Thought Club

It’s Fight Club but for the thinking man (or woman). Financial services is facing the Ben Hur of challenges after near implosion, yet groups still only receive imperfect information on what is really happening in the market.

With this in mind CoreData Pulse is launching Thought Club – a name play on the 1999 David Fincher movie, which will be a forum for debate, communication and a better understanding of how individuals and businesses can operate.

By pitching groups together, for example, investors and advisers, advisers and product manufacturers, super funds and super members, banks and customers; Thought Club will provide a forum to facilitate increased understanding between stakeholders across the industry.

Thought Club will pack a punch – metaphorically speaking – and will involve open and honest debate that is supported by research.

Regular events will be run and participants will receive provide and receive information through a range of mediums.

The events will bring different parties together and participants will receive research, video, audio and a round-up of findings.

The genesis of the idea is sadly due to the propensity for miscommunication and disconnect unfortunately being a common bi-product of individual and organisational interaction.

Ironically, confusion is often created due to two of the more redeeming factors that make us human – differences of opinion and diverse approaches to problem solving.

These two core distinguishing factors are behind what makes us unique as individuals and, for some, (when incorporated into companies) also the places we work.

However, while the cross fertilisation of ideas in society is often a healthy thing – the spectrum of differences as to how we interpret and perceive information invariably causes issues.

The past 18 months have thrown the financial services industry on its head, forcing many of us to reassess everything that we have learnt and understood over the past decade or so.

Clients are more than a little concerned while investment and advice-based firms are attempting to understand what their offers will be to the market in this New Brave World.

CoreData Pulse’s plan is to go way beyond standard roundtables and panel discussions but to facilitate enhanced understanding between parties – imagine SBS TV show Insight but with two separate groups facing each other rather than a show host.

The potential for misunderstanding is large in any industry, and the financial services industry is no different.

The above chart outlines some of the groups where there is propensity for miscommunication.

Simply put, there is scope for misunderstanding at almost every level. This makes sense if you think about it.

In our personal lives, if friends, families, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives can suffer disconnect despite knowing each other, arguably more than most other people – it makes sense that relative strangers are capable of misunderstanding.

The background driver for this occurred at a recent CoreData Conference into investor and consumer thoughts and needs in the current climate.

From a financial planning point of view, CoreData regularly interacts with advisers through a variety of research projects and studies.

At this particular conference it was surprising to hear the extent of the gap between how some advisers were interpreting events, in light of their first-hand client behaviour experiences, and how fund managers and product providers were construing events.

It’s often difficult, perhaps impossible, for individuals to put themselves in the shoes of others as they are often unaware of all the circumstances, conversations and interactions that have caused others to reach the points of view they have and the opinions they hold.

Even at the best of times, experiences can only be relayed in part, however at least some sharing of stories and experiences can help to bridge the gap between two or more parties.

Things can escalate quite quickly if an individual or group has a hostile or negative view of other parties that a misunderstanding is with – hence a world being awash with lawyers.

Common communication differences are what academics refer to as high-context and low-context communication. Low-context communication is straight forward and does not require context or interpretation to give it meaning. High-context communication is more ambiguous.

High-context communication requires background knowledge and understanding for effective communication. While most individuals and groups use both kinds of communication, Western culture tends to use low-context communication more often, while Eastern Latin-American and African cultures tend to use high-context communication.

In the current environment of instability, and when emotion is also introduced into the mix, groups and individuals have a more difficult task in getting messages and information out and disseminated among clients and stakeholders.

Therefore CoreData Pulse’s Thought Club will look to drive enhanced communication ahead of delivering understanding of how individuals and businesses can develop strategies to deal with the ever changing needs and demands of clients, customers and stakeholders.

A version of this article appears in the latest edition of IFA Magazine.