Football teams have new people on the squad who have not worked together before. It's very likely we're in the same boat. New associates need to understand their role in the benefits playbook. Associates supporting benefit programs need to understand the products, the enrollment methods and communications material. They must know how to make sure programs are appropriately designed. We can get out of shape, too. If we had a successful fall the year before, we need to remember we have started back at zero this fall. We cannot afford to lose our competitive edge.

We need to coach ourselves and our team members to prepare for open enrollment. We need to go over the attributes of our key accounts and identify our go-to people. We need to review the playbook for successful enrollment based on employer size, complexity of the product mix, locations, languages and other practical matters. We need to go over every detail of important accounts with the obsession for excellence of great coaches.

Finally, let's not forget the needs of our players. The fourth quarter can be burnout time. While football players might become more susceptible to injury as the season wears on, our team members can suffer from mental fatigue. Make sure you plan a little fun for your people during the fourth quarter, whether team pizza lunches, extra time off when business flow reduces, extra coffee, doughnuts, or other goodies to help reduce stress.

Soon enough, we'll be competing for real. As we tune up for open enrollment season, keep in mind success will be measured by our ability to “just do our job.” As Belichick says: “I'm not worried about the other 31 teams”.