Paul Balbresky, a consultant for Balbresky Consulting Services, Malton, N.J., told managing general agents what it takes to be a good coach, noting that its not a role many sales associates are used to. The reason is that they often come to the positions with a different set of job skills, he said, speaking at a seminar at the annual meeting of the King of Prussia, Pa.-based American Association of Managing General Agents.

Often, that manager is promoted from within the sales ranks for his or her sales efforts, he said. “Management is different because it requires a different set of skills. It is different because you must now nurture and grow people.”

A major problem the new manager faces is that he or she must learn that he or she cannot control everything. “You cant always watch what everyone is doing.”

To be an effective manager, you must be a successful coach, he said.

Part of coaching involves getting to know individual employees by inviting them into the management process. One way to involve them is to have employees do a self-evaluation. He said often employees are harder on themselves than management, but by starting from this end of the process, the manager invites a dialogue that can lead to hashing out problems that exist that the manager may not be aware of.

This is where the coaching comes in, because here the manager can begin to talk through events with the employee as they unfold. The manager should also invite employees to talk about the job and get their input on operations.

One of the least effective ways of making changes and improvements is to belittle or attack an employee. “Telling someone, You stink is a personal affront,” he said. “Deal with behavior, not the person.”

In discussing problems, the employee should be made aware how the adverse behavior is affecting the overall operation. “Work together on a plan on how to change behavior,” he suggested. “Ask what can we do together to make it easier on you.”

One problem a manager might encounter involves fear of change on the part of the employee. To overcome this obstacle, the employee needs to know that the investment in change will make overall improvements to the process.

He went on to say that the coaching process should involve getting some positive things going, determining “some metrics” for improvement by the individual and following up with the employee. But it is important for this coach to get in early in the process, recognize a problem and get the person back on board.

In some other management areas, the owner or manager must be involved in what is going on under his or her direction. This means observing and interacting with those under the managers direction, and even, on occasion, going out on sales calls with the sales executive.

This takes time, and the coach should look to identify what things are standing in the way of effectively dealing with having the time to do what needs to be done. This can mean delegation of responsibility or altering the way time is spent doing things.

Mr. Balbresky emphasized that the owner or manager needs to get the message across that the most important product the agency has to offer is the owner or manager and that the customer is the agencys most important asset.

“Why should a company or producer do business with you. Because you get me,” said Mr. Balbresky speaking as the agency owner or manager. “That is what differentiates you from others. That is what you bring to the table. That coach has to make others feel a special pride in the relationship.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, May 26, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.