Establish Your Franchise

One of the many components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA aka Health Care Reform) is each state must decide if they will implement the Medicaid expansion. The goal is to expand coverage to state residents that aren’t covered by or eligible for one of the many programs currently offered.

Indiana already has several program options in place, including the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), but eligibility can be complicated and varies based on the individual program guidelines. There is much disagreement between parties as to which program is the most cost-effective for the state and how to provide the coverage needed by over 400,000 low-income Hoosiers.

There are certain tools that are required for every risk management plan. Whether you work in construction or manage a busy office, there will be many factors that are the same. Every risk management plan requires safety equipment, training, and insurance.

Very Honored

We got some great news last week. Gibson has been named a “2013 Best Places to Work in Indiana” company. This is a big honor for us, as it’s a reflection of our incredible team of professionals at Gibson. They are hard-working, collaborative, optimistic, fun and client-centered folks. I’m lucky to work alongside such great people.

Honestly, we weren’t sure if we would achieve this award. We have applied for it on two other occasions and were close, but unsuccessful.

On the previous failed attempts, we decided it had to do with applying for the award during the economic downturn. After all in November 2008, we had the first and only reduction in force experienced by our organization in our 80-year history. Yet… other firms obviously won during those years.

Then we told ourselves (because it appeared that more of the winning firms are headquartered in Indianapolis) that it probably had something to do with being located in northern Indiana. Except, geography is not part of the selection process.

The truth was we needed to make some subtle, but important changes. We had been a really good company (and pridefully I thought a great place to work) for a long, long time, but realized we could become better.

There’s a simple rule in safety procedure that sticks in most people’s minds. Before you use any piece of equipment, you check it to make sure everything is working correctly. Then, when you’re done, you check it again. Once you’ve done that and you’re ready to move on to another risk management step, you check it again.

This may sound like overkill but it is necessary, especially when that equipment is designed to save your life. In construction risk management, you can never be too careful. The risks are too great to leave anything to chance.

Falltech & Construction Risk Management

Core Values

As part of my series on executive level topics, I’ll be interviewing business leaders from time-to-time and including their stories in my posts. Today, I’m covering the importance of having a hiring and development process to ensure you select and retain the best people. I’ve included insights from a conversation I had with Amish Shah, President/CEO of Kem Krest, a supply chain management company based in Elkhart, Indiana.

At Gibson, Talent Wins The Game is one of our Core Values. To us that means we want our clients, our fellow colleagues, and even our communities to know that we value our people. That belief is also an internal reminder to our management that while having a great coach is important, I’ve not seen too many win without great talent. And as Amish’s story reveals, it can make or break your business.

A company experiencing a disruption of three days or more is at risk of going out of existence. Disruptions like natural disasters (storms, tornados), human risk (infectious disease, labor disputes) and business risks (financial crisis, supply chain) are a few of the events that can affect a business. Within two years, of the companies that experience this kind of delay, 70% will fail. After five years that figure rises to 90%. The majority of companies will have insurance coverage, but this may not be enough to protect them in the long-term. The key to a business surviving one of these events is to be prepared for every eventuality.

There are inherent risks when traveling abroad. Of course there’s the more simple possibility of a flight being cancelled, or perhaps you fall ill the day before a luxury cruise. But what if you break a tooth or develop severe abdominal pain? It’s not as simple as taking a trip to the local dentist or doctor.

The best ways to protect yourself are to research your destination and purchase travel insurance.

Travel Insurance

Flowers

You couldn’t help but notice the huge bouquet of roses on her desk. “So who got you the flowers for Valentine’s Day?” I asked. She was a salesperson just like me and we had become pretty good friends since starting at the company a few years prior. “None of your business! He’s just a friend. Well, maybe more than a friend!” she replied. “You have a secret admirer, don’t you!” I exclaimed. She nodded happily but still wouldn’t say who it was.

Not long after, I was promoted to my first real management job. After being friends with a number of my fellow salespeople, I suddenly found myself in charge at age 27. On a daily basis, I was learning about behaviors and outlooks that were normal and even acceptable as an “employee” but no longer as part of the management team.

One night I ran into the co-worker mentioned above, now a direct report, and to my surprise she was with a client of hers. The secret admirer was secret no longer. In fact I knew this CFO well (I’ll call him Mark). He was very driven and looking for a different career path. He had actually expressed an interest in joining our firm in a sales role.

With all of the extreme weather we’ve been experiencing lately, you could be forgiven for thinking that maybe the Mayans were just a year off with their apocalyptic prediction. There have been floods, hurricanes and most recently, snowstorms battering the nation from every angle. If you don’t have coverage for extreme weather, you might be thinking that now’s the time to get it. Let’s take a look at what disaster risk measures you can implement to protect against the damaging effects of America’s extreme weather events.

Assess

The first box to tick on your disaster risk checklist should be to assess whether certain types of extreme weather are likely to affect you. Make sure precious items aren’t stored in your basement or any other area of the house that may be affected by flooding. If you do live in an area that could be affected by extreme weather events then you may want to think about getting the appropriate insurance coverage.