How are your listening skills......
It seemed like a good idea…. going to see an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA). I mean, the years are passing by and I should probably look at my pension situation, and all that. I have some ideas about what advice I want from an IFA
So I spoke to a friend who used to be a financial advisor and he recommended a lady who works in the same firm that he did. I made an appointment to see her and took along my financial information. The first meeting was ‘free’.
She talked a lot about what they do and various issues related to pensions. I’m not sure that she really listened to what I was saying. I got the impression that what she wanted to do was to take my investments, and run them for an annual management fee of ‘only 1%’.
I left the meeting a little confused and feeling that the IFA was only interested in having me as a client if I signed up for the annual management fee. She didn’t seem to listen to what I was saying.
So I went to see another IFA. I told him that I really just wanted some advice about my situation and how to manage things financially in the future, how to create an income from my pension and investments.. This IFA focused the next 30 minutes entirely on ways of minimising Inheritance Tax. This is an important issue, but it was not what I went there to hear. Meh...
Two slightly disappointing consultations. Both of them involved a lot of information. This got me thinking. How many of our health-care consultations follow the same format? How attentively do we listen to our patients? Are we only interested in our patients if they sign up to our plan? Do we go off on a tangent, pushing the consultation down a route that we want to pursue, rather than following the patients agenda?
Thoughts:
If my patients were asked how well I had listened to their agenda, what would they say?
Homework:
Is it worth asking your patients to complete an anonymous questionnaire about how well they felt that you had listened to them? Would doing that change the way that you interact with your patients? What would you do differently? Why aren’t you doing that already?
Read Section B3 of ‘The Inner Consultation’ about listening skills (1).
Try ‘echoing’ words or phrases back to patients during your dialogue. This can help you to focus on the words that they are saying, and help them feel that your listening is razor-sharp.
References:
'Kaizen' is the philosophy of continual improvement.
