During our May Recognition Monday Meeting, Abby Niemeier was asked to answer the question “What does it mean to find your way?”
Her response was inspiring and we are excited to share it with you below:
“I can only speak from my own experience, and my experience here at Highpoint is a new hire. As a new hire, finding your way holds a little bit of a different weight. It goes hand in hand with earning your seat. And people are watching. While I know I will always be in a constant state of learning, I understand that not only does my team not have the time to sit around coming up with solutions for me, but they shouldn’t have to.
Confirmation questions are one thing, because let’s face it I’m a new hire. There are most definitely things Brandy’s eyes need to be on before I hit send, but asking her for solutions is different. We are given team captains for a purpose, to equip us with all that we need to be able to be confident decision makers and problem solvers in this service industry. Part of finding your way is having enough confidence in yourself to think intuitively, make decisions, and find resolve. Part of that confidence comes from your teachers, aka your team captains as you were being trained. As they train you up, they give you all the tools and resources you may need to make those decisions and come up with solutions.
I have been well equipped by my team captain. With her knowledge sharing and confidence in me, I am learning to trust myself as I grow into the insurance world. This doesn’t mean I’m the all-knowing almighty one of insurance, but this does mean that instead of bringing problems without solutions to my team captain, I am bringing my problem with one or many potential solutions to talk through with her. Showing resourcefulness and initiative are some of the most important things a new hire can bring to their team.
Resourcefulness comes from learning where and what your resources are, and initiative comes into play by utilizing them. We are facing situations head on instead of running behind someone else and watching them resolve it. Lastly, part of finding your way is learning to trust yourself. This comes from time. Trusting in the knowledge and experience that you have earned to think outside of the box of what is already being done. Sometimes, we have to get creative in our problem solving. 9 times out of 10 the solution won’t just be sitting in your inbox waiting for you. But instead, you have to make that uncomfortable phone call, utilize a different resource, or even suggest that a certain process be updated to make it more efficient and effective.
Try and then, if at first you don’t succeed, try again in a different way! I believe that nothing is a failure if you learn from it. We will all make mistakes, but don’t stop trying, and learn as you go, that’s how you will find your way and earn your seat.”
