Diary of an Insurer: QBE’s Natalie Ferrigan

Monday 

The chattering of my three-year-old is my usual wake-up call followed by the familiar sounds of the cockerels on our farm.

The nursery run followed, then it was onto a virtual catch-up with our team to check-in on the priorities for the week ahead.

It’s always great to hear the variety of activities of UK distribution team who work day-to-day supporting our broker partners and customers in the UK market. 

Next was a virtual review meeting with one of our broker partners to discuss performance, priorities and engagement followed by a marketing and events meeting to discuss our events calendar and plans for the British Insurance Brokers Association Conference.

I love BIBA – meeting our broker partners and making new connections is what it is all about and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Tuesday

It is off to the Leeds office I go for a one-to-one with one of my team, then to a broker meeting to discuss a UK-wide scheme opportunity with some of our underwriting team. 

In the afternoon I interviewed a new account manager to join my growing distribution team.  

Then it was off to a broker event for some dart throwing with one of our partner brokers. Who knew darts could be so competitive?  

It was a great event to get to know each other better, after all, our broker relationships are such an important part of what we do. 

Wednesday

I headed to London for a quarterly review with a partner broker.

The meeting was focused on our Net Promoter Scores and general feedback across the business.

I enjoy looking at these results as they show where are making an impact and gives us clear signals on where we can make gains. We celebrated what was working well and agreed some priorities for the forthcoming quarter. 

Next, I worked with our new head of sales operations to share ideas.

It is always so insightful to get different perspectives from new people joining QBE. 

I then boarded the train to Liverpool, my amazing home city.

Thursday

We hosted some broker partners at Aintree Races and what a day it was.

It was a great way to spend quality time to get to know people in a fun environment. I find I get to know so much more about people at these events and I love the openness of the conversations.

The sun shone and I won £23 – well you can’t have it all.

Friday 

My morning started early with a virtual catch-up with our newly appointed global head of distribution sharing successes across different territories and scoping out what is next for UK distribution.

Opportunity knocks in the UK and I love working on the future strategy for UK distribution. 

I love the Diary of a CEO podcast so I put that on and went for a walk at lunchtime.

It was a good opportunity to collect my thoughts after a busy week and I got in some steps too. 

Next was a talent discussion with my leader. We have so many great people in QBE and for us a real priority is how we acquire, retain and develop our talent.

I have a particular passion for mentoring and coaching as I know how invaluable this was for me in my early career.

Our schools partnership programme gives students a great insight into working in the insurance industry and we discussed the plans for our next student who joins our team next month.

I am lucky enough to have a great friend who is a mindset coach. I called her on the way to pick my daughter up from nursery to reflect on the week, share insights and celebrate what the weekend has in store.

Natalie Ferrigan is head of distribution at QBE