In early April of 2013, ReSource Pro hosted our first annual Insurance Operations Boot Camp in Nashville, Tennessee. This event, the first of its kind, was a huge success!

Attendees spent two days learning and practicing workflow management, standardization, and benchmark auditing of project plans.  In addition to being put to work, clients and ReSource Pro team members alike spent time eating, drinking, and listening to fantastic live music!

One client, Patricia Clevenger, composed a poem about her experience at ReSource Pro’s Operations Boot Camp. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Patricia for capturing the spirit, objectives, and takeaways of the event so beautifully! With Patricia’s permission we are thrilled to share this fantastic piece of poetry with you all!

Camping in Nashville

By Patricia Clevenger

Day One:

Operation Boot Camp starts with hearty hail,

Overkill, overtell, as we hit the process trail…

Stop the song; it’s all wrong; the message is quite clear;

A Lean, mean, incredibly clean, new process is here.

Peel the onion, bit by bit, letting every tear

Wash away each wasteful act and every lingering fear.

Buy the runs, get the wins, change-up how you thought it;

The value’s in the player whose measure fuels profit.

Boomer, Millennial, Gen X, Y or Z-er,

Just do it, or do what counts; make the process freer;

Design it, refine it, align it strong and true;

Make sure you build the process, and the process will build you.

This brings us to the matter of readiness for change,

To think we must get ready may seem a little strange.

Some defame it, we reframe it, even try to tame it,

All the while we simply need the proper way to name it.

Pocket change? Change of clothes? Change the way I think?

There are so many changes; I’m simply on the brink;

From pedantic to semantic, soon I think I’ll choke;

I have to manage all this change, or else I will go broke!

Change is surely more than a nickel or a dime,

It’s an ever shifting shaping of another paradigm.

ADKAR, Prosci, benchmarking every beat,

Be sure you don’t burst into flames mapping out your heat!

Leading people through the change gets them through the maze;

Managing the work they do clears up all the haze;

Inquisition, Acquisition – hiring by any other name,

Develops and deploys the right talent for the game.

Talent in and of itself is never quite enough,

We have to find a way to know we’re doing the right stuff!

One more thing to manage, performance is the part

Where we find out “it’s so fluffy,” or “our goals are really SMART!”

SMART includes outsourcing, letting go of all we must,

Growing a relationship built on monumental trust,

Aligned in purpose and intent, the only way to go:

Transformation strategy along with ReSource Pro.

We’re still “campin’ in Nashville: 

Day Two: the rest of the story….

When told we would improve our craft,

Assembly line was fully staffed;

We did not know the craft was AIR;

Pushing paper was NOT our flair!

Straight from air to water, we dive into Swim Lane part,

Sticky notes are floaties that move about the chart;

Name that task, float that note, ‘til each lane’s replete,

Now we’re done, challenge won, process is complete.

Standardize the process – organize each task;

Solutions aren’t in the knowing, but in the questions that we ask.

Soon enough we’ll find, the factors of success,

They lie within the people and the problems we address.

We all know our ABC’s, but do we do know ABCD?

It’s one more acronym you see, to help us write an SOP!

A is for analysis; B breaks into pieces;

C is capturing details, while D documents the thesis.

Keep it short; keep it sweet; to keep us thinking on our feet;

Less is more; more is less – conciseness keeps our process fleet.

Use numbers, letters and specifics please,

With Tables, verbs and examples of these.

Truly, problem solving, is the root of all this talk,

With studies meant to guide us as we learn to walk the walk;

Who knew that when we sought our skills to sharply hone,

We’d be identifying causes on the spine of some fishbone?

Workflows, lean process, mapping or Six Sigma,

All the tools at our dispense can cause quite the enigma;

Yet all are meant to move us from our better to our best,

May we never cease to use them with improvement as our quest.

What a joy to “camp” in Nashville, Operations the component,

What a privilege to work with those who share as the proponent

Of such leadership and teamwork that causes us to grow,

Through the insight and relationships we build with ReSource Pro.