Description
The future of financial Advice at Thrivent is a multi-year journey, and the number one priority in shaping how the company delivers value to its members through Advisors in the field.Thrivent’s Manager, Advisor & Practice Tools Enablement will lead the effort to formulate and drive advice, as well as advisor and practice productivity, across distribution with key partners in the enterprise with the build out of the overarching CRM (Salesforce) strategy and function that supports and drives the distribution go-to-market strategy. This leader is responsible for enabling advisor and practice processes consistent with the values and stated goals of the distribution organization. This includes partnering with the Product teams, Revenue and Practice Growth, Teaming and Succession, DD&T and other key strategic partners within Distribution and across the Enterprise to design, implement, and ultimately deliver efficient & effective processes through Salesforce.com and other Advice and Practice Management tools.
This is a management position that will oversee an agile team of specialists who will support on specific aspects of Salesforce.com and Advice tools.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Establish and executes the strategy for end-to-end Salesforce.com processes to support Advice and other practice management processes, ultimately enabling the Distribution go-to-market strategy. Additionally, it will be critical for this leader to be the key partner in building out the enterprise advice experience to ensure we are creating holistic, integrated processes and systems.
- Develop and implement strategies and practices to consistently deliver a higher level of advisor and practice productivity to enable earned growth.
- Collaborate with Capacity Growth and Development on education and adoption of technology by advisors and practices.
- Provide the voice of the field for Product & Distribution Product teams to design and develop Salesforce.com workflows that support Thrivent Advice and Practice Management processes.
- Partner with Advice & Distribution product teams on integration related issues.
- Collaborate with Practice and Revenue Growth, Succession, Teaming and other COEs on the operational and systems supporting the sales process to enable efficiency, effectiveness and greater productivity via Salesforce and advice tools.
- Lead partnership with the Advice content development team to stay up to date on the latest methodology that needs to be incorporated into Salesforce processes and Advice tools.
- Serve as a critical liaison between Advice leadership and field leaders to troubleshoot and solve any issues that arise related to Salesforce.com and Advice and Practice Management Tools
- Provide subject matter expertise to the Advisor and Leader Development team to create and evolve curriculum and learning programs that Salesforce and Advice tool adoption.
- Lead a team of Salesforce and Tools experts that provide consulting to Advisors and Practices on Salesforce adoption.
- The Manager, Advisor & Practice Tools Enablement will report to the Director, Advisor & Practice Enablement & Implementation.
- Primary working relationships will be with Succession and Teaming Leadership, Field Training, Revenue and Practice Growth Leaders, Advice Experience and Content team, Advice Services leader and DD&T to coordinate as peers on all aspects of the field-facing Advice experience.
- Other key stakeholder groups this role will work with include: (1) GVP / Field Leadership, (2) leadership from other Thrivent COEs
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, or related field
- 10+ years of Financial Services experience, with deep subject matter expertise
- Experienced People Leader: Proven ability to attract, develop and lead a high performing and engaged team.
- Deep subject matter with key advice and practice management systems such as Salesforce.com and other technologies.
- Experience leading cross-functional implementation efforts at scale with complex and matrixed organizations.
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with a proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior leaders (corporate and field)
- Proven ability to communicate up and down the chain of command across a diverse group of stakeholders.
- Tenacious results orientation with a high sense of urgency; must be comfortable with ambiguity and have an ability to cut through the noise while managing competing priorities.
- Deep subject matter expertise in financial planning and the advisory working model
- Passionate about the value of providing advice to clients, with an in-depth knowledge of insurance products, asset/wealth management, fee-based planning, mutual funds and securities.
- Self-starter with an ability to anticipate and resolve challenges/problems before they arise.
- Excellent human relations skills, tact, good listening and consulting skills, and exceptional customer service mindset.
- Ability to thrive under pressure while multitasking, adhering to sometimes tight deadlines while maintaining collaborative relationships with colleagues.
- Ability to attract, develop and lead a high performing team through change – while fostering a culture of shared accountability
- Ability to pull together multiple, and sometimes conflicting, inputs (data, qualitative feedback, hypothesis, etc.) into a common point of view.
Preferred:
- MBA, Master’s degree in related work and or CFP®
- Prior Advisor or Advisor support experience.
Thrivent provides Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, marital status, citizenship status, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable local, state, or federal law. This policy applies to all employees and job applicants.
Thrivent is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please let us know by sending an email to human.resources@thrivent.com or call 800-847-4836 and request Human Resources.
