Episode 337: Busy Is Not A Strategy

Welcome to the Scale Your Insurance Agency Podcast. This podcast will give you all of the tools to scale your insurance agency and live life on your own terms. Wherever you are today, if you're stuck or well on your way to the success you desire with the right people, processes, and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Hey everyone, let's get into it on the Scaling Your Insurance Agency podcast because I've identified a lot of things, especially based on recent activities in our mastermind sessions and one-on-one coaching sessions. This is really, really important. So do yourself a favor, shut off those devices, shut your door, get something to write with and write on, and take notes on what we've got for you today. Here's the first thing that I've identified. Most agency owners, the issue isn't a lack of effort. Look, you guys work your tails off. I know that. I remember and I still do. It's a lack of disciplined focus. Follow one course until success focused on the few things that will actually move the agency forward. Because here's the reality, and I fight this in my own world. We get all these ideas coming down the pike. Oh, the latest AI tool. Oh, this latest strategy. Oh, this latest great idea. And what happens? All of a sudden, we got this cluster of uh going on in the agency, and there's complete confusion because nobody knows what's next. And we don't want that to be you. That's why we specifically intentionally design the plans for agencies within uh UPP so you have a dedicated vision plan, an operational plan. Now, let's get into it. First of all, I want you to remember this. It's not a lack of discipline, it's a lack of discipline focus on the few things that are going to actually move the agency forward. Okay. So point number one. Too many priorities mean you have no priorities. That's right. Too many priorities mean you have no priorities. Like I said, we leave a mastermind, we leave a conference, we leave a meeting, we leave a forum, an agency forum, or something put on by one of our vendor partners. And all of a sudden we've got 15 new great ideas, 12 of them we want to implement right away. The discipline, though, the discipline, like the late great John Woods said, discipline yourself so no one else needs to. What are the one to three things that matter most right now? That's what you need to know. What are the one to three things that matter most right now? Because I will tell you this. That is why we intentionally have a 12-3-1 forum that we provide to everybody that we work with in these types of forums, the masterminds and everything else. So people get clear on the things that are going to move the needle the most. The discipline is deciding what are those one to three things that are going to move the needle right now. So the thing that you need to know as an agency leader, every new initiative consumes organizational capacity. Capacity. So you need to know that. Starting is easy. Look, I'm a fire ready aim personality. I have been all of my life. And it's worked out great in a lot of ways. And a lot of ways, it's not worked out great. Because I hadn't learned yet. That I learned, hey, if I keep coming back and dropping all these great ideas on my team, team, I've got a lot of great new ideas. I'm sucking organizational capacity. Starting is easy, but it's finishing that creates results. And being a results-driven organization is what you're after. Leaders must be comfortable saying not now to good ideas. Keeping a not now list, or we call it an issues list. These are things that are great ideas. They're things that we need to work on, but not now. Because right now, the highest priorities and the priority reside in your quarterly goals. The quarterly goals are the engine that drives the Ferrari. The Ferrari being your independent insurance agency business. And ask yourself: if we could accomplish only one major thing in the next 90 days, back to the quarterly goals, the Ferrari, which is your agency, if we could accomplish only one major thing in the next 90 days, what would create the greatest impact? What would move the needle forward the fastest? That's the item to discuss with your leadership team or in your mirror of truth, whatever that is for you, and get to work on it. Because for every, like Earl Nightingale said, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. And that reaction will be the result of your action items. So it will lead to the next win or the next lesson. You never lose. The identification of, you know, maybe something that we need to tweak or do a little bit better, do differently, or. Okay. Remember this. Great agencies aren't built by doing everything. They're built by consistently finishing the right things. Great agencies are not built by doing everything. They're built by consistently finishing the right things. So finish the right thing. Less is more. Point number two. Protect the important from the urgent. Of course it's urgent. I've got an urgent question. I've got an urgent matter. That's the balance within a team. So that's why you should always know who on your team. It's like, we'll take baseball right now. It says it's baseball season, nearing playoff season. When that ground ball goes to the shortstop, that shortstop must know before the ground ball even happens what he's going to do with that ball. Is he going to second for the double play? Is he going to home to get the lead runner out? He needs to know in advance. Same thing. Protect the important from the urgent. You need to know what the important is. So when that urgent comes down, you know what to do with it. You see, insurance agencies manufacture urgency. It's a natural progression. Renewals, claims, carrier issues, employee questions, upset clients, emails, team messages, phone calls. You know what I'm talking about. If the leadership doesn't intentionally protect time, the agency will consume every minute that's available naturally. So it's important that we have intentional plans, that we have intentional goals, and more. And I don't have this off the top of my head. My current read is Measuring What Matters by John Doerr. I just started it this morning. I'm on fire. That's my current book read, by the way. Measure what matters. So you have to know what matters. The leadership's highest value work is not often urgent what's urgent today. It's recruiting, developing leaders, improving profitability, building the sales engine, creating strategy, and developing culture. All of it is your prior. That's why I am doing what needs to be done within our UPP team culture to get stuff off on my plate, to move things off of Andrea Wyatt's plate. We're bringing in team members to handle that so that we can focus on what the priority items are. And in an upcoming podcast, I'll have more on that. Vitally, vitally important to your future achievement. So, question for you. And give me your honest answer. Because, like Dan Sullivan said, all progress starts with the truth. Are you spending your week running today's agency or building tomorrow's agency? Hmm, hard question, huh? Are you spending your time building today's agency or building tomorrow's agency? That is the definition of scaling. Create the future agency and start operating like that future agency in the present, not the past agency. Because if you keep doing the same old things that you've been doing, you're gonna get the same old results. This is the way we've always done it. Great. We learned and we won, but that's not what we're gonna focus on today. We're gonna focus on the future agency that we're building. The owner needs scheduled interruption-proofed time blocks for strategic work. Time block your calendar. I've got two hours time blocked on, two and a half hours time blocked on my calendar every single day to do the right work, the important work. Otherwise, $50 problems are gonna continue to steal time from your $500,000 opportunities. The important the teammate who needs collaboration about an important client is waiting because something else stole your time. Don't let it happen. Point number three: identify the constraint before you add another initiative. This one feels a little complex, so let me unpack it for you. One of the most important leadership questions that you must consistently be aware of and be asking yourself. What is the single biggest thing preventing us from getting to where we want to go? What is the single biggest thing preventing us from getting to where we want to go? Do you know? If not, great question to start your leadership meeting off with. Or your team meeting. Start it off with that. What's the single biggest thing preventing us from getting to where we want to go? Now, there's multiple things that could be in the way. I'll throw you some examples and you can write these down for your team meetings or for your leadership meetings. Okay. It might be lack of a sales activity, no marketing engine, your retention percentage might have a bit of a temperature, and it's getting worse, and the temperature keeps rising. The wrong person in a leadership position, wrong person, wrong seat. Owner dependency, or aka the owner is the bottleneck. Weak accountability within your culture are none at all. Inefficient processes or inadequate automation. Do you know? Do you have a plan? Do you have documented processes and workflows? Because don't keep adding automation and technology if you do not have documented processes and workflows. Because if you do, you're going to continue to create more chaos. And how's that going to work out for you? We want you to win. So identify the primary constraint to create exponentially more progress for you and for your team by attacking these symptoms, becoming aware of them, working through them with your team so you can get to that sweet space of operational efficiency. Not perfect. There is no perfection. There never will be. The only thing that you can ask of yourselves, of your teammates, of everybody that you work with is a perfect effort. Perfect effort. From the book The Game Stands Tall. The story of the Concord de La Salle High School football team, 151 straight wins in a row. That's what he taught his players. The culture was there's not going to be any perfection on the field. There's one thing that we do ask, and you should be asking from yourselves and your teammates, a perfect effort. Point number four, measure progress by outcomes, not activities. Let me repeat that one because I hear activities, activities, activities, activities and agencies. And while that's great, things are getting done, maybe. It's outcomes or results that matter. Measure and track what matters. Measure and track what matters. And share it with your team. They want to know. They need to know. And especially the A players, they're banking on you sharing that scoreboard. And if you're not sharing that scoreboard, you're missing a huge opportunity because they want to know. And they want to know what they can do to help you get there. And so if you're not sharing that with them, you're holding them back. You're holding the organization back. And this is not intended to be a slap, it's an insight. Why don't you be aware? Me and my wife have this little over 35 years, we've had a lot of things going on over the years. But our latest uh little inner rant is awareness. And uh I because I've said for years, hey, I'm aware, honey. Now she says it. She goes, I'm aware. I said, Great! Isn't awareness a great thing? Anyway, let's get back to outcomes. Measure progress by outcomes or results, not activity. It's a dangerous sentence because have you ever gone up to one of your teammates and say it, said, How are you doing? And they go, Oh, I'm so busy. Respond, try responding with this. Andrea, I'm glad you're busy. Tell me about your results. And whatever you do, shut up. See what they say. That's what you continually say again and again and again and again to set the tone for your culture that we're a results-driven organization, not an activities or busy-driven organization. Because it's not a strategy. Being busy is a very dangerous environment. Look, we all work a lot of hours, and we all work more than 40. And we can make sometimes very little strategic progress. Because activities create the feeling of accomplishment. They put you in the comfort zone. Oh, I got so much done today. Did you? Did your team? Outcomes create actual achievement. Results create actual achievement. So, a question for you to reflect on, maybe discuss with your team. What is materially better in my agency today because of how I invested my time? What's your answer to that? What is materially better in your agency today because of how you invested your time to lead the organization forward? And what is every one of your team members saying in answer to that question? Your levers, your measurement levers. Revenue, organic growth, retention, profitability, net profitability, leadership capacity. In other words, do you have any time to do what you really need to do, or are you swamped in the busy in somebody else's agenda? By the way, that may reside inside your email inbox. The book that I just got, I know I'm dropping a lot of book recommendations on today's podcast, but I'm an uh avid, avid reader. Uh just got done with another book called Come Up for Air by Nick Sorensen. It's a great study on efficiency, so check that out. That's where my mind went when I said that. What is material better in my agency today? Because of how I invested my time. Nick recommends that you do not interact with your team, your teammates, your fellow employees via email. Yep, I just said that. I'll say it again. He recommends for greatest efficiency, do not interact with your teammates via email. You should have internal communication systems. An example might be Microsoft Teams. That's for team member collaboration. Just a thought for you. I know. But Mike, but Mike, I know. How bad do you want it? Leadership capacity, producer performance, automation, the right automation, leadership freedom. Freedom to do what you need to do, to do all the things that we talked about in the prior point. What is materially better in your agency today because of how you invested your time in these things? Make sure you have it. Revenue, organic growth, retention, profitability, net profitability, leadership capacity, capacity for your key team members, producer performance, and results, automation, improving automation, technology using AI, powered by AI, and owner freedom, leadership freedom. If nothing measurable has changed, being busy wasn't enough. So what do we do now? Point number five. To put a bow on this for you, here's what you do. Turn your vision and business plan. And I hope you have one. And if you don't, we need to get on a UPP scaling session. I'll just pause right there. It's somewhere around the show notes. The link for that is somewhere around the show notes. Turn the vision into a your vision or business plan into a 30, 60, and 90-day execution plan. Yes, an execution plan, an action plan. Because all the strategies, all the ideas, all the things that you want to accomplish only become valuable when it turns into action or execution. That's it. One of the most successful agents that I've ever worked with. That was always the words out of his mouth. I'm action-packed, I'm action-packed, I'm action-packed, I'm action-packed. That's why he's successful. That's why he achieved at the highest level. That's why he has controlled his own destiny and now his plan. He knows exactly what he's going to accomplish and he tracks it and measures it. He showed it to you. Strategy only becomes valuable when it turns into execution. Take the agency's long-term business or vision plan and break it into a 90-day sprint if you haven't done that yet. So, your 30 day plan, let's break that down just a little bit. What must be decided in the next 30 days? Designed, assigned, or started. So in the next 30 days, get clear. If you need to huddle with your leadership team or your agency team, get clear. You know, flip chart. Or whiteboard session? What must be decided, designed, assigned, or started in the next 30 days? That's the beginning of your plan. Over the next 60 days, what must be implemented, tested, measured, or adjusted? What must be implemented, tested, measured, or adjusted? Because what gets tracked and measured gets done. And if you already are doing these things, great. How are the results from my good good friend Kujo Teshner, Robert Kujo Teshna? His book is Debrief to Win. Are you debriefing on what happened? What worked and what didn't work? What could you do better? All of our events within our company, especially the live events, we have a debriefing session. What worked and what didn't work. And what we do is we review those debriefing notes leading up to the next one with the big goal of getting better. And 90 days, what measurable outcome must exist? In other words, what does done look like? Turn your vision and business plan into a short-term 30, 60, 90-day action plan. Remember this. And this is true on what we teach in the quarterly goal environment: 90 days, right? The engine that drives the Ferrari is the quarterly goals. Every priority should have an owner, a deadline, a measurement, and an accountability cadence. I will tell you what our accountability cadence is within our organization. This is what we also teach. So if you have weekly meetings, you should be revisiting your quarterly goals on a weekly basis, whether it be leadership team meetings or agency meetings. Whoever owns that goal reports back to the entire team publicly. Are we on track or off track? That's it. Mike, is your goal to build the team on track or off-track? That's one of my three quarterly goals right now. Build the team. Well, I'm happy to say it's on track. New hire last Friday. We have multiples in the mix for the next seat. We are hiring three seats by the end of the year. Yes, things are on track. That's the check-in. On track or off track. And if it's off track, then you get together as an organization, as a team to get it back on track. The power of multiple minds working together for a common cause. Every goal, every initiative should have an owner, a deadline, a measurement, and an accountability cadence. And very, very critical. Don't take, don't add another major priority without consciously deciding what comes off the list. The list being your quarterly goals. Just because somebody recommended this great idea, you need to do that now. Make sure that you're all on the same page. Look, I've made that mistake. And it does nothing but deflates your culture. Everybody questions your leadership. You said we were going to do this and now we're doing this. What is it that you want? That's what they're thinking. I made that mistake. Don't do it. Stick to the plan. And if you're going to want to alter the plan, discuss it with your team. Your agency probably doesn't need more ideas. It needs more action, more execution. Your team doesn't need 17 priorities. They need clarity about the vital few. And you don't need more hours in the day. Although it'd be nice, right? No, we don't need more hours in a day. You need the discipline to invest your hours in the work only you as the leader can do for what you're responsible for. You should only be doing the things that only you can do. Period. Focus is not about doing more. Focus is about having the discipline to decide what matters most. Focus is about the discipline to decide what matters most and staying in it long enough to produce the result. One of them came back and said, because I communicate with them weekly on a subject. And this weekend subject was the 8x8x8 philosophy. Yes, I'm teaching teenagers the 8x8x8 philosophy. Why? Because I want them to make the highest and best use of their time. Talk about distraction. Do you remember your teenage years? Yeah, I know. Distraction, right? And one of them came back and said, but you know, I'm working on myself and I'm doing this exercise routine, and it's hard. And some of it's really hard, and sometimes I don't feel like it. And I was able to interject that I know, I don't always feel like getting up at 4:31 and doing what I need to do. But I'm responsible for so many who are depending on me. And I, like you know, Bob Ladissur from Concordale LaSalle said, all we can ask is a perfect effort, and you should be asking that of yourself. Ask it of yourself first. And I told that young man, I said, ask it of yourself first. And the more you fight through it, the more you do it when you don't feel like the easier it's gonna get. And I was so proud of one of the other kids who came back and said, Jeep, you've told me that before, but I needed to hear it again. I'm so glad you did. Now he heard it back in the high school days. Now he's a firefighter. He's in a different place in his life. And he heard it with different ears, heard it with different mind, et cetera, et cetera. Now he's focused. He has goals. And he told me about some of his goals, and I was like super happy for him. And I just happen to know he's goofing off a little bit on his spare time, so I reeled him in. I hope this has helped you. Create your action plan. Focus is not about doing more. Focus is having the discipline to decide what matters most and staying with it long enough to produce the result. If you want to talk about your potential results or anything concerning your agency operations, I'm happy to connect. Let's jump on a UPP scaling session and we will figure out what's going on with your agency and we will get to work. The link is somewhere around the show notes. Thank you for joining us on the Scale Your Insurance Agency podcast. If you got great value out of this podcast, awesome. That's our goal. Share the link with somebody else who you think might need to hear it. Pay it forward. Pass it on. I'll see you on the next episode.

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