Read the information and PowerPoint first, then follow all the guidelines and answer all the 4 situational questions. (You can fi

Topic 1:

A Senior Financial Planner is delivering a virtual seminar, to which s/he has invited existing clients. Consider how the financial planner might employ their interpersonal skills to respond to the following tough questions.

1. A 65 year old client asks; “How will you communicate with us, to keep us updated on the markets, conduct our financial plan review, and so on, without in-person meetings?” Describe 3 communication methods they could use and the Interpersonal skills necessary to utilize.

2. An agitated 40 year old client asks; “I’ve read various articles about what to expect in the post-pandemic world; there will be high inflation, housing prices will soar, and taxes will rise significantly due to all the government debt we’ve incurred. What does this mean for my financial future? It sounds scary.” Describe 3 points to help re-assure the client and the Interpersonal skills required to communicate them. (Hint: Rise above the emotion and focus on financial planning principles that, when practiced with discipline, will help the client achieve their financial goals).

3. A 30 year old client asks; “I’m hearing a lot about Bitcoin millionaires. So, why aren’t we investing in Bitcoin?” (Describe 3 reasons why or why not you would invest client’s assets in Bitcoin and why clients feel they need this risky asset.

4. A 45 year old client asks; “I can’t help but think that the Pandemic, like the Great Depression, will affect everyone’s approach to their finances. I’m especially concerned about my Millennial children’s financial future. How can I help them build a solid foundation?” Describe 3 strategies and how you would convince a client to utilize them.

,

In this assignment, imagine that you are working at a Financial Services company with a Financial Planner. The duty of every Financial Planner (FP) is to educate and inform her/his clients. To this end FPs must conduct client seminars, answer difficult questions and communicate complex material in a manner that clients can easily understand.   Doing so helps build trust with existing and prospective clients.  It’s also an effective means to inform, educate, build rapport, and learn what’s on clients’ minds.

Your role is to develop a paper based on one of the two Financial Planning/ Interpersonal Skills topics below.  The presentation (built in MS Word format) must be complete and understandable as a standalone document. This means, in addition to incorporating appropriate and relevant written answers, you must include visuals that support the report.

Important:   

· Submit the presentation (as a Word or .pdf) via the course submission portal.

Source Material:

· Support your presentation materials by incorporating charts, graphs, and visuals, where appropriate. Ensure your research findings and information are drawn from reputable industry sources and you incorporate the graphic in your answers.   Note:  Wikipedia or Investopedia are NOT deemed reputable sources and I will take marks off if you use them.

· When citing your sources, include the relevant source information and hyperlink at the end of the paper in a references section.

Length:

2500 words.  That means about 600 words per question or about 1.5 pages double spaced.  Your paper should be about 6 pages plus visuals.

What I look for is content, insight and the ability to show me that you understood the topic and can apply the communication skills needed to communicate it in a logical manner. 

,

Left pyramid are skills and traits while the right pyramid is how you apply them.

Some people appear to be “naturals”.

Don’t let it worry you if you aren’t.

Building strong interpersonal skills is a lifetime journey.

If you apply the same amount oif time and effort working on your Interpersonal Communication Skills and how you effectively apply them as you have on learning about the Investment Industry and the Financial Planning process, you can’t help but succeed!

Top 10 INTERPERSONAL

COMMUNICATIONSKILLS

7

Let’s take a quick look at the top 10 skills.

We’ll delve deeper into these over the coming weeks.

1

VERBAL COMMUNICATION

key interpersonal skills

VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Within verbal communication there are a number of other skills that we’ll talk about later, too, such as listening and questioning, but for now we are primarily concerned with effective speaking.

Effective verbal communication begins with clarity. This often requires nothing more than slowing down and speaking more thoughtfully.

Many people feel rushed to respond to questions and conversations immediately, but it is better to pause for a moment in consideration, especially if the question merits it. No one expects, or wants, a gun-slinging attitude in important conversations. A thoughtful person is generally taken more seriously.

Par of this skill also includes:

the ability to stay calm

focused

polite,

interested

and to match the mood or emotion of the situation.

What do I mean by ‘match the mood or emotion of the situation? Can you give me an example?

2

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

key interpersonal skills

2. Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is largely underrated and underestimated.

Those who can communicate non-verbally can almost subliminally reinforce what they are saying verbally.

They can also exude confidence, or any other emotion they feel, not to mention respond tactfully to a conversation without saying a single word.

Non-verbal communication is something that other people notice whether you are aware of your actions or not.

Your body language is constantly speaking.

Everything you do or don’t do says something about you and how you are feeling.

Your facial expressions (especially eye contact), your posture, your voice, your gestures with your extremities and even the way you position yourself physically in a room or amongst colleagues is constantly revealing your true attitude, for better or for worse.

Give me an example of body language? What does it tell you about the person when you see this?

There's lot of good information on how to read someone's body language. Worth looking into.

3

LISTENING

key interpersonal skills

3. LISTENING

This is the only appropriate way to follow two topics on communication.

If non-verbal communication is underrated, then listening isn’t even on the charts!

And yet without listening effectively, how can we interpret and respond appropriately?

Even the best communicators can talk their way into a sticky situation. You may have thought sometimes “I should have just stayed quiet and listened” once in your life!

This skill is especially important for financial planners. Think about a situation where a person just talked and didn’t let you say anything.

Putting it to a basic level– listening is crucial to success .

Listening is so important that it is a bona fide field of theoretical study (a contradiction of terms, but still). Communication can not be realized unless a listener completes

Give me some examples where its better to listen than talk?

4

QUESTIONING

key interpersonal skills

4. QUESTIONING

I call this curiosity!

Questioning is a lost art that can serve many purposes.

Questioning is something that often builds upon listening, but it is not merely a device for obtaining information.

Questioning is a great way to initiate a conversation. It demonstrates interest and can instantaneously draw someone into your desire to listen.

Smart questions show that you know how to approach problems and how to get the answers you need. Fortunately, questioning can be learned more easily than other skills on this list.

Needless to say, it’s all about the quality of questioning.

If you ask what are referred to as “closed” questions, you’re going to get “closed” answers.

What is an example of a closed-ended question? These are questions that elicit brief responses, e.g. “Did you like your dinner?”

Instead, you want to ask “open-ended” questions, which probe deeper, e.g. “Tell me what you thought of dinner tonight” or “Where do you think we can improve our marketing collateral?” Of course, if you’re at a cocktail party, some questions are better saved for the next day!

Can someone tell me some good “open ended questions”

5

MANNERS

key interpersonal skills

5. MANNERS

Your parents were correct. Good manners are important!

Good manners tend to make many other interpersonal skills come naturally. Put another way, if you are polite, it’s a great start!

With business becoming increasingly more global, even for small businesses, manners are more important than ever.

A basic understanding of etiquette translates to other cultures and their expectations.

We are all guilty of assuming people are less intelligent if they have sub-par manners. This same judgement is reflected back on us by the people we interact with.

Anyone who has visited other countries knows how sensitive its residents are to visitors’ manners.

Business-to-business interactions function in much the same way.

Who can give me an example of etiquette in other cultures?

( think of introductions? Passing your business card to someone? Meals?)

6

PROBLEM SOLVING

key interpersonal skills

6. PROBLEM SOLVING

Every day has its problems!

A rare day would be one without problems. What makes this a skill is not necessarily how quickly you can solve a problem, but how you go about doing it.

No plan is a guarantee, so there is always an element of risk. Some people can weigh risk better than others.

The key aspects of successful problem solving are:

1. Being able to identify exactly what the problem is

2. Dissecting the problem so that it is fully understood

3. Examining all options pertaining to solutions

4. setting up a system of strategies and objectives to solve the problem

5. Putting this plan into effect and monitoring its progress.

If the problem is as simple as replacing printer paper, then obviously different measures can be taken. But what about dealing with a bigger issue like communication to clients during a market down turn?

7

SOCIAL AWARENESS

key interpersonal skills

7. SOCIAL AWARENESS

Being in tune to others’ emotions is an essential interpersonal skill.

This dictates how many of your other interpersonal skills should function.

When we are concentrated on our own projects and success, it is easy to close ourselves off from others’ problems or concerns.

Social awareness is crucial to identifying opportunities, as well.

People will often unconsciously test someone’s ability to respond to a social situation

for example, a person who is struggling professionally will be desperate for help but, naturally, wary on revealing the fact that they need it.

Being able to identify something like this demonstrates that you are operating at a higher level of social awareness.

8

SELF-MANAGEMENT

key interpersonal skills

8. SELF-MANAGEMENT

Not all interpersonal skills are extroverted.

We’ll talk more about this in a future lesson, but you may have heard about “Emotional Intelligence” by author Daniel Goleman.

Experts believe self-management to be one of the pillars of EI and absolutely fundamental to leadership success.

Self-management allows us to control our emotions when they are not aligned with what would be considered appropriate behavior for a given situation.

This means:

controlling anger

hiding frustration

exuding calmness, etc.

Undoubtedly there are times to show your true colors, but remaining composed is almost always the desired course of action.

Can someone give me an example of “Self management” or a situation where its important to self-manage?

9

RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY

key interpersonal skills

9. RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY

Responsibility and accountability are two reliable indicators of maturity.

Saying you are going to do something and then actually doing it is a sign of responsibility. ( remember we talked about getting assignments completed?)

This builds trust between yourself and those they rely on you and it encourages others to seek your counsel and assistance.

Holding yourself accountable for your actions is one of the most difficult things to do, both professionally and personally.

This is also a crucial element of conflict management.

When conflicts arise between yourself and others, or when you have made a mistake or at fault, that is when accountability becomes difficult.

Admitting to your mistakes isn’t enough.

You have to understand the situation fully and respond in a way that addresses the issue comprehensively.

Holding ourselves accountable tends to go against our instincts; this is definitely when the “flight” instinct kicks in.

MAKE A PROMISE, KEEP A PROMISE

CLIENTS EXPECT YOU TO DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO

10

ASSERTIVENESS

key interpersonal skills

10. ASSERTIVENESS

After all this talk of listening and respecting others, there is no denying the importance of being assertive.

However, this is also where you are most likely to offend or come off as too aggressive.

Being assertive is the only way to get your ideas onto a competitive table.

It also means:

standing up for what you believe it

defending your ideas with confidence

instructing others on what needs to be done

I’m sure we are all familiar with the adage that most people who ask for raises receive them? and yet very few of us are assertive enough to make it happen.

When used tactfully, assertiveness can gain you a kind of respect that you won’t be able to attain by other means.

Give me a few examples where you will have to be assertive?

Todays discussion topics

Making Yourself Understood

Why is Listening Important?

Active Listening

Effective Communication:

Brevity

The PRES Method

Gaining Support

Communication Effectiveness:

Email

Conference Calls

Handling Complaints

Last week we started with a brief overview of Interpersonal Communication and today we’re taking a more in-depth look at Communicating Effectively with Clients and Colleagues

Specifically we’ll look at the importance of Listening, a few methods to help with clarity and we’ll look at communication effectiveness for email, conference calls and how to handle complaints which unfortunately are a part of business.

Great Speakers Who Inspire

Michelle Obama

Martin Luther King Jr.

Sir Winston Churchill

Nellie McClung

Barak Obama

To begin the lesson, I’d like to draw your attention to a few great orators, both past and present, whose words and manner of communication have influenced people’s thinking and inspired action.

Each speaker was effective in applying the adage of ‘Begin with the End in Mind’.

They spoke clearly, succinctly and meaningfully.

By doing so they were able to inspire change and turn ideas into action.

First Lady Michelle Obama is an American lawyer, university administrator, and writer who served as the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama, and was the first African-American First Lady. During her tenure as First Lady, she promoted the importance of healthy living & fitness. She also stumped for Hilary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. election. She is currently on a speaking tour promoting her new book, Becoming.

Barack Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois. During his two-term presidency, he inspired the US people with his vision, leading change in various areas, including: international diplomacy, health care, financial regulation, climate change, etc.

Sir Winston Churchill was a British politician, statesman, army officer, and writer, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. As Prime Minister, Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 until his death in 1968.

Canadian Nellie McClung was a novelist, reformer, journalist, and suffragist. Nellie McClung was a leader in the fight to enfranchise North American women. Her efforts led to Manitoba becoming the first province to grant women the right to vote in 1916, followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan.

They all initiated some positive changes, and their messages have all had an impact.

20

Do You Make Yourself Understood?

Is it misinterpretation or miscommunication?

Did your assumption affect the outcome?

Are you clear on the point you are trying to make?

Making Yourself Understood

1. Warm- up: Start with a video clip from the TV series, The Big Bang Theory.

The Big Bang Theory clip on Poor Communication – Game Night: https://youtu.be/C8lMW0MODFs

Duration: 4 minutes.

Characters: Penny (standing), Amy (sitting), Sheldon (standing) + Leonard (sitting) at the opening of the scene.

In this clip, Sheldon & Leonard each fail, in their own way, to make themselves understood yet both possess exceedingly high IQs.

As we compare effective communicators (such as those on the prior slide), how did Sheldon & Leonard fail in making themselves understood?

> Rushed to action

> Lack of clarity

> Assumed the other person thought the same way

> Clearly there is some work to do in order to improve Communication between Sheldon and Leonard.

Relationship or Returns?

FP Client # 1

Last year made 12% this year on pace for 6% returns in line with plan of 6%

FP sends monthly market performance emails

FP calls only “as needed” and reviews plan if client asks

FP Client # 2

Client earning average 6% return in line with plan

FP sends targeted articles of interest monthly

Quarterly scheduled touch point

Annual plan review with client

Now lets look at the messages from 2 different planners to their clients:

How do you think planner 1’s client will feel about the communication they receive? What if the return is 3% instead of 6 or 12%?

How would Planner # 1’s client feel about the message and the value of the communication they receive? How are they likely to feel about the value their FP provides?

How about planner # 2’s client?

Planner 2 has broadened their communication strategy to add additional context and value to the client while proactively reaching out with regular contact to build, deepen and maintain a strong relationship.

Planner # 1 is only delivering market information the client can get from statements or the news and the messaging is focused on returns Planner # 2 has a value added communication approach built on knowing about the client.

How loyal do you think each client will be?

TIP: Building your value proposition and communication strategy is like standing on stilts in a termite farm, sooner or later you are going down. No one can always provide the best or even above average returns all the time.

Why do you think clients leave their Advisors?

Didn’t do what they said

Over promised

Went Missing after the deal closed

Lack of communication

Fees

Returns

No contact/ updates

Admin issues/ delays

Do it yourself investing

Feel left out of the conversation

85% are actually happy with returns!

You may be surprised to know that over 90% of clients leave their relationship with their Financial Planner not because of returns or products, but because of a lack of communication and a flawed relationship!

In fact surveys have shown that over 85% of clients who leave their planning relationship are actually happy with their returns.

With that in mind what do you think might happen to Planner 1’s client?

Why is listening important to clients?

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/rules-for-good-customer-service-2948079

Knowing what your client feels, wants and needs starts with effective Listening.

Listen to Understand!

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

– Stephen Covey

Clients want to be heard and they want you to understand and respond to their stated needs, feelings, goals and objectives.

They want and need your advice but that advice has to be given with their needs and goals as the priority.

Make sure you take time to understand them before jumping to a recommendation.

So how do we listen effectively?

Hearing

What is Active Listening?

Stop talking.

Put the person at ease (e.g. smile).

Look at them, nod & prompt with verbal responses (e.g. “I see”, “Uh huh”, “Yes”).

Be patient.

Avoid discouraging responses (E.g. Looking at your watch, yawning).

Manage your EI (e.g. facial expressions).

Paraphrase what you heard (e.g. “It sounds like”, “So ”, “To your point”).

Ask open ended questions.

Understanding

Remembering

Interpreting

Evaluating

Responding

Tips for Active Listening

This where active listening skills can really boost your ability to meet that challenge.

What is active listening?

Active listening is a critical skill for effective communication.

Active listening is how you receive verbal information in which you give your complete focus and attention to the speaker.

As an active listener, you take part in the communication by understanding their message, comprehending the information they present, and responding thoughtfully.

In contrast, passive listening, is where you filter out most information and only stay alert for key details.

You're passive listening if you're dividing your thoughts between other topics while someone is speaking, or focused on developing the reply you're creating in your mind.

26

Active Listening Skills

The Hallmarks of an Active Listener

Focus your attention on the speaker.

Make eye contact.

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Observe non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, posture, posture, etc.

Identify and acknowledge the speaker’s feelings in a supportive manner.

Ask questions to clarify assumptions the other person holds and help the speaker see the issue in a new light.

This video is a great example of Amy practicing Active Listening & Sheldon not so much.

Play >

The Big Bang Theory clip on Active Listening: https://youtu.be/a91T8MdXXMc

Duration: 2 minutes & 26 seconds.

Here are some keys to being a good Active listener…

Focus your attention on the speaker.

Make eye contact.

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears. Observe non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, posture, posture, etc. What are some other NON VERBAL clues?

Identify and acknowledge the speaker’s feelings in a supportive manner.

Ask questions to clarify assumptions the other person holds and help the speaker see the issue in a new light. This could include injecting some thoughts or ideas about the topic.

Effective Communication

Keys to Effective Communications

Be considerate.

Avoid interrupting or trying to redirect the conversation to your concerns.

Be succinct: Make one point and provide an example or a supporting piece of information.

Watch you n

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.