I am far more used to teaching classes than taking classes. Recently though I took a 3+ day full immersion, non-insurance education program. My takeaways relative to the type of education I see people gaining in the insurance industry are as follows:
1. This non-insurance program was thorough. Therefore, it cost quite a bit of money. If you are taking the normal cheap insurance classes and want to think you’re gaining material education, you are obviously welcome to your wishful thinking.
Good education is an investment. If you are not spending a fair amount of money on education that pushes you to think hard, you are wasting whatever money you are spending. It’s silly to pay any money for poor education unless you are:
Doing it only for continuing education.
You really do not care how much you know and therefore are not willing to put in the time required to sell clients the coverages they really need. I’ll return to this momentarily.
You are too naïve and lack context to know the difference between good and bad education. Price can help you understand the difference. But ask the most knowledgeable people you know for advice.
Another way to think about it is this, if you are taking golf lessons or any kind of hobby lessons, are you spending at least twice as much on your professional education? Why would anyone spend more on their hobby lessons unless their job is a secondary hobby?
2. This class pushed me to think hard and part of that was the instructor. He was world class and so he charged more money than many others. You’ll benefit by taking classes from the highest quality instructors.
3. If the program does not include muscle memory exercises, it is likely overpriced. Adults simply do not learn much sitting in a classroom, only listening. Taking notes helps, but the best method is to apply the knowledge as soon as is practical during the class. If the instructor is explaining some coverage, then write up a case study of how that coverage or lack thereof would apply in your world for your specific clients. Write-out how to explain the importance of the coverage as if talking to an insured.
We did this each day in class. For the life of me, I could not fully grasp what this instructor was explaining until I applied it. Many people think of this as working with their hands. A person can explain knitting all day long but until someone applies that with knitting needles in their hands, they are not likely going to learn what they need to learn.
The same concept applies to insurance education except that we are writing out and/or verbalizing as if explaining the coverage to an insured. High quality education always creates muscle memory even if that muscle memory is simply writing out explanations in your own words.
4. Make mistakes. I learned a lot from my mistakes. Fortunately, I was in a safe environment, so the mistakes only injured my ego.
In 30 years of E&O auditing, I find that agents don’t usually take the time to learn in a safe environment. They learn from E&O mistakes and near misses. When I teach my private education classes, I create safe environments for making mistakes that only injure the ego. An injured ego still hurts, but not nearly as much as an E&O claim or having a competitor take an account based on your mistakes.
5. Learn in an environment where you can ask questions. You’ll likely remember the answers to your questions, or others’ questions, better than whatever else an instructor said. This is another reason why the cheap courses are mostly worthless.
6. Once you get the basics down, identify an educational opportunity that creates pressure. You’ll respond differently under pressure. For example:
Read a policy form or read about a policy form. This has a pressure score of 1, on a scale of 1-10.
Write out an explanation of a coverage as if explaining it to an insured. That scores about a 3.
Have someone review your work and critique your response. This has a pressure score of about 5.
Explain a coverage as if being deposed by a plaintiff attorney in an E&O claim. That scores about a 7 and in my experience, people make a lot of mistakes at a 7, even people that know their coverages well.
Explain a coverage in front of a jury when you’ve been accused of making a mistake. That scores about a 10. And in this situation, you would be very wise to have practiced your answers for hours in front of your own attorney. If your attorney does not make you practice this, find a new attorney.
Next, work on explaining an associated coverage and how that coverage integrates with the prior coverage. For example, at least six kinds of business interruption coverage exist. Can you name all six and explain why or why not a commercial client needs multiple forms and how each integrates with the other? If not, you haven’t had good business interruption education or you failed to learn.
7. Insurance is extremely complex to knowledgeable people. It’s only simple to those selling snake juice. I’ve been blessed to know some of the best educated coverage gurus, but even they do not know it all. Two solutions exist and the best solution is to combine the two even for those people with deep knowledge.
Be brave and research a client’s question or situation. Don’t presume to know.
Have a partner. That partner may be an account executive, a producer, or a buddy to bounce ideas and to get second opinions. Two good minds in these situations are always better than one good mind.
8. Take breaks in your education so you have time to digest and practice each aspect. I don’t know how many gigabytes of data exist relative to explaining insurance coverages and case law and such, but it’s a lot. Thinking you can learn it all without breaks is foolish.
9. Cheap education is worthless.
If you are a real insurance professional or want to be one, I hope these suggestions help you on your path to success.
NOTE: The information provided herein is intended for educational and informational purposes only and it represents only the views of the authors. It is not a recommendation that a particular course of action be followed. Burand Insurance Education, Burand & Associates, LLC and Chris Burand assume, and will have, no responsibility for liability or damage which may result from the use of any of this information.
None of the materials in this article should be construed as offering legal advice, and the specific advice of legal counsel is recommended before acting on any matter discussed in this article. Regulated individuals/entities should also ensure that they comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
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