Protocol to Ease Breaking Bad News to a Client

In this article in Financial Planning Magazine, I discuss the importance of developing good communications skills and present the SPIKES protocol used in medicine as a structure for difficult conversations.  SPIKES is the pneumonic for SET the atmosphere, learn the client’s PERCEPTION of the situation, INVITE the client to set the level of detail they want to hear, provide KNOWLEDGE, address EMOTIONS, and finally SUMMARIZE the conversation. Honing the skill of giving bad news will ease the pain of bad situations for you and your client.

You will find the article here.