It’s Time to be Intentional about your Agency’s Culture

It's time to be Intentional About your Agency's Culture

BY: DANI KIMBLE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AT O’NEILL INSURANCE

Now more than ever, organizations with a strong company culture are thriving. Why? Because if you can unite your team around a shared purpose and a set of core behaviors you become unstoppable, regardless of what is happening in the world around us. As you read this, a pandemic has transformed the way your employees are working, while taking care of their personal lives.

My story is one of many.

For over 75 days, I worked full-time from home while homeschooling my 1st grader, pre-kindergartner and preschooler. While the day-to-day activities were busy, my most challenging moments revolved around educating my children on what was happening as their school and extracurricular activities all came to a screeching halt. They desperately missed their friends. Their spring sports were cancelled. They feared seeing masks in public. There was no formal goodbye from teachers and classmates. Though we made many beautiful moments during quarantine, there were still times where they felt sad. They felt scared. They were overwhelmed. They struggled to understand. They felt frustrated. While my children and family have always come first, these particular moments required a significant amount of focus, time and intentionality on my part. I have shifted the weight of my priorities to ensure a nurturing environment where my children feel safe and are socially and emotionally healthy. How did I achieve peace through all of this? By working for an organization who consistently prioritizes my role as a mother and wife over and above my role as their employee. They led with empathy, offered flexibility and respected my need for stronger work/ life balance. Simply put, it’s a reflection of our culture at O’Neill Insurance - and it has a direct correlation with my high level of engagement, job satisfaction and desire and momentum to move the agency forward.

Culture speaks volumes.

My story is one of many examples of the daily personal challenges your team members are facing. Whether they are caring for an elderly family member, grieving the loss of a loved one, struggling with a relationship, balancing the life of a working parent, facing health issues, etc. - life can be challenging and stressful at times. When your employer is there for you, it helps.

The average American spends one-third of their life working. That is equivalent to an estimated 90,000 hours in a lifetime! Your organization has the power to make a significant impact on your team members’ quality of life. It starts with a very intentional and clearly defined workplace culture.

What is Workplace Culture?

Oftentimes, when people think about workplace culture they immediately jump to the “fun” elements of the work environment. Foosball tables in the break room, unlimited PTO, happy hours with the team, dogs in the workplace, yoga balls for desk chairs, etc. The list goes on and on! The problem is, however, that when we define our culture in this format, workplace culture becomes “fluffy.”

Rightly so. While all of these elements listed above can certainly play a role in the overall culture of an organization, they do not give substance to the foundation of your company culture. Deloitte defines culture as a system of values, beliefs and behaviors that shape how “real work” gets done in an organization.

I’m not the first to refer to workplace culture as the heartbeat of your organization. When you put your people and your culture at the core of your business

strategy and you become intentional about nurturing, coaching, teaching and leading with the behaviors that lead to high performance on both, personal and professional levels, you position your people and your organization to thrive.

The next-gen leaders are putting culture at the forefront of their career decisions.

As the next generation enters and leads the workforce, they’re paying close attention to career aspects that go beyond the paycheck. Candidates and employees are looking at culture as one of the greatest determining factors for accepting and maintaining a role with your company.

Key findings in a report on Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace indicate that career development and work/life balance are more important than financial reward. Additionally, your people thrive with clearly defined behaviors and expectations, which result in higher workplace productivity, job satisfaction, employee engagement and a stronger sense of meaning and purpose in their work.

It’s time to be intentional about your culture.

It is common for companies to have a vision/mission statement and/or core values - and use this to define their culture. What is not common, however, is to take the vision/mission and core values off the walls or website and operationalize them into the organization. This is where we can make progress in building a high performing culture.

There are several resources to help you get started on defining your culture. I recommend starting with the book, Fundamentally Different by David Friedman. Friedman’s system helped our team at O’Neill Insurance identify and define the behaviors that will lead our people and our organization to personal and professional success. It is essentially become our culture plan, operating on an 8-step framework which provides the foundation for the design, implementation and continual practice of a high performing culture.

Culture is the key. It is the key to attracting and retaining talent, increasing employee engagement and job satisfaction, and building a more cohesive, caring and empathetic team, which directly correlates with organizational growth and future-proofs your business for success.

GOOD COMPANIES HAVE GOOD CULTURES BY CHANCE. WORLD CLASS COMPANIES HAVE WORLD CLASS CULTURES BY DESIGN. - DAVID FRIEDMAN

Risk Management Premium Credit

P ROFESSIONAL LIABILIT Y.

A 10% credit on your Westport E&O premium may be earned by attending an approved 3 hour risk management seminar prior to your policy anniversary (or within 30 days after your policy inception/renewal date). The number of agency staff required to attend is based on agency size. The credit is applicable for two consecutive policy terms.

To determine your speci�ic requirement, refer to the chart below:

Agency Staff Size Total Required Attendees

1 – 4 1 5 – 11 3 12+ 25% of staff (Max of 15 attendees)

The following additional credits are available, up to a maximum total risk management credit of 20 percent:

50% or more of staff attendance = 5% credit 

available

Agency use of a coverage checklist = 5% credit 

available

Voluntary website review by an approved 

reviewer with findings implemented = 5% credit available

Please contact your state association for more information.

Additional agency risk management information is available 24/7 via the E&O Happens web site. Visit:

www.iiaba.net/EOHappens

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