It’s pretty simple: we want our clients to be successful.
At Numerisk, general insurance is what we do. Our focus is in a space we understand, allowing us to leverage all the components that can improve outcomes for our clients – data, technology, market relationships, digital etc. But all of this is really just a reflection of purpose.
When Numerisk was founded, it was exciting, but also scary. What made the journey possible were all the people who came out of the woodwork with a simple question – what can we do to help you succeed?
It’s a question we bring to every client interaction—how can your risk be better managed? In that way, you can stretch, reach, and maybe go a little further with a little less of the fear that comes with building and growing a business. Or maybe it’s just about having a sense of serenity that if things do go wrong, there is protection in place. We don’t mind as long as it aligns with our purpose, your success.
With this in mind, meet Trina Pitcher, author of 7 Anchors: How to lead a great life despite the sh!t that happens. Trina is an organisational psychologist with more than 20 years’ experience working with leadership teams and their leaders to maximise performance. She is a specialist in leadership development and top teams performance. We asked Trina what makes purposeful leadership possible when working in adverse conditions or just dealing with difficult things;
Firstly, purposeful leadership is not only possible, but also essential. It is the north star to effective leadership. To lead without purpose is to lead without a clear direction, as Yogi Berra aptly stated, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.”
Secondly, working in adversity and dealing with difficulty comes with the territory of being a leader. Navigating adversity is the mark of a true leader. Moreover, challenges and change are part of the everyday. Over the past two decades, I have had the privilege to work with leaders who excel at this and I have gained a clear understanding of the behaviours required that differentiate the best from the rest. It all starts with their ability to navigate with and through adversity.
Five Top Tips for Successful Leadership in Adversity
- Manage your mindset and see challenges as opportunities. In other words, never waste a crisis. This requires holding ideas and plans lightly and be willing to be flexible and change as the circumstances arise. Rigidity is the enemy of innovation.
- Ensure your vision and purpose is clearly articulated and communicated, not just to others, but to yourself. To get through the ‘hard’ you need to be able to remind yourself why you do what you do and how it will make a difference when you succeed. Having this clarity will help you and others not waste any time.
- Be courageous and ensure your actions are in line with your values. Courage is acting despite discomfort. If we want to be comfortable in life, we wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. To reap rewards of navigating successfully through your challenges you need to act. To move, even if it’s only in some small way. If it’s not quite right, then gently adjust your sails.
- Look after yourself. Ensure you are taking good care of both your body and your mind so that you can show up to work and be who you need to be, and then go home and be who you need to be. Take all the micro-moves you can to be healthy in body and mind. Look after your sleep, your diet, your exercise, your down time, your focus time. Be deliberate and seek balance. Part of this will be to value this as important for the long term. It’s no good being great for a few months or years and then burning out! This involves being able to say NO and being deliberate about what you say yes to!
- Approach challenges with what I call compassionate curiosity. This involves asking the difficult or obvious questions through a lens of compassion and without judgement. It is also important to remind yourself that problems are problems because they are problems. If the solutions were obvious and easy then we’d know what to do and just get on with it.
If you would like to read more of Trina’s insights, you can purchase her book “7 Anchors: How to lead a great life despite the sh!t that happens” by clicking here.
