Jemma Anderson has spent her entire adult life in the insurance industry, including the last six years as an important member of the NFU Mutual family. As she gets ready to take on new challenges as our Head of Agency Learning, we sat down with Jemma to talk about her previous experience in broking, how NFU Mutual has supported her journey of personal development, and how joining the business helped her realise how insurance should be done.
Thanks for chatting with us, Jemma! Can you start by telling us a bit about your background, and how you came to be at NFU Mutual?
I’ve been at NFU Mutual since 2018, but before that, I worked in commercial broking for 16 years. I didn’t go to university, I simply started as a junior when I was 18 and worked my way up, gaining my ACII qualification in the role and learning everything I needed to know on the job. I progressed my career in broking, so by the end, I was an Area Manager. The thing is, I kept coming across NFU Mutual on a regular basis and I was curious to know more. I was also starting to look for a new challenge – and that’s when I got a call about a Sales Manager role that had opened up at NFU Mutual. It's funny because moving from an Area Manager to a Sales Manager didn’t seem like much of a change on paper. But the difference in joining NFU Mutual felt like night and day. It was such a breath of fresh air.
Have you continued that journey of development since joining NFU Mutual?
Definitely! My skills and career have developed massively since joining NFU Mutual. Not long after I started as a Sales Manager, I took on a secondment for a big transformation business project, which opened my eyes to the possibilities in head office roles instead of working in the regional team. I was on that project for a year, and it taught me so much about the various processes, systems, and stakeholders we deal with. I’m grateful to my manager for supporting me in taking that jump to work on the transformation project.
There was also a fantastic offshoot to that project – an opportunity to become a Commercial Development Manager which I held for a couple of years. I was given a blank piece of paper and the autonomy to work and create something! Since then, I feel like I’ve grown a lot, very quickly. My managers have always told me they could see me in different roles, and that I have a lot of potential. That’s the way things work at NFU Mutual – it doesn’t matter what gender you are, or if you have experience in a particular business area. They see your potential and encourage you to go for it while giving you the support you need.
I’ve now started a new and exciting position as Head of Agency Learning. This is a new area of NFU Mutual for me to work in and I’m so excited! It’s a great opportunity for me to expand my knowledge of our business and our customers. NFU Mutual saw my skillset and was keen to give me the opportunity to develop further. Some companies look for that perfect candidate who’s got everything, but here they like to challenge and look for the potential.
What challenges have you faced in your career, as a woman?
Before I came here, the places I worked at were very male-dominated, so I was usually the only woman. Here it’s more balanced, so it definitely feels more inclusive in regard to gender. The challenges here feel very different to the ones I faced as a broker. There’s never anything holding me back – if I need help, I’ve got instant access to support from any department I need.
Navigating the number of stakeholders in Head Office was a challenge, but I never felt alone with it, which makes a huge difference. Everyone’s door is open, and we’re all working together, so those kinds of challenges don’t feel like challenges to me. However, my positive attitude helps a lot with that too!
What support have you received during your time here?
I was part of our Strategic Leadership Programme, which was beneficial for a number of reasons. For one, it gave me the opportunity to have a personal coach, which was a great way to learn new perspectives and other ways to think.
I always feel like I have a voice here at NFU Mutual, and that my ideas are heard, even at Director and CEO level, so it doesn’t feel hierarchical. And it doesn’t just stop at my department, it’s everywhere I look.
Mentoring is really important at NFU Mutual too, and my former Regional Manager has been a great mentor to me. My line manager has also been there to talk to when I need support – he takes quite a “hands-off” approach, so I was given the space and autonomy to make my own decisions, but all I had to do was pick up the phone if I needed support and he’d offer his input. He was always very good at challenging my thinking and suggesting things I might not have considered before. Everyone at NFU Mutual wants you to do well; they’re setting you up for success. It’s a good balance of support and autonomy.
Do you feel supported in your personal life as well?
Yes, it’s great and I’ve always felt like I’ve had a healthy work-life balance. Sometimes I need to work long hours - that’s the nature of the role - but it’s also fine if I need to leave early some days, there’s that give and take. I’ve never been pushed to give more of my time than I’m comfortable with, it’s quite the opposite actually, your welfare is taken very seriously, and you’d be called out if you were working too many long hours. That comes from the top down, and it’s very much part of the culture here.
What are you looking forward to in the future?
Moving into my new role is a challenge I’m really looking forward to. I’m going to be responsible for meeting the training needs of 215 agencies and 3000 people across the UK-wide NFU Mutual Agency Network. It’s not going to be an easy task, but I’ve been on the other end – I remember starting out as a junior at 18 years old who needed a training programme. So, I think I can provide the training that would’ve been useful to me back then in terms of content and delivery.
Agency Learning is a department with some great people, but there’s a lot to do and lots of things that need a refresh. I’m excited to work with those new faces, getting to understand this area of the business and learning something new. This leadership role will help develop me as a person, and it’s a big change for the department, with the potential to really improve things for the agencies. It’ll be great to be part of that change and to drive us forward.
I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us Jemma. Before we go, tell us why you think NFU Mutual is a great place to work for women.
The culture at NFU Mutual is unlike anywhere else. Everyone says it’s a great place to work for a reason – from your very first week, you feel like you’ve always been here. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman, or what your background is, everyone is pulling in the same direction, and we’re all here to help. Whether you’re a woman or a man, they help you to see your own potential and develop it. And there’s always the support you need, whether that’s in your role and developing your career, or in your personal life. I think it’s because we genuinely put customers at the heart of everything – that’s our lens – and this applies to our people too. A lot of companies say that, but we truly live by it here. Put simply, it’s an inclusive, collaborative, supportive environment. And my time here has been a whirlwind!
Looking for a new challenge?
Jemma found new opportunities to grow and feel at home when she joined NFU Mutual. Why not follow in her footsteps? Take a look at our latest opportunities.