Reflection on 2023 so far

Whether you choose to go away or stay at home, a break from work a couple of times a year is really important. Recharging and resetting for the next period of time, both personally and professionally, is a good thing.

Moving the daily ‘things to do’ list to some longer-term goals is really important too, and something I do on a regular basis. I have said before that my husband has the patience of a saint, as I usually have some “projects” to work on in the next few weeks or months.  The big one this time is a personal project, which is to make my daughter’s 18th as special as possible, as she has an early January birthday, which can be challenging being so close to Christmas.

Once I get back from my holiday, our business planning for the next year begins… I work in an organisation where our financial year matches the calendar year, so as this third quarter finishes, we take a good look at how the next years operational plan will shape up.

All the normal financial metrics are looked at in detail, such as new business targets, overall premium, loss ratio and large claims, expenses, exposure changes, reinsurance costs and cover changes, as well as the broader economic conditions. This all forms part of my daily mix of meetings and actions. It’s an interesting time when, as underwriters, we work closely with claims, reserving, finance and the P&Ls to work out what might happen 18 months ahead. A mix of knowing how previous years performed, through to making a logical predication as to how the economic and market conditions will prevail over the next plan period.

Every business will no doubt go about this differently, however, from my perspective, I am looking for my team to have a clear view on where each portfolio is heading, the kind of issues we need to navigate through and how we can deliver the performance we want. In addition, what kind of steps can we take to mitigate any risks that we see or what we need to do from a growth perspective.

This is the part I love… where cases underwriting and portfolio underwriting come together to create the focus for the future. It's an exciting time of year, and a busy one.

Like I say, I like to reset on the goals I have at this time of the year, and the structure of planning can really help focus my mind, but it’s so much more than that. It’s getting all the brilliant minds in the same room and hearing their thoughts and considerations that helps develop my own position on a few topics and creates energy for the next few months. The spirit of teams working for a common goal is amazing.

As you can tell, I am excited by Q3 and Q4… It brings new things for me to ponder and deliver, and it renews my belief that great things happen when great people come together with a common goal.