The job of an adviser has become ‘harder and harder’, according to Invesco’s head of UK wholesale Owen Thomas, as the firm launches a hub on soft skills.
The new Invesco Intelligence Plus platform features training in soft skills broken down into three areas: emotional intelligence, practical intelligence and investment intelligence.
Thomas said it was a “natural extension” of the firm’s Investment Intelligence programme - a series of webinars and seminars.
He said: “The job of an adviser has just got harder and harder. They have to stay on top of all their client relationships, and have all of the knowledge and information they need to stay on top of all client demands.
“This is one of the reasons we've seen a shift to more people choosing to utilise outsourced investment solutions to help with some of the investment decisions so they can focus more time and effort on the other areas.
“Advisers want to spend the bulk of their time where it's most impactful, which is to continue to develop and to grow meaningful client relationships.”
Webinars in the new platform are accredited to count as continuing professional development.
So far there are two soft skills lessons uploaded to the platform.
These are: Art of Communication from England rugby world cup winning manager Sir Clive Woodward, and a lesson on the Art of Listening from Julian Treasure, a sound expert and author, whose TED Talks have been viewed more than 150 million times.
Invesco surveyed 200 advisers and found 73 per cent do less than 10 per cent of their training on soft skills and, of these, a quarter do no soft skills training at all.
Despite this, 96 per cent of advisers agreed soft skills are important for their role.
Invesco claims that at the moment soft skills accounts for less than 10 per cent of CPD available to advisers.
Thomas added: “What came back loud and clear from [the research] was advisers really wanted help and support, and I guess education, on more of the soft skills related content.
“There is a wall of information out there in terms of this financial education, but far less so on the soft skill side, or the practice management side, and actually there's no requirement for advisers to do any form of CPD in relation to those areas.
“We found there was a disconnect between what was being made available to them in terms of education and training and support service, and then what was going to be really impactful and important for the job that they do.”
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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