The importance of psychological safety
Diversity and innovation go hand in hand. But for diverse teams to thrive and drive true innovation, psychological safety is paramount, according to Vusa Tebe, group diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) manager at Howden.
Tebe’s comments came as she discussed the theme of this year’s Dive In Festival: “Unlocking Innovation: The Power of Inclusion”. Howden is a global sponsor of the event, and she said that “the 2023 event theme speaks to the values and entrepreneurial nature of the Howden business”.
“If we want to have growth, we need innovation, and that comes from diversity. During Dive In we had a couple of profound sessions. One of them was around the importance of psychological safety and how that can drive innovation.
“It’s making sure that we, as an employer, are creating the right environment—one that allows real diversity and a mix of thought to come together in a place where people don’t feel afraid to come up with an idea that might seem crazy. And that’s where that true innovation sits.”
“Dive In represents an important and pivotal moment for the whole industry to come together.” Vusa Tebe, Howden.
Tebe highlighted the involvement of Howden’s leaders at Dive In which, she said, presented the opportunity to hear about their journey with DEI and how they see it tying into the overall business plan and vision for the organisation.
“It’s a great way to show how your DEI strategy isn’t something that’s separate. It’s part of how we do things, and how we want to do things going forward.”
Tebe added that Dive In represents “an important and pivotal moment” for the whole industry to come together to reflect, talk and share what everyone is doing in the DEI space.
“There is so much more that can be done in DEI and being able to hear from different thought leaders and be inspired by some of the great work that’s going on in some of our other industry partners is always a great moment for us.
“It’s a truly global conversation that we’re excited to be involved in.”
Innovative communication
When it comes to attracting and retaining more diverse talent, the Holy Grail of DEI, Tebe said that at Howden they have worked hard to be innovative in the way they talk about talent.
“DEI is on the agenda for a lot of organisations, and rightly so. The challenge is how to showcase who we are in our employee value proposition and highlight the opportunities that people can have here at Howden. There are different ways to do that,” she explained.
One of the things Howden is doing is working in partnership with the Prince’s Trust on the “Get into Insurance” programme. This is a two-week in-person introduction to insurance, the London Market, and regulated insurance business, which includes an overview of the various roles in the market.
“It gives young people an opportunity to come and get a taste of what it’s like to work in insurance. Then they have the opportunity to apply for an internship that they can use in the future. That can turn into a job or valuable work experience they can put on their CVs.
“It is a great way to open up insurance to more people,” she said.
Howden held a career day at Ascot this year, when it invited more than 200 students from 23 schools across the UK to come and learn about insurance.
“There were opportunities to ask questions and hear about all the different roles that sit within Howden, as well as the different areas they can get involved with,” Tebe said.
The firm is also launching Howden Pioneers, which aims to attract diverse talent to explore insurance solutions. To do this the business has developed assessment centres that will allow people to showcase their thinking.
“There are no wrong answers—we just want to see how people approach different challenges and hear their take on things,” Tebe explained.
“Going beyond that, it’s about how we develop and support them once they land in the business. We want to make sure they’re put on a career path where they receive support because we see them being the leaders of the future across the business. This aims to open up our ways of doing that.”
Howden has an outreach initiative with Dive In. This offers diverse volunteering experiences to support young people and promote diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry. “It is about challenging the status quo and looking to do things in a different way and fishing in new and different pools for talent, because there’s so much opportunity here, and it’s about letting people know,” she said.
Thinking about the next five years for DEI in the insurance industry, Tebe highlighted the regulator-led consultation published in September 2023 as a potential game-changer. The consultation, which is a joint effort from the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, proposes a new regulatory framework for diversity and inclusion in the financial sector.
“I’m excited to see how that plays out, given it could drive meaningful change and encourage businesses in the sector to learn from each other.
“It has the potential to encourage the sector to push forward and be bold in some of the things it is looking to achieve,” she concluded.
