How many times have you left a meeting and thought, “That could have been an email”?
We say we value quality over quantity but when we are bringing multiple people together to form a team, the definition of those definitions are subject to the definers. I am of the opinion that if a meeting can be an email it should be. But, if an email can be a quick face to face conversation it should be. If you are going to have a meeting, it should have a clear purpose, it should be as concise as possible and it should be as interactive as possible. How do you have a clear purpose? Whatever your idea is, send an email or have a quick conversation first, if you find that these mediums are insufficient then elevate the topic to a meeting. If you can’t cover the topic succinctly, the details are too great or multiple people are stakeholders in the outcome, then it may be time to have a meeting. As best you are able, stick to that issue for that meeting. How do you keep meetings concise? Every meeting should have at least a rough outline, a desired outcome and an agreed time span. If we have a time commitment and we hold ourselves to that boundary we force ourselves to respect the agreement. Keep it on track and if other issues come to the foreground, which is a positive thing, note them and determine whether a follow up meeting needs to occur. How do you make meetings interactive? When we have issues we want to get all of our minds working together to solve them. Typically meetings spring from issues or solutions that create more issues. Solving problems is why we are all in business and our businesses have problems we need to solve if we are going to be effective at solving our customers problems. If you make it your goal to have interactive meetings make sure your habits in those meetings open the floor for input. It may not happen right away, but if you want your meetings to be of value it is essential that you develop your process intentionally. Connect, collaborate and conquer are the guiding principles. Connect with each other, get on the same page. Find areas that you can collaborate to share ideas, optimize resources and row together towards conquering your goals.
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Thinking through our mindset and process for claim reviews to achieve better outcomes.“They’ve shredded my estimate!” Exclaimed Estimator #1. “Again?” Replies his peer, Fellow Estimator. “It’s like they take joy in their sadistic responses.” Estimator #1 progresses from shock to anger. “So brutal.” Fellow Estimator commiserates. They literally took my restoration estimate and ran it through a cheese grater.” Estimator #1 continues to wallow in misery. “How do they expect us to make any money?” Fellow estimator attempts to console their compatriot. Fellow Estimator knows that their estimate will soon be the next victim of the insurance review gauntlet. They knows that the next time they sends an estimate to a reviewer or hit upload in Xactimate, the process will run its cycle with them. Have you been in this room before? If you work around insurance claims, you know this scenario is a common one in many restoration companies. Perhaps your own bruises are still turning purple and your wounds are still bleeding. We all have choices to make. We can play the status quo game and join our peers, Estimator #1 and Fellow Estimator in their glum state or we can work to find answers. Many of you are saying, we have tried. If you will journey with me a bit further into this scenario, perhaps we can assess our effort and dive a bit deeper into making progress in the process. What would the typical response be as this scenario plays itself out? “Who are they to question me?” Estimator #1 rises indignantly and then rattles off a hastily worded email. “This claims review ‘professional’ has never been to this job – they’ve probably never been to any job site ever.” Fellow Estimator exclaims. Funny enough, this is both one of the issues as well as one of the keys to resolution as well. The person reviewing Estimator #1’s estimate has never been to this job. Claims Reviewer #1 works from a claims center half-way across the country. Claims Reviewer #1 likely hasn’t been to any job and possibly never will. It’s not their job. This is a fact of the process and it does no good to complain about it. Their titles do not put them at odds, one writes an estimate for the claim and the other reviews the estimate for the claim. They may view their responsibility to be at odds with each other but that is not inherent to the task at hand. The presiding principle should be to restore the client to pre-loss conditions and both parties should be working together to make this as expedient as possible. The difference between what should be and what is leaves a lot of room for us to work towards a process that is clear and consistent. We can start by asking better questions. “What are the objections of Claims Reviewer #1?” Estimator Supervisor asks. “Who invited you?” questions Fellow Estimator. “My company header isn’t in the estimate,” replies Estimator #1. Have you experienced this rejection note? It seems silly but it’s a requirement. Should anyone on the contractor side be upset with the claims review process if they have not updated their program to have the correct company information in their estimate headers? Who’s responsibility is it to ensure that their organization is following the basic requirements for carriers and programs? “It appears that Claims Reviewer #1 composed a detailed list of their reasons for the rejection of your estimate. What is the next objection?” inquires Estimator Supervisor. “My opening statement does not provide sufficient details per the carrier requirements,” Estimator #1 reads with a quizzical tone in their voice. While we are laboring into the weeds a bit here we are also discussing elements of Insurance Claims 101. These are common rejection items that are easily addressed and yet continue to be hang ups for restoration companies large and small. If you read our article on the Habits of Xactimate Estimating Success, we outlined how your estimate is part of telling the story of the claim. As estimators we have the responsibility to learn how to tell the story of the loss through the estimating tool that we use. The estimate has a language. Do you remember when you first sat down with Xactimate? It can seem like a foreign language. What is WTR EQD? What does HMR BARR mean? When is the right time to use PNT MSKLF? Whether you like it or not, for the majority of insurance claims, Xactimate has become the recognized story delivery tool. When our story does not resonate with our audience we need to learn how to communicate more clearly. In serving our client, it is necessary to use the resources in our tool bag to assist them in achieving a well executed outcome. If your estimate is not compliant with basic carrier requirements, rejection is not the result of sadism its self-sabotage. “They are picking apart my line items,” Estimator #1 yells, pounding a fist against their desk. “They do that to me all the time,” Fellow Estimator raises their hands in disgust. “I remember when I used to be an estimator…” Estimator Supervisor starts to chime in, thinking that they are a part of the group grievance session only to be interrupted. “No one cares about what you did eighty years ago!” both Estimator #1 and Fellow Estimator blurt out. We are now entering much more subjective territory. There are ongoing discussions about the best ways to approach insurance claims work from various levels of the business. Resources like Restoration & Remediation Magazine do a great job of giving a voice to industry leaders and their experiences. Let’s discuss a few options when faced with opposition from an insurance reviewer: Estimate Rejection Response Option #1Dig our heels in. There are those of the mind that the carrier can never be right and the claims process is a war. If they want to question us we will know the fine print better than them and will throw it at them with everything that we have. If your organization has agreed to do program work then some of these line item concessions are part of the contractual agreement. This is why some companies have chosen to stay independent and refuse to engage in third party administrator (TPA) work. If you a person in a position of leadership you will have to decide if the potential volume is worth the tradeoff. Estimate Rejection Response Option #2Give in to expedite. Some professionals believe that a quick claim that is paid in part is better than a drawn out battle. Many of the organizations that regularly work with carriers or TPA’s exercise some level of pragmatism. As noted previously, the theory is that concessions will be made to build a relationship that will result in a volume of work that will outweigh the costs. For many of these companies this is survival mode, “We don’t know what we would do without program work so we have to do what it takes to keep the funnel open.” Estimate Rejection Response Option #3Get educated. Whether you work with a TPA or are doing direct work for carriers, after a few claims you typically get a sense for the line items that are more likely to get rejected or questioned. Know your program outlines, your carrier specifics and what sequences can be approved (or overridden) by adjuster authorization. If you have a claim that requires a unique approach you should be in contact early and regularly with the adjuster to confirm authorization for your approach to assisting their client with a positive outcome.
Were Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in the property restoration business prior to forming The Rolling Stones? Did they have insurance estimate reviews in mind when they penned the timeless words, “You can't get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well, you might find you get what you need.” If you write a sloppy estimate and you are not learning from prior mistakes, expect to get rejected. At the same time, whenever the carrier or program initiates are rejection of an estimate this should be a time where the restorer reviews whether the objections are legitimate. This invitation to review the merit of the estimate is also a time when the estimator should review whether legitimate line items were missed in the prior submission. “They are saying we don’t have sufficient supporting photos,” Estimator Supervisor states looking up from the computer screen. “Oh, and the photos that were uploaded aren’t properly labeled or associated with the rooms in which they were taken,” continues Fellow Estimator. “What?” queries Estimator #1. If a photo is worth a thousand words, in the world of insurance claims those photos could be thousands of dollars. One hundred dollars (or even less) can be the tipping point between a profitable project and a net loss. A clearly written estimate that follows industry guidelines must have supporting photo documentation – we aren’t yet talking about high level Xactimate skills. Estimators are story tellers. Our audience likes their stories to be full of vibrant pictures that are captioned. Often we are communicating our claim stories to persons who will not be physically present at the loss. Pictures help the claim story to come to life for them. Develop your ability to tell a story and to support your story with multiple photos that are clearly labeled to illustrate your narrative. The more detailed or unique the work you need to complete the more quantitative as well as qualitative your photographs need to be. If we have a losing mindset and we maintain the status quo of losing habits, we will continue to lose. Estimators have a job to do. Claims review professionals have a job to do. Organizations have a responsibility to train their people to execute with excellence when it comes to carrying out the essential functions of their roles. “I don’t know what I am going to do,” Estimator #1 is on the verge of tears, “No matter how I respond they are going to tear me to pieces.” “When the claims reviewer shreds your estimate, it’s time to make tacos!” “Who said that?” Fellow Estimator yells into the abyss. Suddenly, they can hear a familiar tune, “You can’t always get what you want…” “But if you try sometimes,” Estimator #1 bobs their head. “Is it lunch time?” Estimator Supervisor asks as they leave the room. Unfortunately, more often than not, our responses to the estimate review process borders on burying our head in the sand or playing the victim. We throw our hands up and rail against the system. As noted above, we can choose to go to war, we can choose to give in or we can choose to get educated. Neither of these decisions guarantee success. Going to war will have casualties, giving in will cost you and getting educated does not mean that everyone will admire your knowledge to the point that they will see things your way. You may feel like you have lost in the past but today is a new day, it’s time for a new approach – the “scoreboard” is blank (but the clock is ticking). So, how do we gain ground on the claims review process? Here are some suggestions to start tracking data to inform decisions and find resolution:
You do insurance work. Claims review is part of the process. Our point here is not that insurance is right or that contractors are wrong, but that if we want to achieve progress in the process we have to control what we can control. Take ownership for roles and responsibilities. If you are not collecting data on your rejections you should start immediately. If you have data you need to use it to help educate your decisions so that you can gain ground. Our conversation here is regarding mindset and process. Start gathering data so that you can make more informed decisions and work to find resolutions. Regardless of your chosen approach, develop your process intentionally. Tracking Claims Review Worksheet - FREE PDF
Resources for estimators, managers and adjusters composing estimates in Xactimate:
Are you tired of the cost, pain and setbacks from high employee turnover?Many organizations are struggling to attract, develop and retain good people. People in a position of leadership are asking themselves and their circle of peers what can be done to gain on these issues. Businesses know that they need people in order to provide their products or services. Even though people are a necessary component to any successful team, managers often struggle to solve the people issues of their day. Are you attracting the right people?If you fish, you know the value of having the right bait. The more you know about who you are fishing for, where you will be fishing and what the condition are, the more successful you will be. Fishing teaches you that you must be patient. Do some research, ask local fishermen, adjust to the conditions and trust the process. Are you able to answer:
Align the hiring process with your valuesAre you frustrated by high turnover? You feel the burden of having to continually recruit and train new employees. Beyond that pain there are hard costs for your organization as well as the demoralizing toll of strolling through the graveyard of co-workers past. Are you clear on your vision and values? If you can communicate those core components, have you analyzed whether your hiring process is in alignment with your vision and values? Too often organizations recruit people that have skills but are not good value or cultural fits. Are you tired of the revolving door of employee turnover? Are you willing to adjust your hiring process to stop chasing unicorns and start hiring according to your vision and values? Build your vision by starting with recruitmentPreviously we have written about the Three Character Keys for Acquiring Value Adding Talent. In an age where unemployment levels are at record lows, those that want to compete for talent have to get creative. This creativity comes in searching where those of the status quo are unwilling to go. Finding new fishing holes and experimenting with different types of bait will enable you to keep bringing quality team members into the boat. While you cannot control everything your team members do once they are in the organization, you can control who you allow on the team. Start respecting the process. Develop your organization by building a teamWhether you have a good team or you are committed to building one, who you let in the door is a critical decision. A bad hire costs more than a good one and the ripple effects can set your momentum back for an extended period of time. Conversely, as Gino Wickman points out in his book Traction, "If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time." Does this inspire you? Isn't that what good leaders want - a team with members who are rowing together and dominating? That process starts with an organization clear on their vision and values. Build trust by creating clarity around truth in your organization, consistently protecting those values and developing accountability within the team from the top down and the bottom up. Are you willing to change your approachIn his latest article covering change management, author and coach Lex Sisney shares the Stop-Start-Ideal methodology of communication. While he shares this as a means to better communicate with team members who need to adjust their actions, it also serves as a metric for adjusting our own thinking. If you find yourself doing things that are not getting the result that you want, it's time to stop doing the things that are setting you back. Get some clarity on your ideals. Start acting in alignment with your vision and values. Learn to fish with bait that attracts the type of fish you want in the boat.
As Jim Collins noted in Good To Great, you need to get the right people on the bus [your organization] and you need to ensure they are in the right seats on the bus. When it is difficult to find people at all, growth minded businesses understand the value of investing in developing internal talent. Investing in the employees you have can produce significant return on investment. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a person in a position of leadership at the helm of a large organization, attracting good talent starts with:
Key to Success: ProcessProcess. Culture and systems have to be in sync with each other for a company to succeed. While culture is a hot topic, it is more about what an organization does than what it says it will do. It is important for entrepreneurs and leadership teams to review whether their processes are in alignment with their vision. If there are setbacks to growth, a good place to start would be in reviewing the processes that are in place. Developing systems helps to ensure that there is consistency in your organization. Clarifying expectations helps team members to understand what they need to do in order to succeed. Communicating processes that are consistent with the vision enable everyone to see where they can help move things forward. Key to Success: ProductionProduction. A company has to produce goods and/or services. Having the right people and processes completes the cycle of needs to ensure an organization will create value through production. Production issues help to reveal shortcomings in processes. Often failure helps us to better see areas we can improve than success does. Be sure to embrace the opportunity to grow as a leader and a team. Production, process and people all work together to create progress. If you are struggling to make progress start to work backwards to determine areas that need to be addressed. Here is a good resources from EOS on how to trace down issues and establish better meetings: Key to Success: ProgressProgress. Having the right people, developing your processes and improving production are all keys to success. There is no guarantee for success. There are no short cuts to success. Leaders can learn a lot from gardening on how to cultivate a growing team. In an article published with Restoration and Remediation Magazine, we identified keys to change for withering grass, flowering weeds and crab grass within an organization. Like a flourishing garden, growth in an organization is attractive and creates a sense of pride. If we invest in our people, process and production we will find that progress is much more attainable. As the organization moves forward together it is easier to identify and address areas of the company that need to be adjusted. Progress is not perfection. Progress means we are gaining on our goals.
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AuthorThoughts on personal and professional development. Jon Isaacson, The Intentional Restorer, is a contractor, author, and host of The DYOJO Podcast. The goal of The DYOJO is to help growth-minded restoration professionals shorten their DANG learning curve for personal and professional development. You can watch The DYOJO Podcast on YouTube on Thursdays or listen on your favorite podcast platform.
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