P R A D

1) Determine who is accountable. Accountability starts with putting someone in charge and allocating the action items necessary to support the strategy. Individuals should be given responsibilities and be expected to deliver results. 2) Document key tasks and responsibilities. Maintain an up-to-date and easily accessible document summarizing actionable items included within the producer recruiting and development strategy. All “in process” tasks should be included, with the team member(s) responsible for their completion identified and deadlines assigned. In this way, the question of “who’s responsible to do what and when” will be clear. The documentation process is frequently delegated to a competent administrator working directly with the producer recruiting and development strategy. Any number of project management software packages are well-suited to this task. 3) Meet monthly to discuss the producer recruiting and development strategy . Consider establishing a task force that meets monthly to review progress on the key initiatives and responsibilities addressed above . This monthly meeting would ideally include key team members providing succinct updates on their area(s) of responsibility and discussing key elements of the strategy itself: what’s working, what’s not working, pipeline management, new candidates to consider, how unvalidated producers are progressing, etc. By frequently revisiting and reinforcing key elements of the strategy, it is far less likely that important elements will fall through the cracks or die from a lack of attention. 4) Tie c ompensation to success. Interestingly, very few leaders tasked with the agency’s recruiting and development efforts have their compensation tied directly to its success. More often than not, producer recruiting and development is simply cited as one of many factors considered in determining a leader’s year-end bonus. This lack of specificity can undermine the importance of the strategy . We recommend tying a significant portion of the producer recruiting and development leader’s variable compensation directly to the achievement of objectives identified in the producer recruiting and development strategy. 5) Share the producer recruiting and development strategy widely . At a minimum, provide regular updates throughout the agency to create buy-in, maintain momentum and communicate the appropriate sense of organizational urgency and importance. Consider creating an appropriately abbreviated version of the strategy to share with outsiders (carriers, recruiters, candidates, etc.) to get the word out that the agency is committed to proactive growth and the development of the next generation of sales talent. In doing so, organizational momentum around the producer recruiting and development strategy will be created that will make failure more visible and more painful. 6) Refine the process. A producer recruiting and development strategy will necessarily change over time. Beyond this, no single strategy will be perfect in the first place. Recognizing this, a key element to accountability is to frequently revisit the plan to address its effectiveness and

48 Producer Recruiting & Development Study