Risk Services Of Arkansas - December 2019

Some people are born into insurance. Other people, like INSURICA’s vice president and director of sales development, David Saldon, quite literally stumble into it. In the summer of 1984, David had been accepted to law school and was working two bartending jobs to pay tuition. Every day, he would see two well-dressed men come in for lunch and order a pitcher

Poor delegation is the Achilles’ heel of most leaders, who often confuse being “involved” with being “essential.” To determine if you’re holding on to work you should delegate out, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) recommends asking this simple question: “If you had to take an unexpected week off work, would your initiatives and priorities advance in your absence?” If your answer is no or you aren’t sure, then you’re probably too involved. No one person should be the cog that keeps everything in motion, no matter their position in the company. Luckily, HBR has created an audit using the following six T’s to identify which tasks can be delegated. TINY: Small tasks that stack up can undermine the flow of your work. Registering for a conference, putting it on the calendar, and booking the flight are all small tasks someone else can handle. TEDIOUS: These tasks are straightforward but not the best use of your time. Someone else can input lists into spreadsheets or update key performance indicators for a presentation. TIME-CONSUMING: These important, complex tasks don’t require you to do the first 80% of the work. Identify what they are, pass them to someone else, and step in for the final 20% to give approval. TEACHABLE: Is there a task only you know how to do? If so, teach someone else to do it, and step in for the last quality check when it’s done. TERRIBLE AT: It’s okay to be bad at some things. Great leaders know when to pass tasks off to someone who is more skilled than they are. The task will get done faster and at a much higher quality. TIME-SENSITIVE: These tasks need to get done right now but are competing with tasks of a higher priority. Just because it has to get done immediately doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it. Sure, some tasks only you can accomplish, but these are extremely rare. As the Virgin Group founder Richard Branson warns, needlessly resisting delegation is the path to disaster. “You need to learn to delegate so that you can focus on the big picture,” Branson says. “It’s vital to the success of your business that you learn to hand off those things that you aren’t able to do well.” Delegate to Elevate The Secret to Being a Great Leader

of sangria. Four hours later, they’d be back for happy hour. After a few weeks, David finally had to ask these gentlemen what they did for a living. That’s when he was invited to stop by an insurance firm and hear about a career where you could make good money, help businesses protect their assets, build strong professional relationships that turn into lifelong personal relationships, and still be home to catch your kid’s baseball game. “I was going to law school in September, but I figured I’d give insurance a try for the rest of the summer,” David recalls. “Long story short, in my first week, I wrote an account for a guy who hated his previous insurance. I was hooked!” David’s love for the industry grew from his passion for helping people. Over time, David would create a producer development program for his firm to help bring on and train more people who wanted to help businesses thrive. This skill is what ultimately brought David to INSURICA when the company put out a national search for a director of sales development nine years ago. At the time, the average age of someone in the industry was 54. INSURICA wanted to prioritize recruiting and developing young talent. After consulting with the Supreme Ruler — aka his wife — David decided to look into the position. This led to the whole family, including David’s in-laws, moving from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma. It was a huge change, but one that has paid off for both David’s family and INSURICA over the last decade. “Generally speaking, 3 out of 10 people who come into the industry as producers make it,” David reports. “It’s probably one of the toughest sales jobs there is. Over the last decade, I’ve hired over 100 producers at INSURICA, with a success rate of 64%. We’ve got a support program in place. When producers are set up to succeed, they can help our clients develop and implement risk management plans that are best in class.” Having David in leadership set our team up for success and changed the direction of the company, much like how stumbling into insurance changed the direction of David’s life. “Family is key,” David says. “I got into this industry on the promise that I would be able to support and be with my family. Over the years, I’ve been able to go on family hikes, coach my son’s baseball team, and take my daughter to visit colleges. I love spending time with my family, and it’s a privilege to be in an industry that helps people protect their businesses so they can spend time with their families, too.”

2 • www.insurica.com • Specialized Insurance Programs for Specialized Industries.

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