AIA New Zealand recently held this year’s edition of the Peak Performance Summit – an event described as “a great success”.
“At AIA we’re all about health and wellbeing – that’s why we implemented the AIA Vitality programme,” AIA NZ chief executive Nick Stanhope (pictured left with chief strategy officer Angela Busby, chief product and Vitality officer Len Elikhis, and chief partnership insurance officer Sam Tremethick) told Insurance Business.
“But unless everyone in the ecosystem is championing that lifestyle, we can’t expect Kiwis to live it too. We had a line-up of both local and international speakers there to give advice on mental wellbeing, nutrition, exercise, and how putting personal wellbeing first can allow people to deliver professionally, too.”
Among the speakers at the annual summit were exercise physiologist, nutritionist, and neuroscientist Paul Taylor, who believes action triggers motivation, and ex-professional boxer and community leader Dave Letele whose closing keynote hammered home the message of getting started despite the odds.
“A real highlight was seeing people braving the interactive ice bath session with Dave Wood at the end of the day,” added Stanhope. “It showed me how advisers were taking lessons onboard and wanting to use the Peak Performance Summit as a catalyst for some positive lifestyle changes.”
Wood, a high-performance trainer who helps people to perform at their peak, also had a session on moving well and thinking well. Speakers also included Next Evolution Performance’s Vanessa Bennett and Mission Nutrition’s Claire Turnbull.
“Our adviser community are interacting with AIA customers daily, and many of them are running a business alongside providing advice to 100s of Kiwis every year,” highlighted Stanhope. “That’s why it’s so important for advisers to put their own oxygen mask first before they can properly help others.
“We didn’t want to host a conference that told advisers how to do their job – we know they’re excellent at that. Instead, we wanted advisers to walk away from the Peak Performance Summit with some tools to help them better balance workloads with personal goals, manage energy levels to be more effective for family and work, or find small ways that they can live healthier, longer, better lives.”
An earlier study commissioned by AIA NZ found that 41% of advisers had moderate to high mental health risk, with the top stressors spanning government regulation (61%), work overload (42%), meeting future education standards (37%), work crisis (34%), work-family balance (29%), managing revenue (27%), new business (28%), and dealing with conflict (27%).
The research also showed that the majority of advisers were proactive in terms of seeking assistance from the industry. Sources of support range from industry peers, digital community platforms, trade associations, to social media and podcasts. It was found that advisers generally took the initiative around using recovery and self-care to manage stress levels.
“We know an adviser’s role is not simply to provide advice; they are often called upon to support their clients in challenging times, such as job loss or the unfortunate diagnosis of injury or illness,” stated chief customer officer Sharron Botica previously. “This requires a solid foundation of personal resilience and mental wellbeing, as they guide and support Kiwis to make informed choices.”
In the view of Stanhope’s camp, advisers who are at their optimum state are best placed to get their business and their clients to their respective peaks.
