Page 42 - Shaw Wall of Honor

country. At Chalmers Insurance, nearly 80% of our co-workers are female, including 50% of our leadership team. We put a lot of emphasis around performance development, and investing in developing young women can create opportunities that benefit everyone in the agency and help all employees reach their full potential.
Our leadership team, as well as our all-female supervisory team, are trained “coaching leaders” and have participated in a six-month long Leadership Development Program to learn the coaching skills necessary to lead people. I saw a need in our organization to deploy a Coaching Leader Model of management and have become a professionally trained Leadership Coach so that I can develop the rising stars—many of whom are female—in my workforce. Two non-negotiables needed to be considered for the development program: a growth mindset and a positive attitude. The class teaches participants critical coaching skills such as Humble Inquiry, Ongoing Regard, Clear Expectations, Effective Feedback, Coaching Moments, and more.
Lead with empathy
Many of the leadership skills we coach relate to empathy, and I believe that women are very empathetic humans by nature. We have a tremendous amount of care and concern for
Being Female in Insurance
others, especially other females. This allows us to build relationships, improve trust, and form close friendships. We get to know each other at adeeperlevel,whichhelpsfostera“bestfriend at work” culture. I think I complement my male business partners, because I can easily build rapport and connect with my female staff. As a mother of three young children, I truly understand and can relate to the push/pull my co-workers feel between balancing a professional career, running a household, and raising a family.
Play to strengths
Both my two male business partners, Jim Chalmers and Steve Cote, and I all have different strengths, or “superpowers” as we call them. Jim’s strength is his natural salesmanship and ability to build rapport with clients and close sales. Steve is a born visionary and strategic thinker. My “superpower” is my ability to connect, relate to, and develop people (especially women), while building a positive workplace culture. Rather than compete over similar roles, we allow each other the space to lead in ways that play to our strengths. I believe women in this industry can use this approach as well—find ways to highlight your strengths or unique perspective as a woman, instead of comparing yourself with how your male counterparts do things.
Break glass ceilings
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