Insurance professionals with Steadfast Group recently graduated from the Aspire Women Leaders Program. This year-long course at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in Sydney is tailored to female insurance intermediaries looking to become future business leaders. The program is run by Hollard Insurance and Steadfast.
Out of about 80 applicants, Antonella Shannahan (pictured above) was one of 26 women selected for the program. Shannahan, who is general manager of insurtech at Steadfast Technologies, now has a Certificate in Executive Management and Development.
“We actually kicked off in October 2023 and there were six modules that wrapped up a few weeks ago, towards the end of November,” she said.
The Steadfast leader said each module involved on-campus sessions for three days.
“Apart from the face-to-face course, we were given a lot of reading material if you wanted to further your education on any of the topic areas,” said Shannahan
Each module focused on a different area including business leadership, personal and professional wellbeing and career planning.
“For our final module in November we were given the business case of a brokerage that had some challenges - and then within our coaching groups we had to complete a 20-minute presentation on the future growth strategy for the brokerage,” she said.
Shannahan said her biggest takeaways came from the strategy module that involved the practical applications of strategic thinking, from both a business and client perspective.
“I've actually been able to apply some of those tools that we learnt in my role for business case approvals and doing presentations,” she said. “That's an example of what makes a really great course.”
For example, a strategy cascade model.
“The tools that they gave us in that strategy module were just fantastic and you could really apply them,” said Shannahan.
The strategy cascade model, she said, involves asking lots of questions.
“Questions like, who are your clients? What are you doing for them? What do you want to be able to do for them? Then you go into: how are you actually going to deliver?” Shannahan said.
It doesn’t stop there.
“Then, when you deliver, what does that mean? What are the processes that you need to change?” she said. “What are the resources that you need to deliver on that strategy that you're looking to implement?”
The Steadfast GM said this approach allows for a “deep dive” into big business goals.
Another big course takeaway for Shannahan was the excellent networking opportunities. Her fellow students, she said, were from a range of backgrounds including tech specialists, account managers, HR managers and brokerage owners.
“I'm hoping I can continue to grow my presence in the insurance industry and continue bringing a great product to market that meets brokers’ needs,” said Shannahan. “Having that network of people that I can go back to and ask questions and collaborate with really supports what I want to do.”
This is the second year for the Aspire program. Steadfast’s CEO Robert Kelly told Insurance Business that it was inspired by the original version of the course that Hollard Insurance developed.
“Richard Enthoven [currently Hollard’s non-executive director] said to me he’d be happy to extend it and give us access if we thought it was of value,” said Kelly. “I jumped at that because it's like a short form MBA and it really lifts people dramatically.”
Like Shanahan, Kelly also paid tribute to the networking value of the course.
“A lot of the women that have done it are now in a cohort of women that can ring one another up to discuss their business problems,” he said.
The CEO said the course also increases commercial knowledge and acumen.
“It builds on what was already a very strong base and gives them a stronger feeling about their importance in our business,” he said. “I think it's been wonderful and everybody that's done it absolutely loves it.”
He said Steadfast has invested $300,000 in the program each year.
“I don't look at it as an expense,” said Kelly. “I look at it as an investment in the future for talented people that we're bringing through to a different level,” he said
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