Your Team Is Borrowing Confidence From You

Welcome to the Agent Leader Podcast. This is the podcast for insurance agency leaders to challenge the status quo, to continue to strive for ultimate growth, and become your best version possible. My name is Brent Kelly, I am your host, and today we're going to talk about confidence. In fact, why confidence not only is, of course, is important for any agency, any agency culture, but that confidence is actually contagious. Have you ever walked out of a leadership meeting feeling completely confident about the direction of your agency, only to discover that your team maybe didn't quite buy in, that they're not certainly at the same level of confidence that you are? You know, most agency leaders, they think that confidence is something that you just have or you don't. And I found something very different. See, confidence isn't something that you feel. Today, I feel confident. Tomorrow, not as confident. The next day, we'll see how it goes. Confidence is something that you create. And whether you realize it or not, your team—yes, I'm talking to you—your team is taking their cues from you every single day. If your producers seem hesitant, maybe your managers seem reactive, your team lacks certainty, the problem may not be confidence at all. Are you ready for this? It might be leadership. So today I want to talk about why leadership confidence matters. Why so many agency leaders struggle with it, and how confidence from the top creates stronger culture, better accountability, greater alignment, and ultimately better results. So let's start by talking about the great producer trap. That's right. The great producer trap. What am I talking about? Well, one of the biggest challenges in the independent insurance agency system today is that most leaders became leaders because they were great producers. I'll say it again. Most leaders became leaders because they were great producers. Now, is that always a bad thing? No. In fact, being a great producer, there's a lot of positive traits that go along with that. But here's something to consider. How many agency owners became owners because they were exceptional leaders? Now, maybe they were great leaders, but they became a leader because they were exceptional leaders. Probably very few. That's just the reality. That's what happens in the agency world. See, most became leaders because they built a large book of business. They generated revenue, they earned equity, and they became very successful. Makes sense, right? But the agency system itself, and what I continue to see, has a flaw built into it. We promote the best producers, and then we wonder why sometimes these best producers who are now leaders are struggling. Something that I've said about a number of topics, including this one today, is this: what got you here won't get you there. Sales skills, incredibly important. Love sales skills. But sales skills and leadership skills are very different animals. A producer is responsible for relationships, for opportunities, for revenue. They're out there hunting. The great producers are great hunters. A leader is responsible for people, culture, accountability, and alignment. See, the reality is that most agency leaders, not all, but many, never receive formal leadership training. Again, great producers, but no one taught them how to have difficult conversations with internal team members. Nobody really taught them how to hold people hold people accountable, which we all know isn't easy. Nobody taught them how to create culture, to establish and, and maintain and develop great culture. And no one taught them how to align teams. Now, I'm not saying they can't be good at it, or aren't good at it. But in general terms, they really haven't been taught or lived that experience at that level, maybe until they're already there. Now, as a result, they often spend time managing problems instead of leading people. In fact, I see this all the time. Many producers who become leaders and owners and run departments, they're really good at solving problems or putting out fires. But often, sometimes those fires and solving the problems come as a result because they weren't as focused on leading people. Now, this is where confidence, the focus of today's topic, starts to break down. And this is because all progress, and this is where I want you to think about right now as a leader, all progress starts by telling the truth. This is a core belief that we talk about at Sitkins. So again, what I'm talking about today may hit you directly between the eyes, or maybe you go, "Ah, I don't know if that's really for me." But I'm going to challenge you to really be honest with yourself. It's me and you and you're listening on your podcast device, maybe in your car, maybe in your office. I don't know. But all progress starts by telling the truth. The challenge is that many leaders, and we see this all the time, I'm raising my own hand if you're watching on video, sometimes leaders avoid uncomfortable truths. We say accountability is important. But we don't really hold people accountable. We say culture matters. We haven't clearly defined the culture that we want. We certainly say we want growth, right? But we don't have a leadership system, processes, strategies that truly supports growth. So let me ask you a question. What problem in your agency keeps showing up over and over again. And if it keeps showing up, stop treating it like a people problem. It may be— are you ready for this? A leadership problem. Now, we know there are a number of people problems. I've said this on the podcast before, and I, with a wink and a smile, is that leadership would be really easy if it weren't for the people. But guess who the hardest person in the world is to lead? It's that person that you look in the mirror. So maybe you don't necessarily have a people problem. Maybe it's a leadership problem, because many agencies, they focus on symptoms. Well, what does that look like? Well, it could be, uh, producer inconsistency, frustrations with the service team, turnover. We're not retaining and maybe developing people like we like to. Certainly a lack of growth, of the growth that we're capable of. But those are often symptoms of a deeper issue: leadership gaps. The best leaders don't start by blaming. Well, it's your fault. It's your fault. It's his fault. It's her fault. Those may be truths, by the way. Doesn't mean our people are perfect and don't have their own issues. But the best leaders don't start by blaming. In fact, I share this example in some leadership training, and yes, it's silly, but it's true. I so far have not seen a head coach of a football team, at least a good head coach, get in front of a microphone or a press conference after a game, after maybe a very difficult loss, and say, well, Here's what I think. The players stunk. The assistant coaches stunk. The referees stunk. Heck, the crowd stunk. But I was impeccable. Right? Great leadership starts by owning your own issues, your own mistakes, your own opportunities. So the best leaders don't start by blaming, they start by looking in The mirror. Now, before we move on, let me ask you another question. Do you actually know your agency's biggest leadership opportunities? Do you know where they exist? Do you know where you're falling short? Most agency leaders, they've got opinions, but few have clarity. It's one of the reasons that we created our Agency Performance Assessment. In just a few minutes, you'll get a snapshot of how your agency compares in some of the key areas that drive growth, profitability, accountability, and alignment. If you're listening today and finding yourself thinking, yeah, sounds a bit familiar, stop guessing. Go to sitkins.com/getmyscore, sitkins.com/getmyscore, and find out where you stand because all progress starts by telling the truth. All right. I want to talk next about where your team does begin to get confidence. In fact, your team borrows confidence from you. That's really the heart of the conversation that I want to have with you today. When things get difficult, and they will, and I know they already have, everyone looks to leadership. Maybe it's carrier challenges. I've talked about this before. Hard market, soft market, right? Issues all over with carriers. Maybe it's certain economics that we just don't know of. It's uncertainty, staffing issues, technology changes, whatever it is. People naturally look to leaders for direction. Now, here's something that's really important. I want you to hear me as a leader. Your team does not expect perfection. Your role, your job as a leader is not to be the perfect leader. They expect leadership, which includes the good and the bad. People don't need certainty. This is absolutely gonna happen. They need leadership. When things get uncertain, people don't need a perfect leader. They need a consistent leader. They need someone willing to communicate clearly, make decisions, and move forward. And unfortunately, leaders often create uncertainty without even realizing it. They don't even know. It isn't, isn't malicious. It isn't intentional. But here's how leaders often create uncertainty without even really realizing it. They constantly change priorities. This month it's this, next month is that, the month after it's something else. They send mixed messages. And sometimes we see this between leadership teams, right? We have different ways we approach things from different managers, different leaders. Maybe they avoid decisions. We keep somebody way too long that we know we shouldn't. In fact, everyone on your team's looking around going, why is this person still here? But we all know. They delay communication. And the absence of this communication never creates confidence. In fact, the absence of communication or delay in communication, not only does it not create confidence, it creates stories. Now think about this. If someone's not communicating with you about something, what story do you play in your mind? I bet everything is great. I bet it's I bet all of my worries and fears are being addressed. I just don't know about it. Right? Because most people write negative stories. And when leaders are uncertain, teams become uncertain. When leaders communicate clarity, confidence increases. So your team is always listening to what you say. But here's the caveat. They're paying attention even more to what you believe. Beliefs drive behaviors. So let's talk about confidence builders. If you as a leader, like, okay, Brent, that's— you got me. All right, we could do better here. And by the way, we all could do better as leaders to help create confidence. What are 3 confidence builders? Something specific and tangible that you can begin to think about and of course work on to help create and develop more confidence in your agency? Well, builder number 1 is clarity. Where are we going? I know that sounds obvious, but too many agency leaders that I talk to, and I joke about this, is, hey, what do you want to be when you grow up? Or talk about what does 3 years from today look like? Paint me a picture. And they go, uh, better. Growing. Happier. That's super abstract. Every agency needs a clear vision, a clear mission, clear priorities. What matters the most? One of the biggest mistakes that leaders will make is they assume they've communicated enough. I learned this from a mentor years ago. He said, Brent, the minute that you think you've communicated something important too much, too often, you're finally getting close. We can't make those assumptions because people need repetition. People need reminders. People need reinforcement. Clarity creates confidence. Oh, that's where we're going. And we mean it. Now, whether I agree or not, it's a different question. But at least I know, and clarity gives people confidence. What's another confidence builder? I've already mentioned it, but let's go deeper. Consistency. Consistency. Most agencies honestly don't have a communication problem, although that's the outcome. They have a consistency problem, which is really inconsistent communication. Leaders talk about values one day, or what's important, and then they ignore them or do something different the next day. These are the only type of clients we're going to work on, and then we make exceptions across the board. Like, everything's an exception. Well, that's inconsistency. Standards get enforced for some people but not others. Well, how come he gets to do it this way and she doesn't? How come she gets this and he doesn't? Consistency creates trust, and trust creates confidence. The last one, it's about Commitments. Absolute commitments. Another word for commitments, accountability. What is expected of me? You know, we talk a lot at Sitkins and our programs and our agencies and our teams about accountability. Obviously, it's not a punishment. But what is expected of me is one of those things where most people don't know, like we need to have better accountability. Accountability to what? Things. All right, so it goes back to clarity. And I just said this, accountability at the highest level is not punishment. Accountability is an absolute gift. It's a gift when people know their expectations and roles and are able to align with those, because people perform better when expectations are clear, when standards are clear, when success is measurable, because unclear expectations create Anxiety. Am I doing it right? Am I not doing it right? Am I on the right path? Am I off of the right path? Of course, the alternative of this is that clear expectations. When I know what's expected, what I'm supposed to be doing, what success looks like, clear expectations create confidence. So last thing I want to share here today. What do elite agencies, the top agencies that we see, what do they do different? And I've given you some confidence builders, but when we study, we look at elite agencies, we consistently see a different approach. Oftentimes average agencies, maybe even good agencies, they depend on personalities. Just, I got good people. People are people. You got good people or average people, not so good people. They depend on tribal knowledge. This kind of what we know at the agency. We depend often on like saving the day or heroics. But elite agencies create leadership systems. Leadership systems. They develop future leaders. One of the phrases— I just talked about this with an agency on a coaching call the other day and talking about building their next level of leadership. And I said, like, average to good agencies build really good followers. Which is better than bad followers, right? But they build really good followers. But exceptional elite agencies, they grow and develop future leaders, which results in multiplication, which is way faster than division. Elite agencies build confidence intentionally. They reinforce culture consistently. Elite agencies don't accidentally achieve 15% organic growth. 30% operating profit, and $300,000 of revenue per employee by accident. Those type of results are the result of leadership systems. Because average agencies, they manage activities. It's reactive. Just gonna move things around. Elite agencies lead behavior. Elite agencies, by the way, and this is important, they're not just filled with better people. Oh, they just got better people. There's a reason for that. Have you ever seen in sports one person go from one team to another team and all of a sudden their performance increases substantially? Did they just suddenly become a new person, or did they start to be involved in a culture and a system that's different? All right, they're not filled— elite agencies are not just filled with better people. They probably have them, but they lead them better. So as I wrap up, and I'm going to wrap up this podcast today, I want to keep it short and snappy. Let me leave you with one final important question. So please consider this question. If I sat down with every employee in your agency today and asked, where is the agency headed? Where are you going? What does it look like? Would I hear the same answer? And if the answer is no, that's not a people problem. But here's the good news. It's a leadership opportunity. I don't give you this podcast to beat you up. We all have imperfection. We all have scars. I mean, I've got them too. But here's the context. This is a leadership opportunity. Confidence isn't built through some motivational speech. It's built through clarity. It's built through consistency, and it's built through follow-through commitments. Those are accountability. And ultimately it comes down to one thing: leadership. The agencies that will win over the next decade won't simply have the best carriers, the best markets, the newest and greatest technology. That might be part of it. They'll have the strongest leadership cultures. Now, if you'd like to better understand where your agency stands today, I encourage you again to take our agency performance assessment. In just a few minutes, you'll gain valuable insights into what's helping your agency move forward, what's potentially holding it back. Again, go to sitkins.com/getmyscore. Sitkins.com/getmyscore. We'll make sure we have it in the show notes for you to get started. Remember this. Confidence is contagious. Your team is borrowing it from you every single day. The question is, what are they learning from your leadership? Thanks for listening to the Agent Leader Podcast. I wish you and your team all the best in your success. And if this podcast has added value to your life, give it a like, give it a share, whatever you got to do, promote it. Because we want to help more agencies truly become their best version possible. Hey, thanks for listening. Hey there, agent leader, Brent Kelly here. Want to take just a few seconds to remind you that now is the time to create your true best version possible agency. If you go to sitkins.com/bookacall, sitkins.com/bookacall, We'll get to know more about your agency, conduct an agency assessment, and provide your agency with a customized plan to help you avoid some of the pitfalls, frustrations, challenges, and roadblocks to get your agency to true ultimate freedom and become its best version possible. It all starts by going to sitkins.com/bookacall.