Good agency operations include processes, communication, client relationships, employee attitudes and training. But explore an underlying question: What is the culture within the agency? What hidden attitudes exist under the patina of daily routine operations?

It can appear to the agency owner that everything is humming along. You hold team meetings and pull renewals in sufficient time. Overall business results track with the swings of the general marketplace. But the owner may not get to see the underlying attitudes of his staff—attitudes that are part of, and define, the ongoing office culture.

When these attitudes are negative, they undercut the results of what an experienced staff can achieve. Some symptoms are:

• Failure to anticipate renewal problems in sufficient time to find effective solutions, resulting in last-minute heroics by the boss, producer or others
• A “silo” mentality where each person or team is focused only on its function, with no concern about how functions have to fit together to achieve outstanding customer satisfaction
• Crises that can be traced to frequent lapses of communication, either with clients or about their coverages
• Office “whispering” between people that ceasees when a manager or owner appears.

General discontent can be reflected in the perception of what others are getting—or getting away with. Instead of focusing on whether an important account receives timely service or competitive renewal pricing, the attention centers on workplace minutiae—complaints to each other about why Mary seems to be allowed to come in later or why John never goes out to lunch with certain people.