How Would Albert Einstein Approach Claims

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Albert Einstein must have been a claims manager!

As we begin the New Year it is always a time to reflect and look forward to new beginnings. Recently an executive in my company sent along some words of wisdom from Albert Einstein. Einstein was an interesting character known not only for his scientific brilliance but also for his quick wit. He produced some wonderful quotes which I believe were directed to the claims industry.

OK maybe they weren’t written with the world of claims in mind, they are nonetheless applicable.

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.”

Claims departments should be leading companies in how they run their business. Claims departments are the fruits of the product being sold and when an insured buys a policy it is claims that serves up the services paid for. One of the best ways to retain and grow new customers is by “setting an example” in claims. Ensuring customer service metrics are met and exceeded and developing new ways to assist the customer is not the “main means of influencing others, it’s the only means.”

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex…it takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

There is a trend for more systems, more technology and better information in claims departments. I am a big supporter and believe it’s about time the industry wakes up to the power more claims data can have in making departments more efficient and providing robust information to improve the business. Regardless, providing more complexity and bigger technology solutions is not the only answer. Be a “genius” and go smaller and less complex in building and implementing claims software. We have the technology it just needs to be used correctly.

“Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.”

This is one of the biggest claims dilemmas. We are being overwhelmed with data and that can be a good thing. Regardless, the fact that it can be measured doesn’t mean it is actually adding value to the process. Take a look at your metrics and really explore if what is being counted “counts.” On the other side, there are things in claims that unfortunately can’t be counted perfectly. Given how climate, legal issues and other external factors change rapidly, comparing claim metrics from period to period is sometimes a difficult exercise. Regardless, striving to “count” what “counts” is what the industry needs to continue to do.

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year old, you didn’t understand it yourself.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all work like this? Let’s be realistic, if you can’t explain your claim to management, opposing counsel, the claimant, in an easy simplified way then you probably don’t understand it yourself and will never get to the desired outcome. Like his quote on being a genius by making things smaller and less complex I say get to the point. It is still important to get all the facts and make sure all the “i’s” are dotted and the “t’s” are crossed, but do it in a way that will allow you to truly understand the claim and be able to explain it.

“Nothing happens until someone does something.” So go make it happen!

The 5 Core Leadership Traits Of A Well Managed Claim File

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Claims Files Aren’t Born They Are Made

Leadership is a topic that we tend to think about as it relates to an individual leading a group. In claims we are always faced with leaders that manage us and help, hopefully, to get the best out of us. But leadership does not mean that you have to have a group of people that follow.

Leadership is a trait that extends to what you do every day. As a claims professional there are always opportunities to lead. Claim files need to be led to a place that provides fair compensation in the quickest way possible.

I was reading an article about the leadership and the presidential election as it always a . The article, 5 Traits of True Leaders by Samuel Bacharach was recently published in Inc. magazine. As he wrote:

“It’s not rocket science. Whether you’re chatting on a barstool, conducting academic research, or leading a company, there are five core traits that we look for in leaders:”

Clarity
Consistency
Follow-through
Authenticity
Passion

It got me thinking that many of these traits could be adapted to the handling of a claim file.

Clarity: Claim files must speak for themselves and as such a good file will clearly outline the nature of coverage, liability, damages and have a clear plan of action.

Consistency: The key to a good claims organization is consistent claim handling. Reserves must be consistently set over a book of business to help ensure the rest of organization can function correctly. Actuaries need consistent reserve to help set IBNR and pricing, Management needs consistency to ensure the financial stability of the company and Underwriting needs to ensure claims are consistently handled from both a pricing and customer service perspective.

Follow-Through: Early evaluations will lead to early resolutions. It is easy to put a claims plan in place, but failing to follow through on those plans will send messages that the organization has no direction. Along with clarity and consistency, a claims organization must follow through in its decisions

Authenticity: I equate authenticity in a claim file to ensuring the information is accurate and that the claimant is approached with empathy and claims are handled with the utmost good faith. A claim file should be real and should demonstrate a fair assessment and appropriate compensation was made where appropriate.

Passion: I do not know any successful claims person that doesn’t passionately approach what they do. Claims people are advocated for the defense and, within the realm of good faith claims handling, must passionately speak for the issues of the case to provide the best resolution.

I am sure we could all think of more traits that make up a well managed file, however, I think looking at a claim file as leading is another way to enure good claims practices.

What are some other leadership traits a good claim file will show?

A Claims Tale Of Three Little Managers And Their Review Programs

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Marc Lanzkowsky

My Take On The Old Story Of The Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time there were three claims managers who were told by their CEO to go out and make sure they have the best organization possible. Since they all knew that the best way to a good organization was to develop process and procedures and make sure all who worked there understood them, that’s just what they did. Each built an oversight program to ensure all was well and to prevent being attacked by all those wolves out there.

The first manager built a review program out of straw, the second out of sticks and the third out of bricks…..

Please work with me here as I am trying to be metaphorical.

The Manager Review of Straw

The first manager was a proud manager. She knew she had a good group and they worked just fine. She had instructed them on her way of doing things and had provided sufficient training to let them know was expected. Her “straw” review program was to wait for something to happen and then if there was a problem to fix it. One day a huge claim showed up on her desk. She had never seen or heard of this claim, but it was big – the type of claim that could really cause her a problem. Well that claim, it turns out, had been in the office for over a year. Information had been received to provide sufficient warning for everyone to make sure the company was ready. If only she had known about it.

After dealing with “fixing” the problem a knock came on the door. It was the manager’s big reinsurance company. This reinsurer was large and seemed to come out of no where. The manager was shocked. This reinsurer said….”manager, manager, let me come in” the manager responded “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!” The reinsurer responded, “then I will huff and I will puff and I will blow your department down.” And that’s exactly what the reinsurer did.

The manager lost his house of straw and somehow landed a new job at her manager friend who said come on over you will feel protected in my department of sticks.

The Manager Review of Sticks

The Manger of Straw’s friend, the Manager of Sticks, sat her down and told her how it was going to be. We here in the land of sticks are prepared for any possible problem. We have a wonderful review program made of sticks. This program is so good we can prevent all those problems that got you blown down in the house of straw. We also have procedures in place, the Manager of Sticks said, but we oversee it all with regular reviews. We spend time reviewing claim files and recoding all that information on these sheets of paper. We catch it all before a problem arises so he told the Manager of Straw that she will be fine here in the house of sticks.

The stick reviews went on every quarter. The sticks were filled with all this great information and captured all this detail about the claims and what was working and not working. The problem is the sticks piled up and once they were in that pile it was hard to understand what was working. Someone had to put the sticks in an order to really understand how many problem sticks there were. Low and behold a day came when a whole series of claims came in all seemingly insignificant. It turns out there was a trend and a real problem brewing with a particular type of claim. Individually they seemed fine, collectively they were significantly under reserved. Those sticks had the information but it was so spread out and disorganized that the information was lost. Without the information available, the company rewrote that book of business and was now going to face a very big problem to explain to the shareholders.

The Manager of Sticks was about to get a knock on the door!

Knock knock….”who is it” asked the Manager of Sticks? It’s the Chief Underwriting Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the CEO. See it turns out that they had some explaining to do to the board about a reserve charge that seemed to have come out of no where. “Manager Manager please let us in” with the Manager of Straw next to him nodding her head thinking oh I know what’s next, the Manager of Sticks responded “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.” Well those executives were not about to be shut out and said “then we will huff and we will puff and we will blow your house in!” and that is exactly what they did.

Amazingly, the Manager of Sticks and the Manager of Straw were able to find jobs again in their friend the Manager of Brick’s company.

The Manager Review of Bricks

Working for the Manager of Bricks was actually not as bad as people thought it would be. Yes he was a tough manager and expected a lot from his people, but in the end he wanted them and the organization to succeed. The Manager of Bricks was keenly aware that when procedures were working and followed there was less of a chance of surprise. He also knew that the way to avoid those surprises was to have a very specific audit and oversight program in place. Because the Manager of Bricks also knew that using technology in the right way was a benefit, he made sure he had an oversight tool in place to manage the review process and make sure he captured, and not wasted, all the hard work performed by his reviewers.

The Manger of Straw and the Manager of Sticks had never seen anything like it. All the reviews were coordinated in one place online (of course they used the Audit Portal). Issues were categorized and follow-ups documented. Trends just popped off various dashboards and made it so simple to proactively run the department.

Then one day there was a knock on the door. It was the big bad mean regulator trying to find a violation. “Manager, manager let me come in” the regulator yelled. The manager of Bricks responded….”sure come on in and look around.” The regulator had apparently wanted to see the offices the Managers of Straw and Sticks but there was nothing left there to see. The Manager of Bricks had nothing to fear. When the regulator asked for controls and a plan it was all ready to be shown. Issues that had been identified and corrective action plans were clearly in place and the regulator was pleasantly surprised. After giving the Manager of Bricks a clean bill oh health he left with no adverse claims findings.

Don’t you love a good story? Maybe if we were all like the Manager of Bricks things would be better!

At Lanzko we can help shore up operations to become more like the Manager of Bricks using our Audit Portal application. Give us a call to learn more.

2 Preventative Steps To Help Avoid Claims Crisis Before They Become Emergencies

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Want To Save Some Real Money? Don’t Have An Emergency Room Mentality In Claims

Seth Godin in his wonderful blog recently wrote about Emergency room doctors in organizations. These are the people that are really good at, and are rewarded, for stopping bleeding. Seth is questioning where is all the strategic thinking to prevent those emergencies in the first place? In claims we tend to hire and support that emergency room doctor mindset. As Seth states about these doctors, ”

It’s a mindset, not just a job.

You can pitch them as hard as you like about having them work to persuade their patients to give up smoking (after all, it saves lives in the long run), but I think you’ll find that they’re a lot more interested in stopping the bleeding.

Claims departments seem to be more interested in stopping bleeding than preventing it in the first place. We hire those specialists and reward those that can deal with the crisis as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we in claims don’t spend enough time trying to prevent the causes of the crises. Again, as Seth writes:

We need emergency room doctors, no doubt. I just wonder if we have too many of them in your organization. If all we do is reward fast first aid in what people do at work, is it any wonder we don’t have enough attention to the strategy and choices that would eliminate the need for all that running around in the first place?

So what can be done? How does one change the mindset? Well I will tell you so keep reading…

Prevention Is Not That Difficult If You Try

Prevention does require a base of knowledge and to “know how prevalent the emergency room culture is” within your organization. There are two simple ways to have your organization stay ahead of those emergencies and that is conducting an operational assessment and to develop an active internal review program.

1. Operational assessment: Take stock at where your organization is. When mired in the emergency room mentality it is easy to loose perspective. The operation seems to be getting along so what could possibly be improved. Or my favorite statement of “we’ve always done it that way and there is no time to change.” Is that really how you want your department to function?

Organizations change. Technology changes. Businesses are evolving. If you don’t assess your operation from time to time and look for possible areas to improve you are destined to continue the emergency room approach. At the very least, take a look at those repetitive tasks such as bill payment and taking in new losses to see if there there are opportunities to improve. Explore the technology offerings in the industry and see what if anything is available to enhance the ability of claims professionals to do what they are supposed to do – analyze files, set reserves, move cases to resolution and doing it all over again.

2. Internal Review Program: An active audit program to review for best practices is one of the best tools available to learn about your organization and ensure claims departments don’t get mired in the that emergency room approach to management. A regular program sets out the expectations for a review and creates comparative benchmarks to measure for future reviews. This of course is enhanced when the process is clearly defined and the review is consistently executed. Conducting regular reviews is a sure way to ensure emergencies don’t happen.

You Are Not Alone – Help Is Available

At Lanzko we work with clients to perform these operational assessments. I strongly believe that having someone that is detached from your organization is the best way to identify issues that may be ripe for improvement.Sometimes employees are too close to a problem inside an organization to identify it. Bringing Lanzko in can also help move change along. Let’s face it. No one likes change, especially Corporate America. But sometimes change is needed, and we can help “get the ball rolling.”

From an audit and internal review perspective, Lanzko’s The Audit Portal is a tool designed to help manage those internal reviews, create consistency and create benchmarks to become a more strategic organization. With a tool in place, Audit data is not just lost to a spreadsheet or attached as an appendix to a report. There is great information being lost in the traditional audit. We change that and provide meaningful, actionable information to improve operations.

What Would Steve Jobs Do In A Claims Organization?

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Innovation can be learned from the master

Thank you Bill Schoeffler and Catherine Oak of the Oak & Associates Consulting firm for the idea for this article. They wrote a wonderful piece for Insurance Journal called, What Steve Jobs Would Do In Insurance, where they so aptly lay out how Mr. Jobs would change the insurance world. They pick out several ways a Steve Jobs run insurance agency would be different and innovative.

Like many, I am a huge fan of Apple products and have been for a long time. Clearly there has been a revolution in the computer industry as a result of innovation led by Steve Jobs. One thing that is most interesting about Apple is how they not only changed computing, with the iPod and iPad, but also changed the way people listen to music, access the internet and buy and use software applications. The iPod and iPad were perfect examples of thinking outside the box. (And I like thinking outside the box – Improve bottom-line outcomes on claims by thinking outside-the-box!)

As they wrote:

Steve Jobs’ primary focus was to create great products. All else was secondary. The product of an insurance agency is the service it provides to clients. The direction Steve Jobs would take would be to provide a seamless, integrated experience for the client. People have too many things to worry about and not enough time to be able to focus on their insurance needs and problem. They want to be taken care of.

Schoeffler and Oak suggest that a Steve Jobs run agency would:

Seamlessly integrate the customer experience
Capture data about client needs easily to analyze and allow products to be tailored to individual customer
Innovative at it’s core providing products clients didn’t even know they needed
Create teams would work collaboratively at all levels
Hire only the best talent passionate about providing services

Steve Jobs in Claims

So what would Steve Jobs say about our claims industry? Well, having heard about his reputation I think I will leave what he would say out of this post. Regardless, I think Mr. Jobs would see an industry with tremendous opportunities to innovate and improve the way they deliver and manage claims services.

Following the lead of Shoerffler and Oak, I would agree that Jobs would likely create a seamless way to integrate external claims information with internal business related data. Underwriting and policy information would easily flow into claims systems and be available to the customer and claims professional easily. Claims filed through a variety of input sources would simply display information needed for all those touching the claims. The claims department, management teams, outside providers, underwriters, and of course the claimants, would have easy to understand graphical representations of relevant information. Apps would help direct those particular parties to help move the claim to resolution and seamlessly provide analytics to the company in real time. And of course there would be beautifully designed hardware to deliver this integration in the sharpest possible way.

Claims teams would work collaboratively with other parts of the organization to deliver better claims products to customers and real time relevant data to assist in underwriting. Good companies understand the relationship claims has to the health of the organization way before a claim even comes into the office. Steve Jobs would ensure underwriters would understand the claims process and how policies sold end up yielding claims. He would make sure that claims people understand how the claims organization’s activities affect the financial health of the company on pricing and expense ratios.

Steve Jobs was a brilliant marketer. He seemed to know how and when a product was going to change the world reshaping whole industries (when was the last time you actually psychically bought a CD?). Claims departments could benefit from a little marketing as well. Whether to internal or external customers, claims departments can certainly do a better job of getting their “brand” out to their market place.

The reality is that a Steve Jobs led Apple and its success can be obtained in claims departments. It takes a little more focus and the ability to step outside “what’s always been done” to innovate the future.

Tell us how else do you think Steve Jobs could have changed the claims world?

Why Don’t Claims Organizations Track Claims Through The Process The Way UPS Tracks A Package?

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Shipping Logistics Made Easy

One of the most amazing things to me about the holidays these days is online order tracking for the various shipping companies. What a truly amazing piece of technology. Recently I bought a present for my son who was accepted into college early decision. I ordered a school sweatshirt and was able to follow it at every step as seen here:

I think we are all used to this kind of precision in the shipping industry.It certainly is in the interests of UPS to know exactly where packages are in the process. Being able to route resources and manage the logistics of a large shipping company require this level of detail. The fact is UPS now advertises that they are in the “logistics” business. At some point someone in the company came up with the idea that the consumer would also benefit from having the same information. The consumer can participate in the process and even re-route the package to a new address while their package is moving through the system. UPS understood the value to customers in managing their own shipping logistics and changed the way both shippers and receivers look at moving packages around.

Claims Logistics Can Be Easy Too

How many in the claims industry have this kind of detail about their claims in process? And if the claims customer could also track information and participate, how much money could be saved? If UPS can tell me that a 3 lbs. package has just been moved from one truck to another, why can’t claims departments use similar information about claims to understand and streamline their businesses?

How valuable would it be to truly understand from different aspects of a claim where it is in the process? Could resources be realigned to deal with small blips in claim volume or severity increases? Would the information help underwriters understand an emerging trend that may cause a need to shift pricing? How efficient could a claims organization be if it could see increases in vendor spends in one part of the country versus another?

How about if an insured could have certain access to the claim in process? Would they be able to assist in their defense more comprehensively? Could they help change the direction of the claim being able to see the path that is being undertaken?

Claims Tracking

Thinking of the claim as a package in transit may be one way to explore new ways to manage files. A claim package comes into the office. It is logged into the system and assigned certain attributes. It is then sent to a staging area where its attributes (shipping information) are analyzed and then it is placed onto the correct truck (claim department/handler) for delivery. Along the way it may have to be redirected for more analysis (various shipping locations) where additional decisions about resources such as experts or further investigation can be made (transfer stations or warehouses). From there it’s final course can be set and a settlement can be reached (delivery).

I can see taking all the information that is gathered along the way and have it used to understand, not just the single claim, but the entire book of claims. With this information a claims department could shift resources to be more efficient. Analysis could be done at each step to help improve efficiency and lower costs. Looking at claims through the eyes of other successful industries is a good way to attack old problems.

How do you think claims could benefit if they could be tracked like a UPS package?

2 Problems To Prevent Before They Get Out Of Control: The Lily Pads Revisited

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Marc Lanzkowsky

How Many Lily Pads Are On Your Pond?

A farmer has a pond and walks out one morning and sees that a lily pad has shown up on the water. Not worrying about it, he walks away to do something else. The next morning he walks by the pond and sees two lily pads. Again, he moved on to better more important things. I mean it’s only two lily pads he thought. This goes on for a few more days with the amount of lily pads doubling every day…2 to 4 to 8 and so on.

Now the lily pads were getting in the way, but it’s no big deal there are more important things to do and there will allays be time. Now this pond was a critical part of the farm. It helped water the crops and feed the animals. Too many lily pads and the farm would be at risk.

The Farmer kept walking by and tended to more important things. On the 29th day the pond was half filled and yet the farmer just looked at it and thought “well this could be a problem but I have more important things to do”. The next morning, the 30th day, the pond was totally covered and the cost to the farm would be high.

Clear The Lily Pads Before It’s Too Late

It’s a tough economy and companies, and even more so claim departments, are constantly being asked to do more with less. There is a sense that looking inward for growing lily pads is just a waste of important time. A few lily pads won’t amount to much and well there are more important things to do.

Ensuring that lily pads are cleared from the pond should be a critical part of your regular business operations and should be addressed early and often.

What Types of Lily Pads Are Out There?

So where are the lily pads in your claims office? Here are some suggestions on places to look:

Closings – Take time to clean out all those resolved files that have not be closed. If you are still using paper files they are taking up space. How many of those files are cluttering up pendings and making it difficult to truly manage the group? Are there open reserve on those files creating redundancy and bringing down the financial health of the company? Go look at those lily pads because when they grow it can have direct impact on your bottom line.
Invoices – I hated dealing with invoices. I mean really, what does that have to do with the 200 files on my pending. Again, these lily pads can grow quickly and the clean up is going to be costly on a number of levels. Too many bills piling up and being paid all at once puts pressure on cash flow. Failing to pay invoices is a quick way to damage the company reputation and may cause some vendors to not want to do business with you. These really are easy lily pads to clean up so put aside time every week to get your bills paid.

There are of course so many lily pads in the office. How many times has the sheer act of allowing your lily pads to grow unchecked resulted in higher costs to your organization. So take time and don’t wait to the 30th day to find out its too late.

What kind of lily pads can you clean off?

2 Company Types And Their Approach To Claim Audits: The Have To’s And The Wants To’s

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Don’t Do It Because You Have To But Because You Want To

I am often brought in to an organization to consult on their claims auditing processes. Whether it’s conducting file reviews for my clients, developing an audit program and procedure, or to automate the process with the Audit Portal, I have seen a lot of audits. There are many reasons to conduct audits, but it usually comes down to one of two reasons:

We audit because we have to
We audit because we want to

The Have To’s And The Wants To’s

Companies that audit because they have to could really care less about the outcome. They audit because a regulatory agency told them they have to, an external auditor told them they have to, or senior management told them they have to. It’s a chore. Their goal: get in, get out, and figure a way to pass the review. No one cares about the process because all it is doing is taking time away from them doing the real work at hand.

Companies that audit because they want to care about the process and the outcome. They strive to improve their organizations. They are goal oriented and focus on improving themselves. They do this because they understand that auditing is a way to finding gaps and making those gaps go away. It’s a way to ensure people have the direction to succeed which in turn will help the company succeed. Companies that audit because they want to provide better customer services, are efficiently run, have happier employees, and are singularly focused on providing the best low cost claims services in a responsible manner.

Be The Best You Can Be

Don’t be the have to company and instead strive for excellence. Develop an audit program that encourages learning as its core value. Engage the group in the process and strive to improve both the organization and the people that make it up. Stay focused and committed to the process and the outcome. Measure those results and track them over time. Watch how your people grow and improve, and watch your costs go down and your production goes up.

Which Company Are You?

6 Ways To Conquer Procrastination – A Primer For The Claims Professional

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Putting Your Way To The Next Claim File?

Last post I wrote about 7 Steps To Effective Problem Solving For Every Claims Professional as taken from Business Insider War Room author Martin Zwilling. In reviewing more of Zwilling’s work, I came across Six Ways to Overcome the Urge to Procrastinate that is so applicable to anyone in business, let alone claims professionals, that I decided to include it here.

Jan Yager, in her book, “Work Less, Do More” talks about procrastination as a primary obstacle to efficient time management. She describes how you can grow so busy doing everything but what you should be doing, that you’re unaware that you’re failing to address what’s really fundamental to your success.

Here are some techniques Zwilling espoused from Jan Yager and others for conquering procrastination:

Plan your daily activities in advance. Make whatever it is you’re avoiding the very first task you do on a given day. Don’t start the day by checking e-mail, surfing the Internet, or reading the newspaper. Get a priority task done first every day, then take a break or do some low priority work that you enjoy more.
Set up a personal reward system. Pick a reward that will be a real motivator, something you truly want but have been denying for yourself. For example, as soon as you complete your financial projections, you can call your business partner to skip out for that round of golf he keeps mentioning.
Try creative procrastination. If you are finding your top priority to be too daunting, try tackling the second or third most important items on your to-do list. You will accomplish all your day’s priorities, but in a different order. That’s better than substituting a trip to the doughnut cart.
Arrange for gaps in your schedule. Build space into your schedule so you actually have some free time that will still permit you to get the priority project done without the tendency to put yourself down or engage in the self-criticism that too often accompanies procrastination.
Face the truth head-on. Take a few minutes to contemplate why you are delaying something. What does the postponement provide? What will it take to get you to act now? Write down the real deadline. Maybe it’s time to hire an expert, or assign the task to someone else on the team. Move the ball.
Define a period without distractions. Make a resolution to turn off the phones for the first hour of a day, or close the door to your office to discourage interruptions. Do not let anyone distract you from your priority tasks during these periods.

As someone who fights procrastination on a regular basis, I was particularly happy to get these suggestions. Claims can be a job with new and exciting information at every turn. On the other hand, it can also get repetitive at times requiring another new way to think about old problems.

What are some of the ways you fight procrastination?

7 Steps To Effective Problem Solving For Every Claims Professional

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Marc Lanzkowsky

Don’t Go In Circles To Solve Your Problems

Let’s face it solving problems in claims is a core reality to what we do. From the second a claim hits your desk until the minute it leaves it there are a series of problems that need to be solved. Should this claim even be accepted? Was there any liability? What experts should I hire? How much is it worth? What are my next steps? At every turn there is another problem that needs to be solved.

As you probably have experienced, some people are very good problem solvers and others are not. In claims, however, there is no escaping the need to solve a variety of issues on a daily basis. Don’t fret if you don’t consider yourself a good problem solver as it turns out there is help for you.

Problem Solving Can Be Learned

Business Insider War Room author Martin Zwilling wrote in Nine Steps to Effective Business Problem Solving that “managing any business is all about problem solving. Some people are good at it and some are not – independent of their IQ or their academic credentials (there may even be an inverse relationship here). Yet I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright.”

Zwilling, taking a page from Brian Tracy, in his book “The Power of Self-Discipline” suggested 9 ways to train yourself to be a better problem solver. I took 7 of these that I believe are applicable to the claims world.

Take the time to define the problem clearly. Many executives like to jump into solution mode immediately, even before they understand the issue. In some cases, a small problem can become a big one with inappropriate actions. In all cases, real clarity will expedite the path ahead.
Pursue alternate paths on “facts of life” and opportunities. Remember, there are some things that you can do nothing about. They’re not problems; they are merely facts of life. Often, what appears to be a problem is actually an opportunity in disguise.
Challenge the definition from all angles. Beware of any problem for which there is only one definition. The more ways you can define a problem, the more likely it is that you will find the best solution. For example, “sales are too low” may mean strong competitors, ineffective advertising, or a poor sales process.
Iteratively question the cause of the problem. This is all about finding the root cause, rather than treating a symptom. If you don’t get to the root, the problem will likely recur, perhaps with different symptoms. Don’t waste time re-solving the same problem.
Identify multiple possible solutions. The more possible solutions you develop, the more likely you will come up with the right one. The quality of the solution seems to be in direct proportion to the quantity of solutions considered in problem solving.
Prioritize potential solutions. An acceptable solution, doable now, is usually superior to an excellent solution with higher complexity, longer timeframe, and higher cost. There is a rule that says that every large problem was once a small problem that could have been solved easily at that time.
Make a decision. Select a solution, any solution, and then decide on a course of action. The longer you put off deciding on what to do, the higher the cost, and the larger the impact. Your objective should be to deal with 80 percent of all problems immediately. At the very least, set a specific deadline for making a decision, and stick to it.

Make the decision is my personal favorite. So often claims professionals are waiting for the next great piece of information that will save the day. More often than not, that information doesn’t alter the outcome that much. Making the decision to change the reserve or settle a claim should be made after careful problem solving has been considered. But regardless, the claims professionals job is to make the decision.