Insider profil

Picture of Adam W

Adam W.

Product Manager

Ask me a question
Commercial and Marketing

Keen to receive questions about

Career DevelopmentCareer TipsEveryday LifeGeneralOpen RolesOur CulturePeople & DiversityRoleWhy usWork & Life with Us

Top Insider Advice

It sounds obvious, but sometimes it can be easy to perform the actions required for your role in a way that doesn’t best amplify your strengths. Be acutely aware of your own strengths and play to them, putting together a development plan for areas of improvement. I’d recommend developing your strengths too. Just because you’re naturally good at something doesn’t mean you should rest on your laurels. Have a mindset of wanting to move from the top 10% to top 1%. Always welcome feedback too whether it’s positive or constructive. Don’t take constructive feedback negatively, to be imperfect is to be human. We all have areas we can improve on.

Read more advice

Career path

Product Manager

First Central

Started 11/2022 to Present

Product Management

Aviva

From 01/2018 to 11/2022

Proposition Management

Aviva

From 06/2008 to 01/2018

Company

What do you like about your job and the company?

At previous financial organisations, I’ve experienced politics which have often resulted in departments having contrasting goals which were harmful for productivity. There’s no such conflict here. Everyone is engaged, there are no hidden agendas, we’re all signed up to the goals of the company and committed to achieving them. The culture is also fantastic here, whether it’s the approach to flexible working, focus on diversity or wellbeing. Again, there is a marked improvement working here compared to other organisations I’ve experienced. We are also well informed here. There’s a breadth of honesty and this is demonstrated from top to bottom. It surprised me at first how open the entire organisation is and how ‘human’ our senior leaders are.

Greatest achievements

I have put together a roadmap of activity and subsequently pitched numerous initiatives at relevant forums across the business and received approval. Unfortunately, the activities mentioned are all in various stages of development and therefore I can’t make specific reference to what they are. However, they vary in nature and all align with our goals as an organisation. I am someone who loves ownership and accountability, so being able to strategise a development, pitch for approval and then work with teams to implement the change really ticks the box for me. In a matter of weeks, some of these developments will be live. At the same time others will move to development and I’m also scoping a few more changes with a view to pitching them in due course.

Other insiders

Parisa M

Risk & Compliance Governance Manager

Top Insider Advice

Whatever you’re good at, whether it be organisation or leadership or analytics, try your best to draw on those skills within your current role to really showcase what you do well. And not just in your role, look at other roles such as championing or volunteering to provide additional opportunities to really highlight what you are good at. This may then give you the chance to consider where you have improvements to make and think about how that can be achieved through shadowing, mentoring or further education / courses. There are so many opportunities at First Central to shine a light on our talents or improve our weaknesses. Take them!

Paul F

Director of Data and Analytics

Top Insider Advice

My career experience causes me to provide the following advice, which is relevant for opportunities here at First Central: • Build credibility by doing what you say you will • Team spirit trumps all • Seek to understand and don’t judge a book by its cover • Give people space; micro-management is a killer • Be relentless in seeking to understand yourself • Coaching and mentoring are transformational and are amazing gifts you can give to others • Take risks and be brave • Be human, be vulnerable, show emotion to make yourself accessible

Jacob H

Performance Analyst

Top Insider Advice

Ever since I started as a handler, I’ve constantly pushed for positive change, working with different business areas throughout my tenure and learning from each experience. When I think back to my application to become a Performance Analyst, I was lucky I could pull experiences from my time as a handler and team leader. However, they weren't all huge changes to processes or massive improvements to performance. Nothing is too small; as long as you’re tenacious, inquisitive and excited by continuous improvement, you're already halfway there!

Discussions with Adam W
Do you have much opportunity to travel in your role?
in Career Tips·Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Picture of Oyinda
2 responses
19 views
How do you work in a team in your job?
in Career Tips·Tuesday, October 24, 2023
1 response
6 views
What motivates you about your role?
in Career Tips·Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Picture of Kerry
2 responses
18 views
What do you like most about this company?
in Career Tips·Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Picture of Joe
2 responses
32 views
How do you ensure that junior employees contribute their ideas?
in Career Tips·Tuesday, January 30, 2024
1 response
9 views