Defining Performance

Culture follows measurement. Show me what a company measures and rewards, and I will show you what kind of culture it has.

Insurance organizations that measure underwriter performance by submission volume, adjuster performance by file count, and IT performance by project delivery dates tend to get exactly what those metrics reward — activity that may or may not be producing the outcomes the business actually needs.

High-performance culture in insurance is built by identifying the two or three outcomes that genuinely determine business success in each function, then designing feedback systems that connect daily behavior to those outcomes. That process requires real clarity about what success looks like, which is harder than it sounds.

The leaders who build great cultures in this industry are not necessarily the most charismatic or the most technically expert. They are the ones who are clear and consistent about what they are trying to accomplish and who design incentives and feedback loops that make that clarity actionable for every member of their team.