Meet Paul – Head of Training for the evolution of our Training & Competency service.

Paul will lead the restructured team as a training coach and consultant and brings over 25 years of experience to the new role. Although he has been working with firms on their T&C schemes for the past two years already, this change in focus has allowed a greater depth to be added to the training offering, and the restructure of the team means that a wealth of experience is an added resource for firms to draw on to fulfil their training and regulatory needs.

Coming from a legal background, Paul switched to the finance world after his dad saw an advert in The Times newspaper and thought being a financial adviser might be a better fit than a lawyer. He worked as a tied adviser for a bank for five years, before moving to independent status, where he specialised in the legal profession. Tempted back into banking as firstly an area manager then regional manager, Paul devised and delivered a very well received leadership scheme for managers, particularly concerning career development and teaching the soft skills required to manage a team. This replaced the compliance / product-oriented training that had been outsourced elsewhere and allowed the training to be more people focussed.

These are the skills that are being put to use in the delivery of our Enable training. Split by career level, personal individual coaching is part of the training allowing each participant to follow the career path ideal for their goals and skills. There are also options to concentrate on a specific career role, specialise in senior management roles or particular topic, or start from the very beginning in financial knowledge.

Paul currently ensures that firms have a compliant T&C scheme, working with a mix of advisers, paraplanners, administrators and managers in a supervisory capacity – including reviewing KPIs, doing 1:2:1 meetings, observing client meetings, and more. The inclusion of the coaching aspect enhances this offering. In also teaching skills in how to talk to clients, how to manage meetings and the other more practical support, the training scheme produces well-rounded individuals ready to reach and exceed their own career goals.

Paul says: “In essence it’s a support programme, but we can flex it into anything; I’m working with firms and their potential senior managers with their applications to the FCA, working with other advisers looking to exit their business and helping to get their client bank ready for sale, and we’ve got lots of others that want to become Chartered. The beauty of the Enable training is it has the flexibility to do and be whatever a firm wants or needs. It’s human interaction with technology support.”

For more information about the Enable training, please visit the page here.