Diary of an Insurer: Ecclesiastical’s Sarah Pearson

Monday

I wake up at 7am and go down for breakfast. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I have been having the same breakfast as long as I can remember: Special K, seasonal fruit and semi-skimmed milk. I need to venture out of my comfort zone.

Today I spend the morning preparing for some work we are doing with a school on their business continuity management.

The focus of the work is to understand the key business continuity threats facing the school and agree what critical services they would want to protect during a disruption, the resources they would require to keep the show on the road and timelines for recovery.

This is a key part of the business continuity management cycle – often referred to as the business impact analysis.

I am so engrossed in my work that before I know it it’s mid-afternoon and I need to catch a train to Bristol to support a church customer first thing Tuesday morning.

I like travelling by train. It gives me the opportunity to catch my breath and gather my thoughts without the worry of driving. I arrive at Bristol, check into my hotel and Google if there is a nice Italian nearby – my favourite food.

Following my meal, it is an early night for me as I need to be fresh and on my game to facilitate an important workshop the following day.

Tuesday

I am up and ready to go this morning. I arrive at the customer site 30 minutes before the start of the workshop to ensure all the tech is up and running and ready to go.

The participants start to arrive, and it is great to meet such a cross section of people from the chief operating officer, finance director, the dean to the chair of their audit and risk committee.

Today was working with the group to identify the key risks and opportunities facing the organisation aligned to their priorities and plans moving forward.

The output was a refreshed strategic risk register.

The workshop went well, and I get this deep sense that I have added value – the best part of my job. I look at my watch and it’s back to the train station to head home.

Wednesday

It is an early start today as I am catching up with enterprise risk management colleagues in Australia. It is my 7am and their 6pm.

The purpose of these bi-weekly calls is to work together to develop our ERM proposition across our territories. They are always productive, a safe check and challenge forum, and good fun.

Then it is head down as I work on an exciting new development. We are looking to launch a new ERM self-assessment tool to support our customers. There has been so much planning behind the scenes, but we are now at the exciting part where we can see how the tool will look and feel – so watch this space.

After lunch I am drafting a paper that will be presented to the UK leadership team on how our ERM proposition will develop over the next three years – they say never stand still.

We are so proud of our offering and want to ensure our proposition stands strong against our competitors.

The day has gone so quickly, and it is not over yet. I have planned to drop into a local charity who support autistic children and carers and present them with their £1,000 Movement for Good award.

As part of the Benefact Group our purpose is to give all available profits back to charitable causes. The team were so grateful as £1,000 will go a long way.

I managed to get back home to catch the new Great British Bake Off series – easy watching – just what was needed.

Thursday

I cannot believe it’s Thursday already. Looking at my diary, it’s back-to-back meetings, which involves customer work, pipeline calls, looking at a cyber safety tool, working with colleagues to ensure our new ERM self-assessment tool is in line with Consumer Duty, and anything else that appears in my inbox.

I spend the last couple of hours finalising and going over my material for a webinar first thing on Friday morning, which is in partnership with AGBIS.

They support and advise governing bodies of schools in the independent sector on all aspects of governance, under the umbrella of the Independent Schools Council, and we work closely with them.  

The webinar is titled The Big Picture – To Your Picture and explores the need to innovate and maximise opportunities in a riskier landscape with a focus on independent schools.

Feeling prepared and ready for tomorrow, it is time to shut down and go to my yoga class at the local gym.

Friday

Where has the week gone? It has been extremely busy but productive.

After a few technical problems with Zoom, the webinar goes ahead as planned. It was great to speak to governors about a number of ‘big picture’ risks and how they will affect schools at a more local level.

The webinar focused on three key areas: economic (cost-of-living), environment (climate change), and technology, and how your strategic risk management approach can be used to support future scenario planning.

Webinar over and it’s back at my desk to look at the team’s performance metrics – we are getting to that time of the year when we need to be close to hitting or exceeding targets. I am feeling pretty upbeat as we are on track.

The last call of the day is with a member of the team preparing for a business continuity test with a client and developing a credible scenario to test. These are a fantastic way to check if the plan is fit for purpose and raise awareness around roles and responsibilities in a crisis. There is a lot of planning that goes into these assignments, but they are an extremely effective way of engaging people in the process.

Its 5pm and time to stop for the week. Friday evening is my favourite time, the malbec is at room temperature, and I have the whole weekend to look forward to catching up with family and friends.

I do however need to finish this article by saying on Saturday morning I will be joining a couple of work colleagues and we will be abseiling down Derby Cathedral to support Rainbows Children’s Hospice.

Whatever we raise, the Benefact Group will double it! I am not great with heights but who would not want to contribute to such a worthy cause?