Diary of an Insurer: Geo Agriculture’s Kate Bush

Monday 

My day started pretty early, because I’m not just head of underwriting operations, I’m also a farmer’s wife so I was up as usual at 5.15am, making everyone a cup of tea and letting the dogs out. 

We live at the foot of the moor near Ilkley, and it was pretty chilly today. My husband went off to start feeding 1500 sheep and 350 red deer, and I got in the car. The commute to the Harrogate office was a chance to warm up and get my head into Insurance Mode. 

The week started with an operations meeting with my team leaders. We’ve got more than 85 underwriters across nine teams, and we went through the current service position, resource challenges, and project impacts for the week ahead. 

That was followed by a resource modelling meeting. Because farming is a seasonal business there are two massive peaks in the year at spring and autumn, and we have to plan carefully to meet demand. 

I tend to be one of the last to leave the office at around 6pm and I went to pick my daughter up from school.

Today we shared a packet of crisps and had a chat about her mock GCSEs. 

Tuesday 

We’re moving technology platforms, which can always be a bit of a hairy process, so I checked in with the team involved about how they’re finding things. 

Next it was a broker lunch in York. It’s so easy when you move at the pace we do to become too internally focused, so it is really important to keep in touch with the market.

Back in the office, we’ve just opened up a new job opportunity, so I chatted with the hiring manager about who we might be able to develop into the role as well as what the advert and interview process will look like. 

When I got home I got to go on a lovely long dog walk. Snow might be a pain but the farm looks like a postcard.

Wednesday 

I have my regular one-to-one with my managing director Ian Barclay. We’re a perfect match because we think very differently.

I’m all into the detail with a hundred things going through my head at 100 miles an hour, and he’s very structured and focused on the bigger picture, which means between us we meet in the middle and get the right things done in the right way.

The rest of the day I was reacting to things coming across my desk, including a call from a colleague looking for a support on a tricky case and a chat with one of my team leaders about a mini-restructure. 

Tonight it was Young Farmers Club and I’m involved with organising activities for local farming families aged 10 to 26-years-old.

Today it was wreath-making, but we do all sorts such as hockey, frisbee sessions, judging livestock, ice-skating, cake decorating and much more. 

Thursday 

It was our management Pulse call today where all the senior managers get together to chat through progress and see if we’re on track to hit our numbers, do a bit of troubleshooting, and make sure we’re all aligned on priorities. 

Then I had a meeting with a new capacity provider to sign off wordings for our website.

We’re always looking to widen our underwriting footprint as farming is under a huge amount of pressure right now and diversification is key.

At our farm, for instance, we do commercial game shooting but others are breaking out into things like glamping or renewable energy. We need our providers to be able to cover all of that for our clients under one, affordable policy. 

I also found time to cheer on the people on the exercise bikes currently in our office for a charity challenge.

Back home I was out on the farm with the animals and enjoying the quiet and chill after a busy day. I feel very lucky to have that balance. 

Friday

I met with a new agricultural recruiter this morning. I’ve hired 15 people in the last 11 months but it’s hard to find the right fit.

It is actually easier to train someone with agricultural experience to do the insurance bit, rather than the other way around so I was briefing them about what we do at Geo Agriculture and the kind of candidates I’m looking for. 

I love Fridays because the last thing I do is sit down with a coffee and write my weekly Friday Round-Up, an email reflecting on the last five days with all our individual achievements and all the progress we’ve made towards our goals.

It could be announcing an engagement, the culmination of a project or someone securing a really big premium. 

Today I got to tell everyone we raised £1500 by cycling, walking, running and swimming to the North Pole. Radio Ardonagh were here to broadcast our success to the rest of the group. We were all very proud. 

Tonight it was a quick visit to the lambing shed before tea to check on our pregnant ladies. Pretty soon we’ll have lots of babies so it’ll be all hands on deck. I’ve got small hands so I’m particularly useful when sheep get into difficulties.

In the meantime, I’m very ready for an early night and another early start tomorrow back in Farm Mode.