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What happens when the MAIA family, agencies small and large, and the MAIA company Partners participate in an annual conference which began in 1990 and was designed to meet the unique education and networking needs of small to mid-sized agencies? These agencies come from both metropolitan areas as well as small towns and rural areas with the desire and intent to move from good to great. These participants enjoy a trade show with nearly 100 companies exhibiting, timely education programs, various opportunities for networking, and much company involvement.

What happens is a successful MAIA Small Agency Conference!! A big thank you to everyone who participated, sponsored, supported and overall helped make our state’s small and large insurance agencies better.

I always like to ask a follow-up question: “How do we continue creating success at our MAIA events?” Whether it was facilitating a SWOT analysis with our MAIA members or sitting at a Big “I” roundtable discussing “what we believe our industry challenges are for the future,” the theme I constantly hear throughout my term is “how do we attract new talent?” I like to say it like this: “How do we make the insurance table larger for more individuals to sit at?” I know insurance agencies and companies across the state of Missouri have always prided themselves on making a priority of attracting, developing, and retaining the best talent. One piece I always bring into the conversation is our insurance agencies and companies across the state will reach this goal by making diversity and inclusion the centerpiece of their culture.

I came across a commitment statement at the 2016 Business Insurance Diversity & Inclusion Institute Leadership Conference. Insurance industry CEOs came together to sign a “commitment statement” embracing diversity and inclusion in the commercial sector. This statement pledged:

"We are committed to driving diversity at all levels of our organizations by creating inclusive and engaging cultures that effectively serve our customers, shareholders, communities and people. By making meaningful progress on diversity in insurance, we can win the critical war for talent, which will allow our companies and our industry to succeed. We agree to come together in one year to check on our progress and make any updates necessary to this commitment. From individual company programs to industry-wide initiatives, insurance businesses are committed to promoting and advancing diversity in their business culture—in every sector and at all levels."

Diverse and inclusive teams have been proven to be more effective, and able to create better economic and social outcomes. I think it was a much-needed way of putting diversity at the forefront of conversation and focusing on how companies are trying to bring diversity into the insurance industry. It’s one way of shining some light on diversity, and giving perspective to human resources and other decision-makers. For those hoping to make the insurance industry leadership and rank and file more diverse and attract younger employees, there is work to be done. Companies and agencies will have to start addressing diversity issues themselves. One proactive way companies are addressing this is by having a chief diversity officer and putting a diversity strategy in place. Larger companies and insurance agencies may need this as part of their strategy, but smaller companies and agencies can address the issue as part of the regular human resources office. Additional organizations including The Institutes, MyPath, Valen Analytics, The Jacobson Group, InVEST and PCI are part of an ongoing effort to attract more millennials to insurance careers. They’re using outreach as well as Twitter, YouTube and other social media in an effort to make this happen.

The key component to creating a diverse and inclusive insurance workforce is to have clear and intentional strategies to attract talent that we did not attract in the past. But the key is not only hiring, it is also critical to create an environment to help them to be successful through mentoring, coaching and support systems that would be able embrace them into the insurance industry. I always like to say nothing happens by accident. The continued success of our future MAIA events will be a result of the MAIA family, agencies small and large, and the MAIA company Partners coming together to show what true leadership is about.