At Access Financial Services, we pride ourselves on providing expertise and support for our network of independent mortgage advisers to enable them to become a driving force of innovation in the financial sector. It is how we ensure we provide the best advice on the market, helping our customers with choosing the right mortgage and protection solution, every time.
One of the key ways we do this is through constant educational and development opportunities, for both new recruits and our existing team. With this in mind, we are delighted to announce that we have an exciting new addition to our team. Sian Musial, Learning and Development Manager, will be mentoring, training and supporting our growing network of advisers to set them up for success in their future career.
A bit about Sian
Sian has been working in the financial industry for over fifteen years in both operations and development roles. Most recently, Sian spent four years at Pepper Financial Services Group as a Learning and Development manager. While at Pepper, Sian was in charge of the learning and development of an exceptionally fast-growing team, introducing new learning technologies, organising networking meetings for all tiers of employees and, most importantly, empowering staff to become experts in their field. Sian has also worked for leading organisations such as Clydesdale Bank and the National Australia Bank, meaning she really has her finger on the pulse of our constantly evolving industry. All of this experience is invaluable as we move forward towards a successful future for Access Financial Services.
Perhaps the strongest indication of Sian’s experience and commitment to her profession is that during her time at Pepper, the organisation won the highly coveted ‘Inspiring Learning for All’ Award at the 2018 OCN London ‘Learning at Work Week Impact Awards’. The reason this award was won is simple; Sian and her team designed learning opportunities during their ‘Learning at Work Week’ that helped advisers see that training wasn’t just about passing a financial test, but was about sharing ideas across departments to boost expertise, celebrating their achievements and developing their skills to improve knowledge and confidence.
Alongside her wealth of experience, Sian is as professionally qualified as they come. She is skilled in Corporate Social Responsibility, has undertaken Management and Employee training, is CeMap certified (like all our advisers) and has experience in LMS management and implementation. Perhaps Sian’s most exciting qualification has to date is her Diploma in Learning and Development, which she completed in February 2019.
“Gaining my Diploma has helped me harness the experience I’ve gained in the finance industry over the last 15 years. Joining Access Financial Services gives me a great opportunity to put everything I know into practice to help our team maximise their potential.”
Standing out from the crowd
Karl, CEO at Access, describes how Sian’s personal and professional values are a perfect match with what we are seeking to achieve at Access Financial Services.
“We are ambitious, creative and dedicated to differentiating ourselves from the crowd. Sian’s role is integral to developing our people, ensuring they have the correct education to provide expert mortgage advice to their clients. She, along with the rest of our senior management team will not only provide professional tools for success, but also ongoing support throughout their career at Access. We nurture our people from their induction until they successfully complete their first five cases – this is a unique offering, and one we are very proud of.
Our culture
We encourage active learning within our team at all levels and provide several different accredited training courses to those who want to diversify their skillset. We put a focus on face-to-face learning, personal communication and feedback opportunities, rather than online training courses that are completed after many clicks of a button.
We recognise that every one of our advisers has a different knowledge base, different levels of experience and different abilities. Part of Sian’s role is to help our people to help each other. Our open network of learning will benefit everyone from our most experienced advisors to our new starters in better addressing and understanding their clients’ individual needs. We want our team to know that their ambitions and dreams are safe with us, and if they are willing to work hard, we will support them however we can so that they can become the leading drivers of change in the financial industry.
Customer-centric
Perhaps most importantly, this collective experience and knowledge is going to benefit one group of people more than anyone else – our customers. The holistic approach we take to training and education is just another way for us to show that our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We want our clients to see beyond their financial needs and work towards their ultimate financial and lifetime goals. By helping our advisers reach their maximum potential, in turn we are helping our customers reach theirs.
We are delighted that Sian has joined the Access Financial Services team, and we’re looking forward to Sian’s support in bringing our vision to life by empowering, educating and enhancing our talented team, helping them provide the best mortgage advice for years to come.
