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19 November 2015

Shawbrook Bank is pleased to announce another success story from its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme.  Sarah Woolf, Senior Relationship Manager for the North East and East Midlands has been awarded an Accreditation of Training Delivery by the National Skills Academy for Financial Services.

As a senior member of Shawbrook’s flourishing Commercial Mortgages division, Sarah has amassed excellent inter-personal skills in her day-to-day role, which focuses on building key relationships with brokers from the Scottish border in the north down to Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

Undertaken in Shawbrook’s Head Office in Brentwood, Sarah was observed under test conditions by an official representative of the National Skills Academy. Although the qualification encompasses Training Delivery in many areas of commercial finance, Sarah chose to specialise in Short Term Refurbishment Finance for the purposes of the test. The assessment is designed to evaluate an individual’s quality of training delivery, factoring in several elements including:

• The preparation of an effective training session for all participants
• Proficient delivery of the aims and objectives of the session
• Confident classroom management
• The progress made by participants in the session itself, including their ability to evaluate and analyse as well as develop ideas and increase their understanding

Shawbrook can confirm that Sarah passed the test, which is valid for two years, with flying colours. Commended for her thorough preparation, structured training plan and ability to build rapport through her enthusiastic and polished delivery, the assessor commented that Sarah also demonstrated a detailed knowledge of the subject matter around Short Term Refurbishment Finance.

Sarah was extremely positive about what the qualification can do to enhance the service she provides to Shawbrook’s Broker Partners:

“All members of staff in the Commercial Mortgages division are supported from an early stage and encouraged to carefully consider how they can further their careers with the Bank, whilst enhancing the service we provide as a collective to brokers and their clients.

“Through my own research, the Training Delivery qualification became obvious as an invaluable opportunity to develop the way I communicate our processes to Broker Partners across our entire product range. This qualification has without question given me helpful new methods which will really strengthen the clarity of my message to Broker Partners in the North East and East Midlands.”

Emma Cox, Head of Sales for Shawbrook Commercial commented:

“Sarah’s completion of this qualification is a testament to two things: firstly, her commitment to expanding her professional offering to Broker Partners in her region and secondly, Shawbrook’s encouraging stance as an organisation on CPD.

“The Bank is very proactive on this and has established an ambitious framework which we are all set to benefit from. Sarah’s is just one of several success stories as our employees continue to prosper, growing their skills and providing ever more positive outcomes for our brokers’ clients.”