As a coach, I believe building self-awareness of your personality is not only more meaningful but more useful for successfully advising your clients. You’re a financial advice professional and they have the right to expect you are qualified and competent. What clients really want to know about – is you! Whether you ‘get them’, if they can work with you, how does your personality fit with theirs? No FSG is ever going to tell them that sort of information!
Humans are social creatures with a range of personality characteristics that can be scientifically measured. These characteristics are not ‘soft skills’ to be learnt from a text book, they are the authentic you. The better you understand yourself, the more likely it is that you will see and feel how the client perceives the messages and information you are delivering.
For example, your interpersonal sensitivity is the extent to which you are sensitive, perceptive, and tactful. It is measurable on a scale. If your natural communication style is frank, direct, and straightforward, you will have a lower score. If you have a higher score, you are likely to be diplomatic, warm, and friendly. Let me emphasise here that scores are neither good nor bad, they simply measure your natural style on a relative scale, ie the real you.
It helps to know your style when you are communicating with your client. You are providing personal advice, and it’s important they understand what you are saying. Self-knowledge of the way you say it is key. Understanding your own communication style and how it is being received enables you to meet the free, prior, and informed consent regulations.
Consider these scenarios. If your communication style is typically frank, how would you intentionally communicate with a client who is very diplomatic? Or if you are discussing a sensitive matter with a client who is normally very direct, would you still be as frank? Being conscious of the way in which you communicate is just as important as being technically knowledgeable.
As the old saying goes ‘there’s none so deaf as those who don’t want to hear’.
So, the better you understand your own personality the more successful you will be helping your clients. How you measure that success is a topic for another day.
The author, Penny Armytage, is a former advice practice owner and financial adviser, now an accredited leadership coach specialising in growth mindset coaching for financial advice professionals. Learn more at https://www.eagleviewcoaching.com.au/