05 May E&O Loss Prevention is a Team Sport
“Agencies don’t make mistakes – people do.” This is one of my favorite expressions and it really is true. Agencies consist of people and it is up to the agency staff to do their job at the level expected. In that regard, an agency is like a sports team. When everyone performs their duties in the expected manner, the team will normally achieve a good result. However, when one or more members of the team don’t meet expectations, the whole team will pay the price. In the E&O world, sometimes that can mean E&O claims will develop.
Every year when I meet with the E&O Plus agencies that I am honored to work with, I assess the E&O culture. The culture can change from one year to the next. Issues such as new staff or new offices can change things. Bottom line, I want to see if everyone is on the same page and if everyone has a solid level of commitment to do the right thing. Is the level of execution consistent among all staff? After all, an agency’s E&O culture is only as strong as its weakest link.
Without question, staff accountability is a key issue. Every agency is encouraged to assess the level of accountability among employees. It would be interesting to compare where folks feel the level of accountability is today with the previous year or even three years ago. You may not know where you want to be, but if you can see that progress is being made, that is definitely a good thing.
The topic of E&O should be continuously enforced throughout the organization. Many agencies have found success by doing the following:
- Staff Meetings – when individual groups get together, including E&O issues is recommended. This can include reviewing audit results, talking about new exposures, discussing coverages, etc. I am a firm believer that most staff already know the agency’s E&O issues. Staff meetings are a great way to get these issues out in the open and discuss solutions to address them.
- Have an “E&O champion” in each of your divisions / branch offices, etc. This should be someone that clearly gets it and understands how important it is that procedures are followed consistently. Someone that can continuously reinforce the message. There should be at least one in personal lines, one in commercial lines, one in benefits, etc.
- Watching the game film. In the E&O world, this is where auditing comes in. Most agencies have a solid game plan and their success will largely depend on whether they execute that game plan. This is why agencies need to have a process that verifies the degree in which their respective staff members are meeting the firm’s expectations. Without this auditing process, mistakes will occur that can have a significant cost to the agency. The E&O Plus Audit Templates were designed to capture key data on the numerous E&O Best Practices. It is suggested to review the audit questions with the staff to help them better understand the issues. Also, it has been shown that people will pay closer attention when they know they are being measured. Celebrating positive results is a great way to improve the chance of continued positive results.
E&O is definitely a team sport and when everyone is on the same page, good things will happen.