[Opinion] A while ago, I was told by an adviser that I’m “… always coming up with ways to look at things differently” – I took it as a compliment but I’m not sure it was! 

In a previous life I worked in a medium sized law firm.  Every Friday afternoon the solicitors gathered in the boardroom to discuss cases they were working on and get other solicitors views and suggestions.  This process lifted the ability of the individual solicitors in the firm to provide better, more comprehensive advice.

While the process was not always enjoyable (having a senior partner point out an obvious error or omission is no fun for a junior solicitor) it was always valuable.

I was reminded of these Friday sessions last week, at an industry event, while talking to an adviser and discussing the value of peer review for advice professionals.  Not peer review by ‘mates’ who think alike, but by advisers who do not think alike.

Peer review by a ‘Devil’s Advocate’: someone who goes against the flow, can be useful, even if it is often uncomfortable, which, let’s face it, is natural – most of us don’t like accepting the possibility we could be doing things differently, even better.

Today we value ‘team players’ and ‘shared visions’, but the reality is, as useful as these things can be, they can also be dangerous if they encourage ‘Groupthink’, demand conformity of thought, or penalise alternative views, all of which are dangers which can all too easily be accepted by teams and groups without question. 

Shared visions and Groupthink might be useful for sales but can stifle innovation and hinder best advice, especially in life insurance, where so many different possible solutions often exist. Unfortunately, Groupthink can take a team down one road only, usually the same road they’ve been travelling for a long time. 

The danger is that, after continuing down the road for only a couple of kilometres, the Group stops questioning whether they are even on the right road and fail to explore alternatives.  But what if they aren’t on the best road, or worse, they’re on the wrong road?  Examples of projects, plans, systems, policies, philosophies or strategies that have eventually been found wanting and required significant alteration or even complete replacement, are plentiful. 

It's important to recognise the potential dangers of Groupthink to advice excellence and welcome the Devil’s Advocate; the so-called ‘Tenth Man or Woman’; the person who challenges the status quo, who offers valid alternative solutions and identifies unrecognised flaws or dangers: the person who offers a different road.

In an industry (can we call it a profession yet?) as complex as giving life and health insurance advice, Groupthink can be particularly dangerous because it can stop us from questioning ourselves, from identifying a better way, from finding the better recommendation or identifying the knowledge we need but don’t have. 

We value ‘being positive’ almost above anything else, which may be fine for getting up, finding clients and ‘making the sale,’ but being blindly positive is probably not great for identifying areas for improvement in the advice we give or weakness in the solutions and products we hold dear, possibly only for habitual or sentimental reasons. 

Excellence in advice sometimes requires exploring a contrary view; to actively look for flaws in products, our advice and in every argument; to ensure all reasonable angles and possibilities are considered; to allow all possible roads to be explored. This will help avoid being blindsided by something coming from a direction different to that which the Groupthink bus is travelling.

Groupthink and the ‘Dunning Kruger Effect’ (‘incompetent and unaware of it’) are two evils stopping us from improving our competence and skills; stopping us from doing better for our clients.  We must not be threatened by new ideas, new products, or constructive critical peer review.  We should use these to our advantage because they can make us better at our core craft: giving advice. 

As advisers, we would be well served by fostering a ‘growth mindset’ and a culture of critical analysis.  Not simply negativity, but acceptance and examination of thought different from our standard and possibly outdated narrative.  

It’s easy to dismiss the Devil’s Advocate but that would be missing a trick, they could be a valuable ally.  Every advice business would probably benefit from a ‘Friday afternoon session’ with the Devil’s Advocate!