and creating a time budget for your typical week (i.e.,
x % spent on meetings, e-mail, sales, billing, etc.)
- Decide which tasks on your time budget consume too much time
and don’t effectively support your job description. These are the
tasks that should be delegated!
- Decide what tasks need to be done and determine which employee
would benefit most from the learning experience. Although most employees
don’t have extra time to do more work, many would welcome an assignment
that stretches them.
- Clearly describe the assignment and where it fits in the “big
picture” to the employee who will take responsibility for it. Giving
the employee an understanding of why the task is so important and
how it contributes to the company’s goals will increase the employee’s
commitment and accountability.
- Jointly define the time, money, staff, training, and resources
needed to accomplish the task. Doing this step together will clarify
what is needed and show that you are working in partnership with
your employee to help him or her succeed.
- Work together to outline initial ideas about how to proceed.
- Give the employee the appropriate level of authority to carry
out the assignment.
- Both parties should come to an agreement about how success will
be measured and how often. If the job is completed successfully,
what would the result look like? Determining what constitutes success
and how you will measure it before you start any job allows everyone
to understand the expectations.
- Provide feedback and support during the process and at its completion.
Staying on top of the work, while not actually doing it is critical.
Feedback allows course corrections. It’s disheartening to get to
the end of a failed project and know that better communication with
your employee could have influenced its success.
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Getting the Most Out of Your New Found Free Time
Once you begin delegating responsibility, you may find it difficult to know
how to tackle the planning process. Analysis of the business and determining
growth goals is necessary before you can establish trade ratios, premium, and
retention goals. There will probably be a period of adjustment when you need
to retrain yourself to help you think more strategically.
Some executives find it helpful to set aside a week or a day a month for
strategic thinking. If interruptions occur too frequently in the office, you
might go to the library or a quiet restaurant or work from home. You could also
schedule a monthly meeting with an outside advisor, coach, or a corporate peer
to bounce ideas around and think outside the box. The key to success is having
a consistent commitment and finding time to think that’s free of distractions.
An effective way to begin the planning process is to look back over the past
year and assess your accomplishments and shortfalls using the following exercise.
The categories you might want to assess include business development, plan enhancement,
customer communication, customer retention, and sales.
- Accomplishments: list your accomplishments in the past year—the
things you are most proud of in each category.
- Shortfalls: take a look at your shortfalls—things that were
disappointing or frustrating—using the same categories.
- Opportunities: Review the information in the first two topics
and look for areas where you'd like to set new goals for this year.
- Create a 2003 plan with specific goals and strategies.
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This exercise will give you closure on last year and set the stage to accomplish
great things in the year ahead.
A chance for you to have your questions answered....
If you have a question about leadership issues in the insurance industry,
send it to me at wcapland@visionquestconsulting and I'll try to answer it in my upcoming IRMI.com "Leadership Issues" column.
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is needed, consult with your attorney, accountant, or other qualified adviser.