Paul Garvey
Senior Compliance Manager
Company: EML Payments
Coach’s Name: Julia Barry
Coaching programme: Paul received 12 hours coaching support with our Connor coach Julia Barry.
What is your current job role and what are your main responsibilities?
“I work in an e-money institution, specifically in the area of financial technology (‘Fintech’) as a senior compliance manager. My responsibilities cut across everything in the compliance and anti-money laundering spheres, so the role is quite broad.”
How did you find out about Connor’s management coaching support?
“My employer found Connor’s management training courses – specifically our HR department. They internally identified a small group of us that they thought might be interested, and when they asked me, of course I jumped at the chance. Despite not fully understanding what it would entail or what the outcome would be at first, I already knew it was a great opportunity for me and would be a positive experience.”
What about Connor’s approach worked for you?
“Before the training even began, Connor reached out to me and asked what I wanted to get out of the coaching and what best suited me. They presented me with three or four profiles of coaches to review, which allowed me to choose the one that would deliver the approach and training outcomes that would benefit me the most. I ended up choosing Julia, and she matched my needs perfectly.
As for the training itself, it was all at my pace and revolved around what I wanted. It was clear Julia had a lot of experience and great people skills; she delved into my background and helped me identify my main goals but was also flexible with her coaching, to the point where if anything came up in the week that I wanted to discuss, she was happy to accommodate.”
What were the key lessons or takeaways from the coaching?
“Before I started the training, I was crazy busy and had a very demanding workload. Managing this as well as a team of people made me quite stressed, which didn’t help my approach to certain situations at times. Julia’s coaching emphasised how to look at the bigger picture, take into account other perspectives and remain calm. The coaching didn’t just apply to the workplace, as we also explored things outside of work that can lower my stress levels and improve how I feel in myself generally. Julia even recommended books to read and gave me helpful documents that I still keep in my work notebook. Connor didn’t just tick the box to say I’ve taken the course and leave it there; they demonstrated a real commitment to my ongoing learning and development which really helped me implement the coaching in my everyday life.”
What would you say to a person or organisation that may be considering this type of support?
“Oh, absolutely I’d recommend it. It’s been very beneficial, and I think it’s something we don’t do enough of; people aren’t widely given these sorts of skills and this aspect of work isn’t talked about or developed enough. When you’ve been doing things a certain way for a long time, that tends to be your default setting and it can be hard to think outside the box, but that’s exactly what the coaching helped me to do. Having worked with Julia it’s clear that Connor have great people running these sessions. I really appreciate what she did for me and if someone was asking my advice, I’d tell them to jump at it, for sure.”
