Supporting You, Your Business, And Your Future... Our Industry Needs More Personal And Professional Development

Daniel Armitage National Learning Manager

At the time of writing this article, I have marked my 8th week with Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) and what a positive, whirlwind of a time it’s been. Getting to know some of our partner businesses and internal support functions that make a difference on a daily basis, has been an honour.

When I started in financial services, all the way back when I was nineteen years old, I would never have dreamt I would be the National Learning Manager for Bankhall and PMS.

I knew back then I was working in a very people centric industry. Progressing to Bank Manager at a ripe age of twenty one, looking after a team of fifteen, I knew there was so much opportunity to help others, both clients and colleagues alike.

I started my first regulatory role in 2010 and passed my level three exams. However, with the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) looming, as soon as I passed my level three certificate in financial planning, I had to start on my level four exams.

Now, as a neurodiverse individual I love a challenge, and being dyslexic and having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) oh man…. it was a challenge. I grabbed my exams by the horns and passed my level four exams just in time for the implementation of RDR.

Fast forward eight years, I am a shareholding partner in a regional IFA firm, and their head of learning and development. My passion is to support others in supporting their clients, and helping their dreams to come true on their mortgage, investment, pension and protection requirements. I have a thirst for personal development, I firmly believe that “if you’re not growing, your shrinking”. I have a fascination with what makes people tick and exploring why people react differently in the same situations. With this in mind, I embarked on my journey to become a master neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner and a executive coach and mentor. This has helped me immensely, in not only my working life, but also my personal and family life (especially when you have two girls, aged eleven and sixteen, you need some real negotiation skills).

Having firmly hung up the advising ‘pen’ back in 2020, I am now solely focused on supporting you and our wider clients here at SBG. The wider team and I have been asking you what you would like in terms of learning and development in 2023, and I’m thrilled about the new and exciting ways we will be supporting you, your business and your teams in the new year. For now, I will remain tight lipped on specifics as we still need more feedback from you. We will be sending out a training needs survey to find out a little more on the specific areas you want support. This may be, a new adviser set of workshops, more psychology of sales training, or even just more product knowledge to fill the gaps in your continuing professional development (CPD).

Next year I will be on the road presenting at a number of our events, so when you attend make sure you say hello!

If you would like to contact me directly with any of your thoughts and feelings on how we can improve our learning and development support, please feel free to contact me at daniel.armitage@sbg.co.uk.