My Perfect Broker Week: Seventeen Group’s Paul Anscombe

What constitutes the ideal start to your working week?

A coffee bar breakfast with my notepad thinking about the week ahead. I like to ease my way into a week.

In terms of working in the office to home/other, what does your working week now look like?

When I stopped having a landline at home or the office it set me free. Inevitably I spend time in London for meetings but there is nothing more rewarding than talking to colleagues around our 14 offices and understanding how things are from their perspective when dealing with clients and insurers. I am rarely in the same place for more than one day and so the week is a blur until I stop on a Friday .

What does a productive in-person, in-office meeting with your own team look like to you?

Seventeen Group is a fast growing innovative business and so the challenge is always covering a lot of ground in the most time-effective manner. The only way we can address this is to share all key information ahead of the meeting so that when we do meet we can focus on items which require discussion.

What does a productive in-person, in-office meeting with an insurer partner look like to you?

In Roy Standish we have a dedicated placement colleague who manages insurer relationships on a regular and proactive basis. Very often the challenge is to agree numbers ahead of the meeting so that you are not wasting time reconciling differences. All insurers are under pressure at the moment and so a clear agenda helps both parties focus.

Holidays are the best for strategic and creative thinking and should not be under-estimated.

What does an ideal lunch break look like to take your mind off the day job?

What I should do and what actually happens rarely coincide. My lunches can range from a fancy knife and fork job to a Greggs sausage roll on a motorway service station. Most frequently it is trying to eat a sandwich while typing an email or making a call.

We all know evening meet-ups are important for networking; what is the best after work event you have recently attended?

Big events can be challenging in terms of having quality discussions. Most of our key insurers now work with smaller groups of our broking peers to have strategic discussions followed by drinks and dinner. From an internal networking perspective the key ingredient is fun and so we have had teams doing quiz nights, beer festivals or even axe-throwing. I avoid the latter as I may have become a target.

Team bonding is also key to a successful broking business; what have you found is a successful way to keep team spirits up?

We hold a number of events throughout the year, including an annual group conference, team events (often charity-based), leaders conference, claims team forum plus an annual lunch/dinner where all staff across the country are invited to London to celebrate the year. The power of bringing colleagues together in a social environment is amazing and even simple low-cost events can be incredibly valuable.

Have you had a ‘workation’?

Is there any other kind of holiday these days?

The key is to control when you work whilst on holiday so that you can at least compartmentalise your break to a degree. I like to do an hour or so before breakfast and a quick hour in the evening whilst my wife Natasha is getting ready – she takes at least an hour and so a G&T and a catch up is perfect.

I am very, happy, however, when colleagues take a complete break and we have even discussed the merits of turning off email when individuals are on holiday. Most staff, however, say that this would be more stressful for them and that access to email whilst on holiday at least makes them feel in control and less daunting for when they return home.

What would the ideal ‘workation’ look like for you?

Working outside in a farmhouse in Tuscany in the shade with a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge. Holidays are the best for strategic and creative thinking and should not be under-estimated.

On Friday evening how do you like to wind down after a busy week?

Ideally Friday is an admin day for me, either at home or more often in the office. I like to finish by 5pm and take my family out for a meal and look forward to the weekend ahead. Just as I like to ease my way into the week, there is nothing better than to ease down from the week – all the rest of the week is enjoyable mayhem….

Paul Anscombe will be part of the panel M&A: From Strategy to Sale at Broker Expo on 12 October at the NEC Birmingham.

Sign up to join him – click here.