What does it feel like walking a mile in someone else’s shoes? In this final article in our Values series, we speak to Aw Choon Chye, Head of Finance Transformation and Jeffrey Lee, Head of Compliance about being Empathetic and how this informs the every-day decisions they make that impact the lives of customers and stakeholders.

1. What is one thing you wish more people knew about your role?

Jeffrey: One thing I wish more people knew is that the Compliance team are not “law enforcers”, neither are we all about policy and procedures. Come to us if you are not sure about a regulatory requirement or ethical issue, and we will guide you to make decisions with confidence.

Choon Chye: People sometimes have the expectation that I have all the answers to their problems. Our transformation is not a top-down approach, but a collaborative approach to solve problems together. My team collaborates with our peers in Finance to understand their pain points and co-create solutions for users.

2. What does being empathetic mean to you?

Choon Chye: It involves giving your fullest attention to the other person, not just by listening but by also being aware of their emotions. This can be done by watching their expressions, listening to the tone of their voice, and acknowledging their feelings. It’s alright if you don’t have a solution to their problems.

Jeffrey: It’s not about feeling sorry for another person. Rather, it’s about seeking to understand the situation, and appreciating what they are going through.

3. Why is being empathetic is important in helping our business succeed?

Choon Chye: We succeed when we add value to the customers we are serving. To add value, we must understand their needs, emotionally or financially, and be able to meet or exceed them. For us to achieve that, we will need to listen to our customers’ voices with empathy.

Jeffrey: Definitely. We operate in an interconnected world – with our colleagues, distributors, customers, and regulators. Without appreciating and understanding the different stakeholders and what they need, how are we going to design the right products?

4. How do you ensure that the customer’s voice is being heard in the decisions that you make?

Jeffrey: When assessing a situation, the Compliance team would always think about every stakeholder’s perspective, including the customer. We would often ask ourselves questions like “Are we doing right by our customers?” “Is this fair to our customers?”

Choon Chye: We do this through feedback, surveys and interactions, and use the information gathered to formulate our decisions. We measure our decisions against the voice of the customer. After a decision is made, we fine-tune and gather feedback again to assess if we got it right.

5. Please share an example of a situation where being empathetic played an important role in bringing stakeholders together and solving problems/moving things forward.

Jeffrey: One aspect of Compliance work relates to reviewing customer complaints. Being empathetic is extremely critical in ensuring that we listen to and understand both sides of the story to make an unbiased and fair conclusion. This helps to preserve the customer’s trust in our Company, and also ensure that we stand by our Financial Consultants if the complaints are found to be invalid or unsubstantiated.

Choon Chye: Indeed. Empathy lets the stakeholder feel that their voice is sincerely heard, and that the solution meets their needs and expectations. If nobody accepts the solution, the solution won't be successful or sustainable. Our team has rolled out a number of successful projects and improvements for our peers because we have paid close attention to their needs.

6. One of the behaviours around empathetic is listening without judgement. How do you keep an open mind and not let your emotions affect your judgement, especially in difficult situations?

Choon Chye: The key is to keep calm so that we are not affected by our emotions.

Jeffrey: I agree. Listening empathetically is not about attaching the emotions to the conversation, but more about putting myself in the shoes of the person to understand the situation.

Choon Chye: To manage emotions, deep breathing and mindfulness practice helps a lot in building a calm mind. It also helps us keep our focus on the present and on the other person, which will in turn help us to keep an open mind without judgement.

Jeffrey: It is also important to constantly remind ourselves what we are trying to achieve from the conversation. Personally, with the current flexi-working arrangement where the physical interaction is greatly reduced, empathetic listening is even more critical when we are relying much more on verbal communication with one other.