Upcoming Dive In Festival champions inclusive cultures for long-term success

Dive In – the insurance industry’s market-wide festival around diversity and inclusion (D&I) – is focused on promoting “the critical role of inclusive cultures for long-term success” across its 2024 event, which will take place between 24 and 26 September 2024.

Dive In was launched in 2015 by Inclusion at Lloyd’s – a collaboration between Lloyd’s of London, the International Underwriting Association, the London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association and the Lloyd’s Market Association. The collective aims to highlight how diversity and inclusion initiatives play a “crucial role in business resilience”.

The Dive In Festival’s theme for this year is ’A Sustainable Future: The Next 10 Years’.

For the first time, the hybrid event will be hosted across Greece, Belgium, Malaysia, Namibia and the Philippines, with sessions also being streamed online.

Global insurance firms that have partnered with the festival this year include AIG, Aon, Aviva, Axa XL, Chubb, Clyde and Co, CNA, Everest Re, Fidelis Insurance Group, Gallagher, Guidewire, Howden Insurance, Kennedys, KPMG, Liberty Global, Lloyd’s, Lockton Re, Markel, Marsh McLennan, MS Amlin, Munich Re, RenaissanceRe, RGA, Scor, Sompo, Swiss Re Group, Tokio Marine Kiln and Willis Towers Watson.

Jason Groves, chair of the Dive In Festival and international director of external affairs and media relations at Marsh McLennan, said: “As Dive In celebrates its 10-year anniversary, it’s not only a moment to reflect on the industry’s strides in diversity and inclusion, but an opportunity to look ahead at the next decade and how we progress.

“This year’s theme is a clarion call to ask individuals at all levels of seniority to commit to creating inclusive workplace cultures.

“Unlocking every individual’s potential to innovate will enable us to tackle the global challenges the industry is facing and create more resilient businesses.”

Initiatives

For the second consecutive year, Dive In will also reintroduce the Dive In to Reverse Mentoring scheme.

Dive In to Reverse Mentoring aims to foster connections between industry leaders and global talent, encouraging senior leaders to engage with individuals working at more junior levels within the industry.

Unlike traditional mentoring arrangements, the programme will see junior participants take on the mentoring role, guiding and instructing senior peers.

Mentors will be paired with mentees that share similar interests – participants can select options from 16 interest-based topics such as social media, technology, speaking up and mental health.

Yelhis Hernández, Mexico country manager and Central America market development manager at Lloyd’s, who has previously taken part in this scheme, said: “Through our Dive In to Reverse Mentoring initiative, we’ve cultivated a culture of collaboration and mutual learning among senior leadership and junior team members across the globe.

“Engaging 185 individuals from the business sector across 18 countries, this initiative has garnered a satisfaction rate of over 90% among participants and a high likelihood of recommendation to colleagues. We’re delighted to reintroduce the scheme, with the goal of expanding its international reach.”

Campaign

Meanwhile, to kick off the run up to the festival, Dive In has launched its #NominateMyManager campaign.

Industry professionals are invited to nominate managers who have contributed to fostering inclusive cultures within their teams and organisations.

Nominations are open until 28 June 2024 – additional details are available on the Dive In website.