Diary of an Insurer: Gallagher’s Elaine Lennox

Monday

My alarm goes off at 6.30am as I get set to leave the house just after 7am. I’ve become super-efficient in getting from my bed to my car in around 30 minutes – it’s something I’m rather proud of!

I arrive at our Leicester office just before 9am. I spend some one-on-one time with members of the Leicester senior management team and later attend the Leicester account executive meeting. 

We review the forecast for the coming months and focus on what our clients have been saying to us. Then each of our account executives talk us through how we can best support clients according to what they are currently facing. 

I jump on the weekly Midlands executive call – all of my heads of office, operations, placement and broking and claims teams are present. 

I then have our weekly trading update from the heads of office, which is an opportunity to share good news stories, call out any challenges and what we all have on this week. This a great way to establish how can we help each other and learn from each other. 

I have a quick break for lunch to refuel and spend the rest of the afternoon dropping into some internal strategy meetings and finish the day with the new business project team on an exciting opportunity.

At the end of the day, I head home, download over dinner, have a quick walk around the park and relax on the sofa with a bit of television.

Tuesday

Today I am visiting our Birmingham office. While on the train, I open my laptop and do a quick run-through of the management meeting packs for the day ahead. It also gives me a chance to respond to some emails. 

First on the agenda for this morning is the Birmingham branch senior leadership meeting. It is great to see teams being so present and engaging in feedback as this gives us the opportunity to improve on any necessary areas.

After lunch, we have a session to focus on our most important asset – our people. We review the ways we can support our existing talent and agree what actions are needed to accelerate people’s development.  

We review our Gallagher development course attendees and begin preparing for the arrival of two graduates later in the year.

Later in the afternoon, I have a couple of one-to-ones with my heads of office and finish the day with a monthly catch-up with one of my mentees.

Wednesday

The traffic was kind as school holidays have already started in Leicestershire. After two hours of Heart Dance or Heart 90s radio, depending on my mood, I am ready to start the day.

I join the Leicester senior leadership meeting, followed by a check-in with our cyber insurance special interest group lead, Sam Cheshire. Sam is bringing additional expertise to our client meetings – it’s good to hear that our teams in the Midlands are fully engaged.

After lunch, I review the budget process and map out the timeline. I help all my heads of office with preparation and offer challenge and support as we prepare for the presentations and process in the coming months. This is more of an administrative challenge that I expected – PA support essential!

Having made it through hump day, I set off on a walk up Cleeve Hill – it’s highest viewpoint point in the Cotswolds. Amazing views, fresh air and great for the soul.

Thursday

The day kicks off as I chair a virtual Midlands All Colleague call. This call happens once a quarter and is a great opportunity for me to hear from everyone and share updates with colleagues. 

We cover off trading and progress against our top priorities, contribution from our newly-formed Young Persons Network and a session on wellbeing from HR.

This lunch time I get the privilege to be part of the first Midlands Young Broker Network lunch gathering. 

In attendance are a number of senior members from Gallagher’s North and Midlands executive committee and we share our career stories. This was a brilliant event and it was great to see so much new talent in the room.

The afternoon is spent on catching up on emails and preparing for next week’s Midlands regional executive meeting. Home in good time, out to dinner with a few glasses of vino – time to relax.

Friday

Enjoyed a lie-in today – the perks of a working-from-home day. I checked in with my Midlands regional sale director for our weekly catch-up on things sales, pipeline review, recent wins and performance against targets.

At midday, I joined our north executive weekly call. This is a great opportunity to hear from all branches in the region and get insight into what they are doing. 

After tackling work and meetings calls, I set off for a Friday lunch date with my husband – it’s becoming a great habit. I round off the end of the week by preparing for our monthly Midlands executive team meeting that is scheduled for next week.