“In the event of a sudden loss in cabin pressure, secure your own oxygen mask before helping your children or others.”
In the heady days of widely available and (relatively) straightforward international travel, the above was a message familiar to anyone not wedded to using their earphones during a pre-flight safety announcement. Now the global aviation sector is gearing up for takeoff once more and, it is to be suspected that the next time this message is relayed, its meaning may be better understood in light of the COVID crisis.
The need for insurance leaders to lead by example when it comes to implementing structures and support to protect their people, their clients and their business partners is increasingly evident. This is not limited to any single activity but there are a few key areas, where the message of securing your oxygen mask first is particularly resonant.
The first and perhaps most obvious application of the simple idea that if you don’t take care of yourself then you won’t be in a position to take care of others, centres on wellbeing. A constructive offshoot from COVID-19 has been the increased focus on the welfare of the individuals that make up insurance businesses. This, in turn, has led to the evolution of holistic wellbeing programmes tackling everything from mental health, physical fitness and the myriad of stressors impacting insurance professionals.
However, discussions about breaking down the stigmas still associated with admitting you need help or further support are not complete unless insurance leaders are taking charge of changing the dialogue around wellbeing. In a recent chat, Ingrid Russell, of Genpact, highlighted that the responsibility for leading a team comes with the obligation to follow your own advice, and she is absolutely correct.
But this is not advice just to be directed at the C-Suite executives – nobody operates in a silo and everybody has the opportunity to lead by example. Across every business, moving wellbeing discussions forward hinges entirely on insurance professionals being willing to have those conversations when the wellbeing seminar is over or the mindfulness app is closed.
It has been fascinating to watch conversations around diversity and inclusion shift since I first joined the insurance space, and to see that concentration shift from the former to the latter. There is a growing realisation that being a face at “the table” is not the same as having a voice there, which is changing how insurance companies think about inclusivity. Personally, I commend this shift in focus for one very crucial reason – true inclusivity has to be about the individual.
Too much focus on gender, or age, or race, or economic background, runs the risk of making inclusivity a numbers game and, if history has taught us anything, it’s that a human being should never be reduced to a number. From the outside, making a professional environment welcoming and all-encompassing can seem like a daunting task best left to the human resources professional or the machinations of the C-Suite.
The good news, however, is that inclusivity can and should be something instigated by every single person who makes up an insurance business. When you look back over your career to date, who springs to mind as somebody who gave you advice or backing when you needed it most? Who sponsored you for professional qualifications or supported your application for a promotion?
The best thanks you can give the person or people that spring to mind would be to pay this forward, so the question now is – are you doing everything you can to support those around you? Who have you found a voice for at the table? Who have you gone out of your way to look after in the early days of their career or at a critical professional juncture when they most needed advice?
And, if no name springs to mind, that’s fine, it’s just a blank space waiting to be filled in.
The above are just two examples of where insurance professionals need to make sure their own safety belts are securely fastened before they look to advise others, but the list goes on and on. From closing the open door of their cyber security exposures, to ensuring they have adequate business resilience measures in place to protect against environmental threats, to keeping an eye on the ever-changing regulatory landscape – insurance businesses have a lot to be thinking about.
But if you’re belted up with your oxygen mask firmly in place then there’s little doubt that you’ll be able to weather whatever storms may arise and to use what you’ve learnt to guide those who rely on you to sunnier pastures.
