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Seven components for effective communication:

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Seven components for effective communication:

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I will utilise Communicator, Audience, & Objective factors from the seven essential components involved in the process of communication to analyse this case and show what exactly caused the miscommunication.

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Amplify the signal. We often communicate less information than we think we are, a syndrome psychologists call signal amplification bias. Virtual teams, lacking contextual cues that the other person hasn’t understood what we’re trying to say, often hear only too late that “I thought it was obvious that…” or, “I didn’t think I needed to spell that out.” --> the communicator should’ve informed Michael of the future dividend and in the future, he ought to ensure that both parties are equally informed on matters affecting investment decisions

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The problem in the case: Clearly the problem lies in the miscommunication of not disclosing the future dividend payment in the coming two weeks. Not disclosing such information, even though you expect the other party to know, is not professional and resulted in a financial loss to the investor.

Outcome of the miscommunication:

1. From the clients perspective: Customer satisfaction and the reputation of the company in the eyes of the client – down

2. From the firm’s perspective: Results in both reputational and financial loss to the firm as it might lose its client due to inefficient communication --> bad for future business

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The communicator fails to be clear about the objective of the communication and about the target audience of the communication. He fails to recognize the following essential aspects of the communication situation:

The broker should have been more focused on structuring the message to disclose the dividend payment, since it was in his responsibility to address that valuable information, in which he now failed to do.

In this case, the client did not realize the dividend was about to be declared, and if the client had known of the declaration he would not have sold the shares until after the dividend was paid --> the communicator didn’t recognise his client’s investment objectives due to bad communication and left-out information, which lead to a serious miscommunication situation

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A general note to Icarus Capital and its investment advisors: knowing your client and tailoring your service to suit your client’s needs, is especially important when the client’s age and health could impact their ability to understand your advice:

1.     Take the time to listen to exactly what the client needs, understand their full objectives, and respond to the client with our professional opinions on whether those objectives can be reasonably obtained within the time frame and budgetary restraints they communicate.

2.     Set expectations for your role, the clients’ role, and the dynamics of your relationship. Develop a plan of action to get from point A to point B in a reasonable, understandable, and achievable manner.

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Funds that couple strong returns with a commitment to a strong brand, communication and reputation will thrive.

Funds like Icarus should use the so-called “return +” communication model which is predicated on thoughtful, diligent communication materials and open channels of communication that provide transparency into the company’s operations. Knowing your customer’s needs and their personal preferences is the starting point for effective communication.

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Know your audience and recognize the following aspects when planning investor communication:

·       Who the stakeholders are and at what level do they need to be involved?

·       What are the needs and interests of each stakeholder?

·       Make an analysis of each stakeholder's interests

·       How will you effectively communicate with each stakeholder; what method?

·       Determine the frequency of communication

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Build relationships through effective communication. Those leaders who effectively manage the flow of information from their company to their clients tend to share a certain outlook — and a certain set of practices. They adopt communication methods that enable them to get their employees closer to their clients. They put in place communication systems that promote dialogue, as opposed to monologue. They engage clients by allowing them to become active participants in the communication process and recognize customers’ importance in business development.

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tailor your information to meet the needs of the target audience.

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Tailor your information to meet the needs of the target audience

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Build relationships through effective communication. Those leaders who effectively manage the flow of information from their company to their clients tend to share a certain outlook — and a certain set of practices. They adopt communication methods that enable them to get their employees closer to their clients. They put in place communication systems that promote dialogue, as opposed to monologue. They engage clients by allowing them to become active participants in the communication process and recognize customers’ importance in business development.

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The communicator failed to understand his audience's needs and characteristics:

The client’s (in other words the audience’s) personal characteristics: an elderly investor, in a poor state of health, who does not have a very high level of financial literacy. It was not reasonable for the broker to assume that the client was on top of his financial affairs in these circumstances.

As we know, to help the receiver comprehend the message, the communicator should find out about needs and attitudes of the target audience. This was unsuccessful in this particular case

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Since the objective of communication for a company is  usually to add value to a customer through effective communication, we can declare that the broker completely failed to understand it in this case. The broker should have applied the so-called shareholder engagement, in which benefits and opportunities can result from engaging the customer, such as establishing a respectful relationship, increasing transparency and developing a rapport. Had he informed the client of the dividend payment, it might have increased the level of their customer relationship and in the long-run could have resulted in revenue growth from future broker fees, meaning that the objective of the communication would have been achieved, since both would have benefited from a successful outcome.