The following Insights is a case study of our work with the James E. Moore Insurance Agency, which used our Performance Culture System to achieve its growth goals. – Dallas Romanowski, Managing Partner, Cornerstone Business Advisors
                                                                                                                              
As with most companies, the James E. Moore Insurance Agency experienced slower growth during the 2008 to 2009 recession. Faced with a post-2009 economy, the company needed and wanted to grow more. To accomplish this goal, the company knew it had to maximize the talent of its team and began looking for a new performance management system to motivate and recognize high performers.

Melissa Phillippi, a Cornerstone Partner, presented the Performance Culture System (PCS) to the agency owners, Jim and Adrienne Moore, and helped them understand how PCS drives performance and improves the company culture through the three PCS steps: Align, Coach and Manage. Melissa also explained how the agency could implement the cloud-based system itself or with the help of a Performance Culture Coach.

Jim decided to implement the system with the help of Melissa because his current staff was already stretched. He also knew the coaching would develop his team. The coaching was important because Jim had tried several different employee motivational systems in the past, but none seemed to achieve the results expected.

The first step, Align, focused on defining the agency’s mission, vision, core values and company goals, including the expectations for each employee. This helped the employees understand how their performance and workplace behaviors contribute to the agency’s goals and support the company’s culture.

The second step, Coach, included monthly sales training and quarterly coaching sessions for every employee. The frequency allowed managers to give timely feedback and provide professional development goals. The coaching used the PCS cloud-based software to help each employee understand how he or she was performing using a 2 x 2 matrix that measured performance and workplace behaviors (company fit).

The third step, Manage, used the PCS app report to plot the entire team onto the four quadrants of the 2 x 2 matrix. These quadrants are defined as:

• Stars – Employees who support the company culture and are meeting performance expectations;
• Potential – Employees who were not yet meeting performance expectations but are displaying the right behaviors;
• Misaligned – Employees who were achieving performance objectives but were not quite exhibiting the desired behaviors;
• Right Fit? – Employees who were not achieving their objectives nor supporting the company culture.

• Find ways to reward and leverage star employees more effectively and ask them to mentor others;
• Provide more training and coaching to employees with potential to help them become stars;
• Help employees who were misaligned with the company culture recognize how their behaviors were potentially damaging thee team’s chemistry;
• Quickly address employees who were potentially not the right fit for the organization.