Living in Kentucky, you’re treated every 17 years to one of nature’s most bizarre and unforgettable spectacles—the grand invasion of the cicadas. It might seem like a stretch but trust me: this ties back to collections and our wildlife series.
Picture this: millions of red-eyed, two-inch bugs bursting from the ground like a sci-fi swarm, filling the air with an ear-splitting scream, dive-bombing your porch, and clinging to everything—including you. It might sound like a horror movie, but there’s real strategy behind this synchronized chaos. So why do cicadas make such a dramatic entrance every 17 years?
Here are the fascinating reasons behind their madness:
Predator Satiation Strategy
- By emerging all at once in huge numbers, cicadas overwhelm predators (birds, mammals, reptiles). Predators eat their fill, but there are still millions of cicadas left to mate and reproduce.
- The sheer volume makes it impossible for predators to make a dent in their population, increasing the chances of survival.
Prime Number Advantage (17 years)
- Seventeen is a prime number, which reduces the chance of syncing up with the life cycles of predators or parasites that may reproduce on a 2-, 3-, 4-, or 6-year cycle.
- This avoids regular predation or parasitism that would occur if their cycles were more common multiples.
Evolutionary Success
- The 17-year cycle has been so successful at avoiding predators and ensuring reproduction that it has been naturally selected over millions of years.
I wish my weekly lottery ticket strategy paid off as well as the cicadas’—but after 35 years, I am still waiting for my big win. Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced business world, waiting even 17 years (let alone 35!) is a losing strategy when it comes to oversight and accountability.
When I audit collection organizations, I am not looking for perfection—I am looking for the basics: smart, consistent processes that show a business is paying attention. I do not set a hard rule for how often tasks should be done, but I strongly believe they should happen regularly throughout the year.
Here is a snapshot of what I consider essential for any solid business oversight routine.
Business Oversight
Let us think about some elementary activities that a fundamentally sound business should pay attention to on a regular basis:
Reviewing Policy and Procedures – no less than annually, why?
- Ensure Regulatory Compliance – Laws and regulations change frequently; regular reviews help maintain compliance and avoid legal risks.
- Reflect Organizational Changes – Updates in structure, technology, staffing, or services should be mirrored in your procedures to remain relevant.
- Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness – Annual reviews allow for identifying outdated steps, work arounds or bottlenecks and streamlining workflows.
- Enhance Risk Management – Revising policies helps address emerging risks, security threats, or liability issues before they escalate.
- Reinforce Training and Accountability – Updated procedures support consistent training, clarify responsibilities, and ensure staff follow current best practices.
Employee Performance Reviews – more often than once a year?
- Promotes Continuous Improvement – Regular feedback helps employees adjust quickly, develop skills in real time, and stay aligned with evolving expectations.
- Strengthens Communication – Monthly or quarterly check-ins create a culture of open dialogue, trust, and transparency between managers and employees – Coaching.
- Increases Engagement and Motivation -Employees feel more valued and supported when their contributions are acknowledged consistently, not just once a year.
- Improves Goal Alignment and Agility -Frequent reviews allow teams to adjust goals based on business needs and track progress more effectively.
- Reduces Surprises and Conflict – Regular check-ins prevent issues from festering, making performance management more proactive and less confrontational.
Internal Test and Controls – why schedule and complete ongoing testing?
- Identify and Fix Weaknesses Early – Routine testing uncovers errors, inefficiencies, or vulnerabilities before they lead to bigger problems.
- Ensure Compliance and Audit Readiness – Regular process checks help meet legal, regulatory, and industry standards, reducing the risk of fines or penalties.
- Maintain Consistent Quality and Service – Testing confirms that processes deliver expected results, ensuring reliability for customers and stakeholders.
- Adapt to Changes Effectively – As systems, tools, or business needs evolve, testing helps confirm that processes are still effective and relevant.
- Reduce Operational Risk – By catching issues proactively, you minimize the likelihood of disruptions, data breaches, or financial losses.
Conclusion: Do Not Be the Cicada of Business Oversight
While cicadas can afford to vanish for 17 years and still make a booming comeback, your business cannot.
In today’s dynamic environment, hoping things will just “work out” is about as effective as my decades-long lottery habit—long on hope, short on results.
Unlike cicadas, your success depends on consistency, adaptability, and attention to detail.
Regularly reviewing policies, checking in with your team, and testing your internal processes are not just “nice to haves”—they are essential survival tools. So, take a lesson from the cicadas’ dramatic entrance, but do not mimic their timeline.
Make oversight a regular rhythm in your organization—not a 17-year surprise.
Photo Credit: Kentucky Cicadas by Bev Evancic and Jen Evancic
Author: Ken Evancic
Ken.Evancic@ResourceManagement.com
As a consultant for Resource Management Services, Ken provides consulting, training and mentoring in all phases of collection and recovery, in addition to auditing third party vendors.
Ken Evancic is a Vice President at Resource Management Services, Inc. Ken Evancic is a collections veteran with over 25 years experience. He has managed all phases of collection, including all levels of delinquency, automated dialer units, early out agency management, recovery, and skip tracing. In addition to collections operations management, he has lead initiatives in the areas of performance management, collections strategy development, collector and manager training, collector desktop design, collections reporting systems, and risk and compliance.
As a consultant for Resource Management Services, Inc., Ken has specialized in developing and completing third party compliance and performance audits for collections agencies and collection attorney firms for many top credit grantors and debt buyers. He has leveraged his 25 years of experience to develop multiple collector and collection management training classes designed to maximize collector performance. In addition to collection training, Ken helped develop and facilitates the RMS Third Party Vendor Auditing training.
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