Aligning Your Insurance Company Through Core Values to Overcome Internal Conflict
This feel familiar? Yeah, a year ago you started your insurance company. Grit and bootstraping got you this far. But now, with eight employees it seems like you have eight different companies, going in different directions. You’ll wrangle two people back in, while three drift out. Functionally, you do have eight separate companies.
And the odds are, it’s not that your people can’t focus. They can focus quite well, which is why they keep going in a bunch of determined separate paths. What’s probably missing is your company’s cultural glue, the ways they belong in their company strategic story. You either start with that glue and move real fast together, or later, you slow down to a crawl as you keep trying to patch things together. Your company lacks its strategic us-story anchored in belonging.
Back to the question, “Now what?” A fractional head of people could help you with that. Especially since your current level of revenue may not support a full-time person to manage your people operations might not seem economically feasible.
Aligning Your Insurance Company Through Core Values to Overcome Internal Conflict
In the early stages of your insurance startup, internal conflicts can easily arise, particularly when the industry’s complexities collide with a lack of clear alignment on core values. Competing and oppositional values always lead to unclear decision-making, and conflict among team members, and prevent strategic execution. The root cause often lies in a lack of identified core values that serve as a strategic anchor for the entire company to define the ways they belong while they get sh!t done.
Here's my 5-step way to align your company strategically in belonging as one high-performing tribe
Here’s my five-step approach that can help your startup realign itself by identifying and living by core values, ensuring everyone in your organization feels connected and strategically aligned. I’ve use this approach with multiple companies, and it always works.
Step 1: Identify Individual Core Values
The first step in addressing internal conflict within your insurance company is to conduct a thorough assessment of the values that both you and your core team live by. Personal values drive behavior, and as a startup leader, it’s essential to recognize that the alignment of values among your new team will set the tone for the entire organization. Keep this in mind though, it’s not a democracy you started your company so make sure you know your core values, and can live them as you do the work. Every problem at work is actually a people problem. And again almost always, a conflict in values, not processes and how stuff gets done.
You can use a values assessment tool like VIA Character Strengths to help identify which core values each person on your team tends towards. While individual values might differ, they can often serve as an early point of connection between team members. When your team is fully aware of their personal values, you can collectively identify 3-4 values that are non-negotiable for the company to live out as it grows and evolves.
Again, as the founder do not forget to keep your core values in play here. You’ll end up making it impossible for yourself to work in your own company.
Core values are personal and dynamic, but they should remain steadfast despite changes in your company’s circumstances.
Step 2: Narrow Down Core Company Values
One common cause of conflict is the existence of too many competing values. In an insurance startup, where the stakes are high, narrowing down core values is essential to simplify decision-making and reduce friction. The leadership team must engage in meaningful conversations to identify no more than four core values that your company will live by without compromise. The goal is to get them done thoroughly not quickly. And any number more than four prevents them from being core.
These values will serve as guiding principles for all your company actions, including hiring, firing, and strategic planning. You’ll be defining your core values based on real scenarios where one value may need to outweigh another, your new team can solidify a shared understanding of how these values will influence everyday decisions. By using these values as a compass, they ensure that every decision, whether about client interactions or internal conflict resolution, reflects these guiding principles. By the way, integrity is a lame core value. Yeah, you did what you said you would. That’s table stakes.
Here’s an example of a core value from a company I worked with.
Value Each Other:
Validate each other's place in the tribe
Visualize what your teammate needs to succeed
Verify that you have each other's back
In a conflict, an individual’s work contribution can easily be seen as just their job. The leader invites the person back into living and applicable core value by asking, “In doing your work, can you internally visualize that your contribution is what your teammate needs to succeed? And externally, it’s what Mr. Doe needs to succeed at being comfortable with the liabilities of his teenage son now driving a car?”
Step 3: Convert Values into Actionable Verbs
Values can feel abstract if they are not translated into everyday behaviors. This step requires converting the selected core values into verbs or actionable statements that are directly applicable to your company’s culture and strategic narrative. Actionable values turn ideology into reality by giving everyone clear guidance on how to live out those values at work.
Note from the example above, that values as verbs statements are more than just slogans; they serve as constant reminders of what is expected behaviorally. Every team member, from sales agents to back-office staff, will be able to easily understand and act upon these values in their daily roles.
Step 4: Engage Your Core Team in Value Alignment
Once your company has settled on its core values and converted them into actionable verbs, the next step is to extend this understanding to your core team. It’s crucial to involve them in refining and joining the company’s values with their personal ones. This is a conversational visualization practice to ensure that they take and feel ownership of the values, which increases their commitment to living them out. Note, in this process you might find that someone on your team has a core value that conflicts with your company's core values. It’s best to help them find a new place to work at that point.
Your core team members act as evangelists and shepherds of these values, promoting them within the organization and helping to onboard new employees who align with this vision. By allowing your team to see how their personal values drive the company’s strategic story, you foster deeper belonging. Employees see themselves as integral parts of the organization and will move towards each other in conflict, instead of against each other.
A little note for you. Conflict is not the opposite of collaboration. It’s the natural outcome in any collaboration. What belonging does for us in adherence to our core values is, that it allows us to be in a state of unite & fight instead of fight/flight.
Step 5: Develop Systems to Measure and Sustain Value Alignment
Values, once identified, must be actively upheld and integrated into company operations. To ensure these values remain at the forefront of your company culture, you need to design systems that measure and sustain the implementation of these core values. This could involve regular team check-ins, performance evaluations tied to lived values achieved, or guidance-loops that allow employees to voice concerns or ideas about how the company is living its values.
For instance, if one of your values is teamwork, you might implement a peer review system where employees assess one another’s collaboration skills and offer constructive feedback. It is essential that everyone agrees to live by these values, both inside and outside the company. When someone fails to adhere to a core value, this system provides a framework for inviting them back into alignment, rather than simply penalizing them.
Conclusion: Building Belonging Through Shared Values
In any company, but especially in a rapidly growing insurance startup, belonging gets built through lived shared values. Without clear and actionable core values, your team will become fragmented, resulting in internal conflict and strategic misalignment. However, by identifying and living by 3-4 uncompromising values, you create a cohesive environment where everyone feels connected and knows what is expected of them.
Realigning your company through the five steps outlined here will not only reduce internal friction but also establish a stronger, more resilient foundation for growth. When every member of your organization is committed to the same core values, they can act with confidence, resolve conflicts more effectively, and contribute to the company’s long-term success.