Premier League star’s career story assists Principle’s staff conference on ‘resilience’

The former defender for Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, who also spent time at Bolton, Leeds United and Watford, appeared in front of more than 100 staff at the event.

He was interviewed by keen football fan James Neale, a senior business development manager at Principle, who said: “Paul shared stories from his career highs and lows, emphasising how passion, drive, and determination shaped his success.

“He spoke about the importance of collective mentality in building an effective team and encouraged everyone to show pride in everything they do.

“For Paul, who played a total of 678 games across 22 years before moving into coaching and motivational speaking, a winning mentality and unity were essential ingredients for success.

“His story resonated well with our conference theme of ‘resilience in customer service’.”

The conference began with joint managing directors Joe Jobson and Brett Williams sharing how the business has performed over the past year.

Mr Jobson said: “We had plenty to celebrate. In June, we won the ACE Award for Managing Agent of the Year and passed the major milestone of 25,000 homes under management.

“The event provides an important opportunity for the whole team to unite, recognise our successes, and set our sights on the future.”

Mr Williams added: “In the last financial year, we onboarded 5,477 homes, a growth partly driven by our acquisition of Pennycuick Collins’ lettings and block management portfolio – another significant achievement.

“We also secured several landmark instructions across the country and welcomed plenty of new faces to the team.

“With team members now based throughout the country, bringing everyone together face-to-face has never been more essential.”

The day included a session designed to help Principle staff to understand themselves better, another exploring empathy and relating more effectively to customers.

Looking ahead, operations manager Dan Lannon shared exciting news about Principle’s upcoming upgrade to MRI Evolution, new software that will transform how the company maintains properties.

Mr Lannon said: “MRI Evolution will make it easier to manage data, track major works and plan projects with detailed timelines and cost schedules. We're also introducing MRI Go, which will streamline building inspections and site surveys.”

The conference, held in Birmingham, ended with staff awards, with entrants who have impressed this year nominated by colleagues. The winners were:

• Rising Star: Amrita Binning, finance assistant

• We're United: Holly Suthons, senior property assistant

• Never Settle: Clemency Wall,  property manager, London

• Positivity: Jack Swann, associate director, business development

• Leadership in Action: Neelam Samra, associate director, property management

• Calm in the Storm: Recorra Moody, junior property manager

• Employees of the Year: Jennifer Fennell, junior integration manager and Daniel Lannon, operations manager