Grief Management For Financial Advisers

Research on client and staff connectedness to a service provider such as a financial planner / insurance adviser shows that the key differentiators are not technical expertise, education and training. Rather these components of a service offer, client value proposition or collaborative workplace are starting points and must haves : if you like they are hygiene factors and minimum expectations.

The true differentiators are the ability to connect and bond with clients, to lead staff into a zone where on a daily basis they feel valued, appreciated and that they are are involved in purposeful meaningful work and as such each day they make progress even if in small increments towards work related and personal goals.

It is these types of workplaces that are characterised by greater collaboration and teamwork, an emotional investment in the workplace, and an understanding of what should be delivered to clients and the delivery of services to clientele that is often described by clients as excellent service because "they know me".

So how then does such a workplace respond to the experience of grief by a staff member, a client?

As risk advisers / financial planners that are intimately involved in a clients financial affairs, advisers are often the very first people called upon. How they react and manage these moments of truth are the critical test of how well advisers have gotten to know their clients. It is the true test of bonding.

Mary Ann Hazen is a professor of management in the College of Business and wrote in Organisational Dynamics Volume 38, Issue 4, October–December 2009, Pages 290–296 about theories about the grief process, and identified what to expect from bereaved clients and staff : fatigue, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating; expressions of anger and guilt; and withdrawal from relationships.

What she identifies is that social support is necessary for healing, and meaningful work can often help the grieving person. She points out that teams that can respond fittingly to clients and staff with consideration for their needs : actually assist the healing process.

This is such an important part of the process : the service delivery for a client during the claims process and the support for each other in a team environment are crucial as such workplaces as financial services for a client and any workplace for a staff member are often an important part of many people's social network.

Accordingly as Mary Ann Hazen points out they are a major source of support.

For a client the support through the process required in financial services needs to be delivered not only with a guide on what the process actually entails but an awareness and acknowledgement in clear and unambiguous terms of what a client is going through. Guides to what your service entails need to identify the resources you have available for grief counselling and support irrespective of whether your client avails themselves of such services through you or not.

For staff experiencing grief Hazen identifies that work itself can be healing with the work a way to find meaning in a loss and maintain a connection with the person who has died.

What is key here is : the acceptance that people are in a grief state, the time to reflect and the tools on how to reflect on what each person needs as an individual as part of their own and often very private process, positive action by leaders to acknowledge and show the affected individuals that they are valued and feelings are validated and an education process that has at its disposal resources to guide people through the right process for them as an individual.

Studies of journal writing, verbal acknowledgement of feelings and sharing of feelings as a group shows the positive physiological responses to such techniques that over time result in a better physical manifestation and recovery from grief. But ultimately what counters the emotional loss is the core human response of acting with genuine care that can only be delivered by positive relationships based on trust, compassion and a bond borne from really knowing someone.

It's the connection that matters.

Winning Behaviours : where do you sit above or below the line

As we move back into more psychological / behavioural research in 2013, many of the articles around practical client engagement tips will be interspersed with some behavioural topics especially motivation, high performance and personality.

At a function today a discussion with a senior executive in financial services led into above the line and below the line mindsets.

Roger Connors (http://www.ozprinciple.com/self/steps-to-accountability/)highlights that below the line behaviour is seen in individuals and businesses with a blame mentality.

True success comes from above the line greatness : determination, accountability, hard work and collaboration.

Connors espouses the : see it, own it, solve it and do it method as steps to accountability.

We at PCE totally agree.

What is especially interesting to PCE though is working with individuals and companies below the line : who are unaware of their behaviours and subsequently have no momentum to shift above the line.

How do you engage a business or an individual without self awareness?

The intervention that must occur is one of honesty and the hard conversation that what is occurring does not meet the expected standards that will lead to success.

But under who's definition is that success. PCE knows of companies and individuals whose success is defined often by numbers and the corporate creed and values are nothing but a page on a website that has no life within the organisation as it is not demonstrated in its leaders, not embraced by staff and certainly not measured in performance metrics.

Worse still is where there are such defined values but leaders have not the skills or courage to ensure staff are employed because they embody these values, educated on how to develop these values and counselled when they do not adhere to the values.

The underlying sub culture that eventuates is one of tolerance of poor corporate culture and a lack of coherence about what it is that the company stands for.

So what to do?

It's about harnessing the power of a few leaders in the business, rewriting the script and delivering a clear message to the business or the individual and providing the resources to set people up to enable them to see it, own it, solve it and do it.

That's a difficulty corporate culture change piece and surely fails when poor behaviour is ignored or tolerated or worse rewarded: the corporate revenue requirements never justify means that are detrimental to the workplace.

What we need then is passionate positive and transformational change agents to live a set of values that are accessible to those around them.

Finding them : we'll that's a little harder.

Passion, Flow and Meaningfulness - Your Business Plan for 2012

We've taken a deviation from the latest series of topics (which have been focussed on sales pitches and presentations using the engagement techniques we've promoted).

The reason is that there are no techniques, no presentations, no silver bullet to sales, and the development of your small business in the professional insurance, financial planning and financial services space if you do not have the motivation and well-being suited to managing your work efforts and direction.

Richard Sisely, New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 35(2), 28-40, looked at the issue of motivation and the facilitation of autonomous motivation and its impact on well being.

Sisley wrote that intrinsic motivation had a high connection with relationships built on trust, empathy and stability.

Hang on a second. Isn't that what you are trying achieve as a professional financial planner and insurance adviser?

Tell me more!!

Sisely also then expanded and suggested that striving for self-determined goals (such as your plans for 2012 in your business) is connected with well-being and a determinant of a daily positive mood.

I'm liking the sound of this especially in the current economic climate!

Because this has implications for your business and in turn your clients.

First in your business this has implications for staff selection and for the assignment of roles/tasks in your business.

If you've read the E -Myth, or done a sticky note exercise where you look at all the tasks in your business and who does them.....and who should be doing them...then you understand where this is heading.

You need with these tasks as Sisely describes to assign a value identification with them. You need to take your staff on the journey of the validity of the task and the impact on the client.

This leads to better client engagement and outcomes.

What about you and your motivation and your passion?

Passion according to Sisley has a correlation with work satisfaction, well-being, and less stress.

Passion is critical. What in 2012 are you passionate about? Share it. Document it. Write it on a wall (or whiteboard). Share it with your clients. Make yourself accountable to your passion.

Flow, or the optimal experience (read effectiveness and efficiency) brings with it positive moods. You are far more likely to take on those tasks that you already have attached validity to and that are assigned correctly when your passion is driving you. It's that feeling of, well for want of a better word....flowing.

Meaningfulness. My favourite of Sisely's writings, meaningfulness depends on your own values and that also means having a high enough emotional intelligence quotient that you can respect others values. EI is that ability to not only be aware of your own feelings and emotions but to then use that information to guide your actions (Hur et al, 2011).

And that's where a transformational leader can create a service climate of exceptional quality.

It is a palpable feeling that you get when you walk into a business that delivers excellence in the customer experience.

Can you learn EI? Yes there are courses. Maybe you can improve. It is said it improves with age...so you can wait I guess.

But if EI houses the qualities of empathy, motivation, self-awareness, trust, emotional stability and these are all qualities of a transformational leader then there is one thing you need to do.

Get up, walk to the mirror and ask yourself a few questions.

- what are you passionate about?
- are you ready to share that passion?
- what are your values?
- do you live them?
- what are the values of the people around you?
- do you know - do you ask them?
- do you act in a way that is true to your values?
- what can you do daily to develop empathy, motivation, self-awareness, trust, emotional stability

But most of all - get passionate!

Back to the presentation pitches next time