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A cohort of Australian insurance professionals ventured to Silicon Valley last month, after a major broker network sought guidance on succession planning – and one Californian university delivered.
Austbrokers, the broking arm of insurance giant AUB, invited 80 executives from across the network to attend its inaugural international education program, held in the US.
Speaking to Insurance Business about why California was the chosen destination, Austbrokers divisional chief executive Nigel Thomas said the stars aligned in the group’s favour.
“We identified succession planning as a key opportunity so we had a look to see where we could get the best style of training and the University of San Francisco provided an excellent option,” he said. “We were able to work with them to create a bespoke offering for us and we were very fortunate because it also coordinated with the AIMS event being held in Pasadena.”
Commenting on the key theme of succession planning, Thomas said the topic was chosen to meet the specific needs of businesses within the Austbrokers network.
“In businesses of the scale and size that exist in our partnership model, you find that the majority are working in the business, rather than on the business,” he explained. “Being part of the group, we’re able to bring a different aspect to the consideration and create these opportunities where people can start to work on the business, rather than in it.”
Importantly, the education program went beyond the concept of internal succession planning and identified ways in which brokerages can leverage the weight of the entire network to attract, retain and develop talented staff.
“If we can spend time formally considering succession planning, and formally working on it, then we have an opportunity to create and develop talent right across the group,” said Thomas. “You can sit in your business, identify the talent and develop it as best you can, but when you’re part of a network, as in Austbrokers, there’s an opportunity to work with a much wider group of people.”
The ability to leverage the power of the group, Thomas said, was a key takeaway from the trip and one which he received significantly positive feedback around.
“The feedback has been really, really positive and it’s definitely made our partners feel part of the group in a manner that helps them see succession planning as something that’s wider than just within the individual business,” he said.
Of course, as a vocal advocate of career-long learning, Thomas said he too gained valuable insight as a result of attending the education program.
“My personal takeaway was around the level of collaboration and openness that our partners exhibit when they work together to look at a particular issue or opportunity, being succession planning in this case,” he told Insurance Business.
“It was really encouraging to be a part of that room and to see how much people take all of that in so they can bring it back to their businesses and work on it in a more formal sense.”
Looking forward, it’s this focus on bringing actionable insights back to Australia which will remain front and centre.
“We’re going to continue to roll out work that was done at the university, back into the partner businesses to ensure that we bring back tangible results and outcomes,” said Thomas.
“That’s the key to why we went there, to ensure everyone came away with something tangible to take back into their business.”
