One thing I have found after speaking with hundreds of agents the last few years is, setting goals isn’t a problem, heck even getting systems into place isn’t too hard for most of you. The biggest challenge is overcoming fear.
Before you get too defensive, I’m not talking about being personally afraid, it’s more of an internal dread of conflict that I hear about from agents.
This quote from Merlin Mann sums it up, “You don’t let the guy (or gal) with the Broom, control how many elephants are in the parade.” Think about this for a second.
The fear I hear in agents’ voices is the fear of what the staff will do, how they will react or not react to this new marketing system or new idea. Many agents hesitate or even don’t implement due to this fear. I say enough is enough, start making decisions based on what is good and profitable for your agency, not what the natives want you to do or what will keep them from rioting.
The only person in your organization that is indispensable is you and if you build your systems correctly, soon it won’t need so much of you, to run smoothly.
Take the plunge, make those changes and see what you can accomplish playing to win, versus playing not to lose or upset your staff. I’ve lost key staff before that I didn’t know what I would do if they quit. Guess what? We are still here and growing. Sometimes upsetting the apple cart is the best thing to do.
Don’t worry about them; set your sights on achieving your goals, your best people are those who understand your goals and are striving to achieve them with you. Now having said all that, you should communicate enough about the reasons for change so that your best people can understand support and defend the change. Only then can you function as a team.
By the way, I practice what I preach I’ve changed management systems 3 times in the last 4 years and we are getting ready to change over to a new system within the month. Is this going to break a few eggs with the staff? Yep. Does this color my decision? Nope.
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not in favor of change just for the sake of change. I have solid financial reasons for these changes, and high expectations for what the right systems can do for my agency. I will endure the pain of changing until I achieve the goal I have set.
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