Courage and resilience
| Courage and resilience -By Dani Peer |  |
In any service industry the attitude and state of mind of the
service provider plays a vital part in both the client experience
and the overall success of the business. <??>
People are the product in financial services. I’ve been told dozens
of times by grey-haired risk advisers that their clients buy them,
not the policy. And I absolutely agree. Competent portfolio
management and an insurance contract are intangible promises
that may or may not deliver a successful outcome some time in
the future.
Your clients buy you. That’s why it is so important for you to be
perceived as confident, self-assured, anchored, and quite frankly
courageous. The future is uncertain and your key role is to inject
some emotional assurance into each relationship.
But being a rock to others isn’t easy when you find yourself
under attack. Fairfax hit a new low last week with an article entitled
“The dirty secrets of financial planners” by Stuart Washington.
Government reviews, corporate failures, an aggressive media
and stagnant (post dead-cat bounce) financial markets are
testing the courage and resilience of many advisers.
What insight can I share with you that can provide you with
the strength and tenacity required to see through these bleak times?
Your world, my world, their world…
I recently attended a workshop for coaches held by the
Australian & New Zealand Institute of Coaching. I went
there looking for the usual “one of two good ideas”.
Instead I came away with a vital insight.
If you are familiar with the basics of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP),
then skip the next couple of paragraphs. If not, you’ll find this very interesting.
Most people assume that the world as they experience it is the
same for everyone else. But this assumption is incorrect.
As we journey through life we define ways of understanding things.
This is particularly so in our first few years on the planet.
Through the behaviour of our parents and friends and sometimes
from personal experience, we assign meaning to what is taking
place around us and our interaction with this external world.
We build a “picture” of our world. NLP practitioners call this
our Map of Reality.
From a content perspective (your individual experiences) no
two lives are the same. But NLP has defined a finite number of structural differences. And it is your macro structure, not
your micro experiences that dominates your Map of Reality.
In other words you are who you are due to your macro structure
that resulted from all your micro day-by-day experiences.
Now here’s the big thought. I firmly believe that one particular s
tructure strongly influences the success or otherwise of any
professional – especially a financial adviser.
You may wonder why some advisers are able to grow their
businesses in adverse times like these. Why the same advisers
tend to receive recognition at the dealer group’s conference each year.
Why these advisers always seem to be a bit more self-assured, more confident.
They are not more qualified. Their businesses have the same
processes, same technology, same infrastructure as any other.
What differs is their head-space. Their map of reality.
And one macro structure in particular!
Internal vs. External
Pause for a moment. And consider this question. What is your
primary source of motivation? In particular, when working with
your clients, how do you know that you’ve done a good job?
How you answer will identify whether you have an internal or
external structure with regard to how you assess your working life.
Internal people
have their own standards and make their own judgements about
the quality of their work. They have difficulty accepting other
people’s opinions and outside direction. If they receive negative
feedback on something that they have done well, they will
question the judgement of the person giving the feedback.
They may gather information from outside sources. However,
this will be assessed on their own internal standards.
External people
need outside feedback to stay motivated and to know how
well they are doing. Without external validation, they feel lost
and have difficulty starting or continuing an activity.
If you have felt wounded by the aggressive media, or concerned
by the FPA’s new direction, or hurt by unappreciative clients,
intimidated by government interference; chances are you have
an external structure. You need some external corroboration that
what you are doing has some value, some purpose, some
underlying benefit.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with your belief in the merits of
financial advice. It is simply your need for someone other than
yourself to confirm that you are delivering on the promise.
For those advisers who are able to ignore the adverse environment
and who do not seek external confirmation, well it’s business as
usual and more. Why? Because clients are attracted to this perceived
courage and resilience – especially in uncertain times.
On a personal note…
I resonated strongly with this insight on a personal level.
I have been doing keynotes at conferences and PD days for six years.
I remember in my Zurich days eagerly scanning through the
feedback sheets for your comments on my delivery.
I remember my disappointment with barbed comments and the
joy of praise. I’m not sure when this changed but I no longer
seek feedback. This is not arrogance. I am my harshest critic
and I know when I’ve delivered the goods or stuffed up.
Without any conscious awareness, my structure has changed
from external to internal.
Your mission…
Your mission after reading this Ideas Email is to become
aware of how you are motivated in what you do. Is your motivation
in the hands of the media, the FPA, the government or even your
clients? Do you feel that when a client expresses disappointment
over portfolio losses that you have let them down? Or do you judge
your performance – the value of your advice – on your own terms?
Did you soak up your clients’ gushing praise when markets rose
strongly and now feel deep remorse as the tide flows out? Or did
you emotionally wave-off the glee just as you are now able to
empathise with, but not accept emotional responsibility, for the pain?
An external structure isn’t a lack of confidence. It doesn’t show
a lack of belief. But it certainly isn’t optimal for a professional adviser.
When you believe that it is for someone else to assess your
performance you are vulnerable to the capricious moods of others.
One of the key tenants of NLP is that you can deliberately
change your structure. Awareness is the first step. Conscious
behaviour the next. When next you find yourself in a situation
where you are allowing others to assess you, stop. Move this
subconscious habit to your consciousness. Decide for yourself
how you’ve performed. If you’ve dropped the ball, acknowledge
this to yourself. If you haven’t, by all means have empathy with
your client. But do not allow yourself to seek and accept their judgement.
