Training & Competence
The ‘pruning’ of the TC Sourcebook has reduced some of the regulatory burden, but the overall scope of Training & Competence (T&C) has widened.
Under Principles Based Regulation (PBR), the FSA is now seeking broader and deeper evidence that organisations' T&C schemes are delivering tangible changes in behaviour.
The competence and supervision of employees are vital components in ensuring the
protection and fair treatment of consumers. We see T&C as a critical enabler in ensuring
that the concept of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) is embedded into business practice.
We believe that successful T&C should deliver tangible business benefits including:
- Reduced regulatory risk – under PBR, T&C outcomes should include a
reduced risk of mis-selling
- Enhanced customer experience – embedding T&C drives behaviours
which enhance the Customer experience
- Sales growth – clearly defined customer-focused competencies and
behaviours enable needs to be identified and then met
- Improved staff attrition levels – enhanced value of individuals,
enabling
them to hit target more effectively; aligned to employee engagement
- Increased efficiency – e.g. accelerated route to competence,
use of
risk-based approach, reduction in duplication, reducing the
compliance
overhead
Huntswood is experienced in helping organisations rethink how their staff are managed and developed. Our approach to T&C is based upon achieving a successful balance between meeting stringent regulatory requirements, whilst delivering short, medium and long-term commercial goals. We help clients to mitigate risk, reduce unnecessary cost, and drive performance.
Our proven methodology has been iterated and refined, and includes these typical steps:
- Stakeholder Engagement – to identify areas of consensus, issues, concerns, risks and expectations; elicit individual opinions as to what effective T&C should look like
- Visioning Workshops – sharing our best practice insight with key stakeholders to establish a high-level vision for taking T&C forward
- Current State Assessment – a robust, repeatable four-step process which maps Huntswood’s view of best practice against your vision and strategic initiatives (e.g. TCF)
- Impact Analysis – impact of potential changes on key stakeholder groups, and the customer; identifying barriers to change and key engagement risks; identifying commercial benefits of change, assessing implications of maintaining status quo
- Feedback Workshops – to key stakeholders. Presenting high-level findings of the Current State Assessment phase; outlining gaps against your TCF strategy or T&C industry best practice
- Roadmap for Change – provides a clear plan for integrating T&C processes within business as usual, helping to support and embed strategic initiatives and commercial objective
