In insurance, technical skills may win the quote – but soft skills win trust. That was the key takeaway from a panel at the Women in Insurance Summit, where industry leaders tackled the growing need for emotional intelligence, adaptability, and strategic thinking. As the sector evolves, so too must its people.
And while underwriting formulas and claims protocols are vital, it’s the human touch that often defines the client experience – and the company culture.
Soft skills give technical excellence its meaning
Ian Bell, senior vice president of global talent and performance at Sedgwick, addressed the balance between hard and soft skills head-on. While the insurance industry – particularly on the commercial side – is seeing rising demand for technical capabilities, Bell emphasized that soft skills have always mattered just as much.
What’s changing, he said, is not the importance of those skills, but the growing awareness of what happens when they’re missing.
Soft skills have probably always been valued by consumers, he noted, adding that employees have long looked to leadership for qualities like empathy and communication. But it’s only recently, he said, that the industry has started to fully recognize their impact on customer relationships and internal culture.
To illustrate his point, Bell turned to a personal example: working as a crew member at McDonald’s.
“If I made a technically perfect Big Mac – great ingredients, perfect layers – but then threw it at the customer, they wouldn't remember the quality of my technical Big Mac workmanship. They'd remember the fact that it was thrown at them,” he said.
Erin Gattoni, senior vice president of human resources and operations at CNA Canada, built on Bell’s message by challenging how the industry defines and rewards success.
While technical metrics – like hitting sales targets or managing large books of business – are often the focus of performance reviews, she argues that these don’t fully capture what makes someone an effective and sustainable team member.
Gattoni pointed out that soft skills such as collaboration, adaptability, and trustworthiness are not only critical to culture – they’re often the very traits colleagues and clients value most. Yet these attributes are harder to quantify, which can lead to them being overlooked in traditional performance management systems.
She encouraged leaders to consider the broader impact employees have on their teams, not just whether they’re meeting their individual goals. High-performing individuals who lack empathy or create friction can erode morale and trust over time, undermining overall team effectiveness.
“When you think of ‘high-performance-low-trust’ people, in the long term, they're creating a toxic environment,” she said.
In contrast, steady performers who consistently support others, foster trust, and contribute positively to team dynamics can have a much more lasting influence on an organization’s success.
Krishna Patel, director of operations at Burns & Wilcox Canada, said that the conversation needs to be taken in a forward-looking direction – with focus not only on how to reward soft skills, but how to attract more people who possess them in the first place.
Patel suggested that the industry has traditionally over-indexed on technical experience when hiring, often defaulting to rigid requirements like five or more years in underwriting or broker roles. While that experience has value, she argued that it’s no longer sufficient.
“I don't think that's enough on its own anymore. In order to do really well in the industry, the marketplace continues to evolve, and I think we really need to start reflecting that in our industry as well,” she said.
To stay competitive, she said, insurance organizations need to expand how and where they look for talent. That, she added, can mean broadening recruitment strategies to include candidates from adjacent fields – not just business or tech, but also sectors like hospitality or even competitive sport.
These candidates may not check every traditional box, but they often bring high levels of collaboration, adaptability, and coachability – traits Patel identified as essential for long-term success.
“For us, that has opened up a pool of candidates that we didn't previously look at, and really allows us to start reflecting the marketplace like I mentioned,” she said.
Patel also noted that if the industry wants to attract this kind of talent, it must do more to shift its own image. Insurance, she said, is still widely perceived as rigid, male-dominated, and slow-moving – a perception that can deter younger or more diverse candidates who may otherwise thrive in the field.
“As an industry, we really need to revamp our reputation,” she said.
