Open Enrollment: Ways of Working Edition

Everyone knows what to expect when you say “Open Enrollment” and “Qualifying Life Events.” In-network, PPO, FSA, how-does-this-annual-event-always-feel-like-a-surprise!?! 🤬

If you need a refresher, when it comes to health insurance coverage, a qualifying life event is “an event that triggers a special enrollment period for an individual or family to purchase health insurance outside of the regular annual open enrollment period.”

A new job. A death in the family. A marriage. The birth of a child. They all count! 

This context was in the back of our minds when we were discussing the right cadence for managing key information for their teams. Most teams hopefully, at a minimum, have a practice of updating key information – RACIs and RAPIDs, escalation rules, team charters, OKRs and KPIs – annually. But are there other triggers, other qualifying organizational events, that would give them a reason to change outside of that annual cycle?

We think so. And we think it’s actually critical to managing your organizational health.

Bear with us through this maybe-not-so-accurate comparisons:

You’re probably feeling like this is a lot. And it is! 

However, noticing these moments as they come up will begin to create an “always-on” rhythm where you see your artifacts as living and breathing tools and not just documents you update for the hell of it. 

The teams who do this well are the ones who don’t spend hours and hours on perfection and publishing. Instead, they have practices in place (and permission from on high) to tweak as needed.

Start to think about the Qualifying Events your team should be on the lookout for and make a plan to take advantage of the benefits when they show up. You’ll be glad you did when you need coverage in the future.