The split personality of theproducer role allows the real problem to take root: The producerwill often hide behind the most comfortable role. (Image:Shutterstock)

It is shocking to what degree, and how consistently, insuranceagency leaders struggle with holding everyone on the teamaccountable for doing their job.

The hybrid nature of the industry often has each person playingdual roles. The role of producer is almost always responsible forboth writing new business and holding on to current clients. Infact, it's a rare situation where a producer focuses purely onproduction.

KevinTrokey is founding partner and coach at St. Louis-basedQ4intelligence.

If structured properly, the dual role makes sense. But the"structured properly" part almost never happens.

Related: The day the producer model died

Wearing multiple hats is usually done out of necessity; however,that doesn't eliminate the fundamental problem of dual roles: Onerole helps move the agency forward, while the other keeps it fromfalling backward.

The split personality of the producer role allows the realproblem to take root: The producer will often hide behind the mostcomfortable role (servicing clients).

Of course, it is critically important to retain current clients,but there is a whole team whose primary job and skill set isfocused on retention. The producer needs to be a part of this team,but they need to be properly placed within it.

Two ways to protect you from yourself

Introducing role clarity and accountability for the first timemay be a bit uncomfortable for everyone. Just follow a couple ofkey ideas.

Who does what? Way too many producers try to make themselves theall-important linchpin to the agency-client engagement. I can'ttell you how many producers I have heard brag that they tell theirclients, "Call me for EVERYTHING, day or night." And, guess what?The client does exactly as instructed.

This isn't good for anyone.

• The client has the wrong person dealing with their problem; theaccount management team is way more skilled at dealing with thedetails of service issues than the producer.
• For the agency, having the producer focused on service issuestakes them away from production activities.

This doesn't mean the producer doesn't continue to haveinteractions with the clients; just ensure they are the rightinteractions.

Accountability. The second way to protectyourself is by instilling accountability in the organization,something many agency leaders aren't comfortable doing. Why?Because they mistakenly believe holding someone accountable meansonly focusing on failures. Accountability simply means we expecteveryone on the team to do the job they have been hired to do and areminder that their role is important enough to monitor and discusson a regular basis.

In an accountable organization, it becomes manageable to haveindividuals in dual roles.

• There must be meaningful and measurable goals for theagency.
• Every team member must have clearly defined goals that supportagency goals.
• Everyone's goals must be based on how their role uniquelycontributes to organizational success.
• Measuring and discussing the progress towards those goals is ineveryone's best interest.

If you agree, you clearly understand how important it is tocultivate a culture of accountability. When you do, you ensurehigher performance from everyone.

Read more: 

• For prospecting and marketing, preparation isparamount
• You ain't got no alibi – your pipeline'sugly!
• Hiring a new producer can be a difficulttask