NEWS / NIBA Mentoring Program
NIBA MENTORING PROGRAM: BUILDING YOUNG LEADERS Every year, the NIBA Mentoring Program brings together seasoned industry leaders and young professionals for 12 weeks of professional support and development. With the second round of the program commencing later this month, we spoke to one mentor and mentee pairing on their experience in the program, and how it supports young brokers.
MENTOR
AMY MORRISON
Director of Taylor Made Insurance Services What made you decide to take part in the NIBA Mentoring Program? Amy Morrison: I think that young brokers can benefit from seeking additional support outside of their workplace and can really benefit from another perspective. It can be really beneficial
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for them to see how other professionals do things and to learn about other ways of working. I think this especially applies to technology. It’s important for young brokers to familiarise themselves with the tools at their disposal and stay
up-to-date with the latest technologies. I believe the way forward for this industry requires us to be innovative, otherwise you’ll get left behind. What has your experience in the NIBA Mentoring Program been like? AM: I’ve gone through the NIBA Mentoring Program twice now as a mentor and both experiences were really positive. What has been very rewarding is seeing both my mentees move into leadership roles. My first mentee, Sarah, had been with the same company for five years but didn’t know a lot of people there. I was able to point her in the right direction of who she needed to speak to and opened a few doors for her. I also gave her some ideas on how she could progress her career and how she could get there. It’s been really impressive to see that she’s now working as a Business Development Manager for Far North Queensland. My more recent mentee from this year’s program, Lisa, started as a Broker Assistant and is now an Account Manager. For our mentoring sessions, I worked with her to set very clear goals. We sat together to flesh out just what she wanted her portfolio to look like and we did a few case scenarios on how she could set this up. What’s great about this program is that it’s not just talking about what young brokers should do, it’s us sitting together and actually doing it. Have you also personally benefited from taking part in the NIBA Mentoring Program? AM: The NIBA Mentoring Program has been a great opportunity to help me reflect on just how far I’ve come in my career. It’s reminded me that I am good at what I do, that I love what I do and this is why I do it. It’s also allowed me to appreciate the support I’ve received throughout my career to enable me to get to where I am now. I’ve been in the broking industry for almost 25 years now. Different people throughout my career have pointed me in the right direction, said the right things at the right time, and given me that little bit of guidance and encouragement that I needed. Having experienced this all myself, it’s very rewarding to be able to give back to this industry by mentoring others.
