If you are an MDRT member, it means that you are a very successful professional in the business. In order to push your achievement higher and to step up one more level, you have to hire someone to do administrative work and small things for you. I would like to share with all of you how to reach higher in your business. Understanding why you should hire, and successfully hiring, training and retaining staff, is very important to business development and expansion. My topic is about the philosophy of staff management.

Our company has thousands of producers and more than 100 employees all over the country. Managing such a big company is not an easy task. Even though some of them come and go, we are able to maintain a good number of long-term employees who serve in our company. This is very crucial to our success, and we simply could not do it without them.

I want to share my office’s staff management experience: (1) Why you should hire employees; (2) the hiring procedure; (3) how to train your employees professionally; and (4) tips on retaining your employees.

Why you should hire

Although you could possibly make great achievements by yourself, it is still limited. By transforming from an individual to an entrepreneur who owns a company, you exceed the limit and could achieve even higher goals. Many of you are engaged in the finance and insurance industry or related fields, and I think we all agree that this industry is special in the way that, in order to grow and maintain a business, it particularly requires united power. And this power is generated by personnel, the staff within an organization. If well-managed, employees are much more than the simple addition of individuals in terms of work efficiency and value creation. Therefore, there is no doubt that we need to hire people for our businesses.

Hiring procedure

Preparation

• Appoint an in-house human resources manager in charge of recruiting or use a third party who offers a recruiting service.
• Sort out positions and compose a detailed job description to avoid misunderstandings and miscommunications.
• Publicize your hiring information by utilizing traditional media and online platforms.

Interview

• Filter the applications carefully to obtain a final interview list of qualified applicants, and send interview notifications.
• Identify the technical and personal skills of the interviewee.
• Providing related experience would be a plus for the applicants.
• Look for interviewees with good character and personality.
• Have a second-round and even a third-round interview in order for you and the interviewee to get to know each other better.

Decision

• Do a background check.
• Send out the offer.
• Negotiate the salary and start date.

Staff training

Preparation

• Make a training plan, and set goals before you start.
• Set up a training committee, and have meetings.
• Prepare materials, such as a PowerPoint presentation and videos.

Host training sessions

• Use existing employees as trainers since they could share their experiences.
• Try to make the training sessions as interactive as possible.
• Assign related jobs right after training, which would help new staff better digest training and ask further questions.
• Cross train new staff to facilitate the operation of the company.

Initiate a mentoring program

• Have existing employees mentor new employees on a one-on-one basis.
• New staff members should have a go-to person for when they have questions at work.
• A mentoring program helps new and old employees get to know each other better and builds team chemistry within the work environment.

Evaluate training results

• Compare the result with the goal that you set in the beginning to see if the training meets your expectations.
• Get feedback from the trainers and trainees to see what they like about the training and what they don’t.
• Have a review meeting with the training committee afterward to discuss what should be kept and what could be improved.

Tips on retaining personnel

• It is a rule of thumb that employees should be respected and appreciated in their positions and for what they are doing.
• Every employee should be given space and opportunities for him or her to learn, practice and grow.
• It is motivating to have a bonus system in your company.
• A promotion guideline is a must-have in your company.
• Another important factor to better manage your practice and staff is to have good leaders on your team.
• Be flexible and generous with reasonable time-off requests from employees.

To wrap it up, if you want to grow your business, you must have a plan to build a team to work with, the methodology to manage your team and the ability to lead your team.

No matter how the market will change and who our clients will be, our commitment to our producers and employees will never change. If they choose to join our team, they will join not only a professional team in which everyone is supporting each other with their best, but also a warm family in which everyone is caring about and encouraging each other to be great!

Haidi Huang, ChFC, CLU, is a 19-year MDRT member with three Court of the Table and 16 Top of the Table qualifications. The founding president of the Asian American Insurance and Financial Professional Association (AAIFPA) and former president of the California Asian Insurance and Financial Professional Association (CAIFPA), she has been a guest speaker for many conferences, TV shows and radio programs.