Specialist underwriting agency DUAL Asia Pacific recently hosted 75 brokers in the Blue Mountains. The firm’s annual trip started with a panel discussion of industry hot topics. Then adventurer, motivational speaker and former corporate consultant James ‘Cas’ Castrission treated the group to canyoning, abseiling and motivational talks.
Damien Coates (pictured above), DUAL’s CEO, said participants were sent a survey before the trip to find out insurance industry issues they wanted to discuss. He said the three most requested were: wage inflation and the fight for talent; inflation and the cost-of-living, and; the new remote working world.
“Given we have been in a hard market for over three years,” said Coates, “It was important to get a global perspective that these challenges are not abating but are increasing with the continuation in the trend of climate driven natural catastrophe and geopolitical instability.”
He said the current rising interest rates and inflationary trends were increasing the likelihood of “a deep global recession.” Coates said the panel discussion was able to bring a global perspective to these challenges.
“The other aspect of the forum that was of most interest was the discussion that the industry needs to be more open and supportive of diversity and inclusion,” he said. “In terms of attracting people to the industry in areas such as disability along with school and university leavers.”
Coates said, for him, the most physically challenging part of the adventure was abseiling.
“Taking that first step off a 30-metre cliff!” he said.
The mental challenge, said Coates, was engaging with his 70 plus broker guests to encourage them to take on both physical challenges and open themselves emotionally. The most rewarding part of the trip was seeing the smiles when industry colleagues conquered their fears.
“Also, people feeling comfortable to share their feelings about how this event will give them positive tools to use in their career and personal lives moving forward,” said Coates.
Mick O’Bree (pictured immediately below), Ausure’s general manager of operations and underwriting, was on the trip and participated in the panel discussion.
“One matter that really resonated with me was the issue of the fight for talent,” he said.
O’Bree said he enjoyed sharing his experiences but found it “really rewarding” to listen to others.
“What was really rewarding was to hear Troy Mansell and Paula Harris talk about their experiences, as some options were new to me, while on the other hand it was good to see we were already doing some of them,” he said.
O’Bree said he discussed the importance of team retention which is one of his responsibilities at Ausure. “Another positive outcome of the panel discussion was to hear that it’s OK to not be over everything,” he said.
O’Bree said it’s easy to say that you are proactively dealing with a problem, but it can also be “powerful” to hear someone acknowledge an issue and honestly state that they haven’t sorted it out yet.
“Our industry can sometimes be good at over-promising and under-delivering on projects or issues that affect us, so more transparency and honesty is a good thing,” he said.
O’Bree said the physical and mental challenges on the trip were “an incredible experience.” He said jumping backwards and down into a water filled canyon was the most difficult.
“The jump wasn’t overly big, but every part of my body was saying, ‘no!’,” he said.
Then came leaning over a 30-metre waterfall before abseiling down it.
“I would have got one out of 10 for style points, but it was worth it,” said O’Bree.
The Ausure general manager said the physical activities and outdoor socialising combined to facilitate great personal connections between the participants.
“The fire, food, drinks, music, sharing a glamping tent with another person and even the portable toilets were six-star!” he said.
O’Bree congratulated DUAL for “the best event in our industry!”
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James ‘Cas’ Castrission, who hosted the DUAL expedition, runs MyAdventure Group which he founded in 2013. His Blue Mountains based company organises motivational workshops and adventures. In 2008, Castrission and his partner Justin ‘Jonesy’ Jones became the first kayakers to cross the Tasman Sea without support. In 2012, the pair completed what’s thought to be the longest ever unsupported polar expedition, a return trip from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole without assistance.
