By: Tanita McDaniel, Executive of Group Professional Services, Cardinal
Cardinal Executive of Group Professional Services Tanita McDaniel gives us an inside view of what a truly inclusive company culture looks like, and shares how, even from the very beginning, she’s always had “a seat at the table”.
If you read avidly (like I do), you might hear a lot about how the corporate world and tech industries, among many others, have challenges around bias towards women and their role in the workplace. Whenever I’m asked about what could be done to support women leaders and innovators in the InsurTech industry, I like to cite Cardinal as an inspiring real-life example of what a truly diverse and inclusive company can be. Because truthfully, I can’t say that I’ve ever felt limited at Cardinal. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
It starts early
It starts with a company that sees your potential and invites you to grow. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman, whether you’re young and starting out, or if you’re older and experienced, Cardinal sees who you are and what you could grow into.
I was one of those fortunate individuals who, at a very young age, when I was just starting my career, was seen for her potential and invited to apply for a position at Cardinal. I began my journey as an admin assistant 11 years ago, and today, I’m Executive of Group Professional Services. I’m not going to lie – it’s taken a lot of tenacity and hard work, and it’s been a steep learning curve with plenty of my own challenges to overcome, but I’ve been incredibly supported by Cardinal at every step.
It’s about collaboration
Even in my early days at Cardinal, I’ve always had a seat at the table. In fact, if you reach right back into Cardinal’s early history, you’ll see that women have always had a seat at the table and this spans over the past 20 years. Lauren Wheeler & Stella Ballantyne, for example, have been at the forefront of client servicing since the beginning and has helped shape Cardinal into the company it is today.
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But really, no one individual makes the decisions that everyone else has to follow. We’re a very team-oriented business, especially since tech is at the forefront of our business and our industry, In our world IT is not a back-office function, as it typically is, but rather the core of what we do, and everyone needs to understand it and be able to apply it in insurance. This takes all different types and we all run in parallel towards our vision, and we all share lunch at the same big table every day, even if sometimes virtual.
It’s about growth
The ongoing support from Cardinal that I mentioned earlier goes far beyond a collaborative and supportive company culture. For example, we are very focused on training. We don’t just need to be experts in tech, we need to be experts in insurance and know exactly how the two work together. We never stop learning and growing and adapting and evolving. And so we invest a lot into in-house training, webinars, workshops, and a brains trust that fosters creative thinking. We’re constantly sharpening our skills.
It’s not just industry-related skills that we build, we also grow and empower our people with leadership skills and self-knowledge programmes like the Enneagram coaching programmes that allow us to bring all our diverse skillsets to the business.
And then there’s confidence
If there’s one thing that I’ve noticed about women, however, is that we don’t seem to have mastered confidence the way men have. Confidence is such a tricky thing, and I think we all doubt ourselves from time to time. I’ve learnt that when I project confidence, I really am confident in those moments. But those times when I don’t feel confident, I keep quiet and listen. I learn.
You don’t always have to be the smartest person in the room. And for as long as you’re not the smartest person in the room, keep absorbing the knowledge until you are the smartest person in the room. And then it’s your turn to pay it forward and share that knowledge with others.
Confidence isn’t always being the one in the room to speak up, sometimes confidence is the skill to listen and grow.
When we keep learning, and when more and more companies like Cardinal embrace individuals who are hungry to reach new heights, no matter their age or gender or race, well, imagine the way things could be – not just for women, but for everyone.