Clients facing challenging situations often want you to fix the problem they are experiencing. Although fixing the problem is not always achievable, you can considerably influence their emotional responses and behaviour during your interaction if you adopt a strategic approach.
When clients are emotionally-charged, it can be difficult for us not to respond with similar behaviour. It is important to firstly recognise the reaction you’re having to the conversation with the client, take a breath, be clear about what you want to achieve; that is, you don’t want to escalate the emotion and you are seeking to have the client satisfied that their issue has been dealt with in the best possible way. Having an awareness that the client’s emotional state is often a plea to be heard can help you remain professional, friendly and cooperative in order to successfully manage the interaction.
To remain strategic rather than emotionally reactive in responses, it is important to:
- demonstrate a willingness to examine the client’s issue
- acknowledge their feelings
- be open with them
Common Emotional Reactions
- Anger
- Isolation
- Denial
- Despair
- Sadness
- Anxiety
- Desperation
- Grief
- Confusion
The most challenging reactions are generally those that prevent us from working with our clients effectively. In any situation, it is important to respond with compassion and empathy. Understanding the client’s emotional reaction can then help to inform the type of strategy you can use to manage and respond to the situation effectively. The drivers for these reactions can be varied and may be due to personal factors or be directly related to the reason for their interaction with the organisation.
How to Respond Strategically to Clients
When dealing with a challenging client interaction, it can be helpful to take a moment to acknowledge what is occurring and decide on a way forward. The ABCDE model provides a framework that can be applied in any emotionally charged client interaction to help you effectively respond to and resolve the matter at hand.
Acknowledge
- you are in a challenging situation
- it may make you feel uncomfortable but remember the emotion isn’t about you
Breathe
- in through your mouth
- out through your nose
Centre yourself
- by taking a moment to collect your thoughts
- and pause until you feel you are ready to continue
Decide
- on the options available to support the client
- what strategies you will use to diffuse emotions and manage the situation
Engage
- the client with empathy and apply strategy
- and ask questions, and listen to the client’s needs
Connecting with Emotionally Charged Clients
Remember the HEAT model to help take the heat out of emotionally charged client interactions. It provides tips to help build rapport with clients, and resolve the source of their grievance.
Hear Them Out
- Do not interrupt. Use listening responses
- Take notes
- Use their name
- Paraphrase their concerns
- Listen for the emotion, what is driving them
Empathise
- Put yourself in their shoes
- Make an ampathy statement that is appropriate to the situation and the emotion
Ask
- Establish the facts. Clarify the information
- Remove any ambiguities
- Do not fob them off
- Don’t apportion blame to other officers or other areas
- Avoid making defensive statements
Take Action
- Propose a plan and get agreement
- Summarise your actions and theirs
- Thank them for letting you know about the problem
Giving Challenging Feedback to a Client
It can be challenging to deliver negative or difficult feedback to a client. Here are some essential tips to help you deliver challenging information in a professional and compassionate way.
1. Prepare for the conversation – It is important to prepare yourself in a way that diffuses the client reaction. Prepare for what you’re going to say, prepare for how you are going to say it, prepare for the client’s likely reaction, and prepare for your reaction to their reaction.
2. Remind yourself why it’s necessary – Understand why the decision is necessary, the rationale for it, and what other possibilities were considered. It’s often helpful to engage in the conversation with a clear sense of why the feedback or decision is reasonable and justified.
3. Connect with the client and be empathetic – Apply the HEAT model, and work to build an understanding of the client’s experience so you can apply empathy and avoid exacerbating the situation with an inappropriate response.
4. Be direct and explain the rationale – Concentrate on the facts, get to the point, explain the rationale, be clear to avoid misinterpretation, and remain calm and compassionate by acknowledging the difficult situation.
5. Consider the time and the place – Where possible, allow sufficient time for the conversation to ensure you’re not rushed and that you’re able to hold space for the client to express themselves. Consider where the discussion is taking place for them to ensure adequate privacy, support and to minimise distractions if possible.
6. Promote positive options to help resolve the issue – Be clear about the process, that you understand their issue and what they need to do to help resolve the issue. Encourage the client to take action. It’s not always about giving advice, but about involving the client in finding options and solutions. Ask the client open questions in order to help them start thinking about their options.
7. Offer choices whenever possible – Offer choices to allow the client to gain some control whenever possible. Ask them what they think about suggestions and options you provide.
8. Follow up and follow through – Before ending your interaction with the client, ensure that you have agreed on the next steps. If practical, establish a follow-up with the client to track progress and review actions towards resolving the issue. If there are steps you have agreed to take, ensure that you follow through on your agreements to demonstrate your genuine effort to help.
Challenges and Self Care
There are several challenges you may be experiencing with the surge in emotionally-charged client interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges are likely to be heightened by the cumulative impact of the prolonged period of uncertainty and exposure to clients’ heightened emotional states due to adversity in the current environment. Here are some examples of the emotional challenges you may experience in the course of your work with clients in difficult circumstances:
- Continually dealing with challenging clients who present with various emotions
- Exposure to confronting stories of consequences to clients
- Lack of control at times to immediately be able to impact on what you hear
- Working within policy and procedure limitations despite consequences to clients
- Struggling to limit your emotional investment (sympathy / anger)
- Over-identifying with the issue or the client
- Adopting a ‘rescuer’ role
Looking After Ourselves
- It is important to take the time to check in with your own feelings and make sure you’re ok. Here are some tips to look after your wellbeing:
- Engage in regular self-monitoring to recognise your emotional reactions and signs of stress as early as possible, identifying the contributing factors and developing a plan for addressing and managing them.
- Seek support and guidance from your peers and your leaders to help you explore, identify and problem solve to manage the circumstances in your work that may be causing distress.
- Recognise and acknowledge the challenges our clients are facing, know your role and set realistic boundaries.
- Make a distinction between your circumstances and the client’s experience.
- Develop a self-care plan to enact before, during and after work.
- Increase your sense of control by developing a routine and practices that will assist you to manage the challenges you face in your work.
- Debrief after emotionally-charged client interactions to unpack the situation, reflect on what occurred, gain support and feedback from others, and to help transform the negative experience by reframing negative perceptions and actively challenging thoughts to find a balanced perspective.
- Recognise the crucial role you are performing in dealing with this pandemic and develop realistic expectations of how you can perform your role, and what you can achieve. This level of awareness can help create positive meaning, purpose and value in your work that can act as a buffer to the challenges you face in your work.
Dealing with inappropriate client behaviour
Inappropriate client behaviour, including behaviours such as yelling, swearing, sexual harassment, threats, racism, discrimination, and physical violence will not be tolerated. If, despite your best efforts the client is still angry, abusive or behaving inappropriately then follow your local incident management procedures. Some key points to remember are:
- First, make reasonable efforts to avoid and defuse situations involving threats, aggressive behaviour or violence.
- Exercise due diligence and take all reasonable steps to maintain personal safety and the safety of other staff and clients.
- Document any incident involving inappropriate behaviour and all actions taken following an incident.
