Peter Chamberlain (pictured), director of allinsure in Canberra’s Fyshwick, isn’t shy about divulging the most challenging moment of his life and how it sculpted him as a leader.
Chamberlain admits the devastating suicide of his best friend in 2015 acted as a turning point for him both personally and professionally.
“I ultimately came to realise while business success is important, what has far greater importance is the manner in how I achieved that success and what positive impact I ultimately made with that success,” Chamberlain said.
From raising funds and suicide awareness for beneficiaries including Lifeline, R U OK?, and Griefline, to launching his own suicide prevention charity with the help of his brothers, Chamberlain says the loss also drove him to greater business aspirations.
“The loss caused me to consider what is truly important, what really is success and how is it defined? This ultimately drove me and the business to far greater engagement with the community, family and friends and a far greater level of philanthropy,” he continued.
“allinsure continued to grow and evolve year on year and I continued to challenge the norm and be innovative in my approach to the industry. I continued to be driven to succeed - being nominated as a finalist and winning awards on a regular basis.”
He got his start in the industry as a trainee at QBE’s Canberra office in 1997, where Chamberlain says he worked with domestic, commercial and workers’ compensation portfolios, loss adjusting and the legal team – a solid foundation for any young professional.
He then decided to make the move into broking after realising that was “where he belonged” because it enabled him to help people.
“Getting to know clients and their businesses, building relationships, analysing risk and ultimately helping people was what made me excited to go to work each day,” he revealed.
Over the course of his career, Chamberlain says he has been positioned in a wide range of roles, both within and outside the insurance industry. From being headhunted as a financial controller of local and publicly listed businesses, to roles managing and underwriting for a group of agents, to becoming an account executive within a longstanding Canberra brokerage – Chamberlain says both negative and positive career experiences have been driving forces of growth.
But it’s without any doubt that the loss of his “best mate’s” life was the greatest motivator in becoming the business leader Chamberlain is today.
“This lesson largely shaped me as a person in a very positive way while also creating a fantastic culture that continues to thrive today within my team at allinsure,” he said.
“It led to a new understanding of what my role is as an insurance broker day to day – to help! Whether it be at the time of a claim, when a client needs me most, helping a client pass unwanted risk, or giving clients peace of mind to sleep at night. Our role is ultimately about helping people.”
On supporting his clients and business during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chamberlain says a personalised approach should prevail.
“Personalised service, client first mentality,” he said. “How do we best replace the highly face to face advice we typically provide without losing what has always been and will always be a key factor of business - strong and open relationships? While this may seem like a new challenge, there is another silver lining when we consider that the emerging group of business owners are more time poor, more technology savvy and want advice and service delivered on their terms more than ever.
“This situation is fast tracking additional ways in which we can deliver this service, and for most will be similar to the need for fast tracking items a lot of us have procrastinated on - like moving to the cloud, a paperless office and remote or flexible working arrangements.”
While every individual brokerage is different, Chamberlain is adamant putting clients first must be a universal priority for the industry if businesses want to continue to strive in a post-COVID environment.
“While this will differ from brokerage to brokerage dependent on size, technology, location, client portfolio and other similar factors, [supporting clients] is needed to overcome [COVID-19]and our success in doing so will ultimately determine how each of us comes out of the challenge in six, 12, 18 months or whenever we find the new post COVID-19 normal,” he added.
“I’m extremely proud of the culture and collaborative environment we have built at allinsure, so ensuring we maintain and build on it is a priority for us.”
Chamberlain is also focused on ensuring his staff are supported in every way during this challenging time. From staff meetings to morning tea deliveries, he says he is pleased to watch how the team is now operating.
“We want to make sure the team feel supported, particularly when it comes to their mental health with isolation, working from home, increased workloads and the current state of the world… small acts of appreciation also go a long way. We’ve sent out deliveries for morning tea to each staff member to enjoy during a team meeting,” Chamberlain added.
“To ensure we stay connected we’ve been using Microsoft Teams video meetings every day. At the beginning of the week we have a full team meeting with coffee in hand to highlight any wins, discuss the upcoming week, any challenges, etc. We then have a full team recap on a Friday afternoon (with a wine or beer) where everyone contributes.
“I’m pleased that our smaller teams are working and communicating really well together, and the collaboration between our Canberra and Melbourne office is getting stronger each week. We’re absolutely seeing the benefits of the refined systems and processes we have worked on for the past 12-18 months or so.”
But his biggest challenge as a leader during these times is far from over.
“Like many business owners, my major goal is to continue to lead the business through these turbulent times and come out stronger than ever at the end. I want to further strengthen our relationships with our clients and for them to know that we are absolutely here to support them and their businesses,” he said.
“Thirteen (13) years ago, two accountants took a chance and backed me when I wanted to start my own business. I want to continue to give back by mentoring not only my two young business partners, but other local business owners in our industry and community.”
