CounselingRelevance

What is Counseling

• Direct face-to-face
conversation between two
people
“A direct report which is used to help the
employee to identify the reason for poor
performance to improve and not to humiliate
him or her”
• Generally more formal than feedback and
coaching and is required of a small percentage
of employees
• Subordinate-centered communication that
outlines actions necessary for subordinates to
achieve individual and organizational goals.
• Counseling is a personal, individual, and
confidential growth process during which a
professional Counselor assists in defining
concerns, clarifying goals and formulating
plans to meet those goals.
 Concept of counseling
• Relationship
– It is between 2 people where one person
attempt to assists the other to organize
himself better to attain the goal
• Behaviour
– The relation between the counselor and the
clients helps to openly discuss problem
faced by the client
 Purpose of Counseling
• Communicate concerns to the employee

• Determine the cause of the employee’s

activities
• Identify avenues for improvement and/or
development

• Improve employee performance

 Who Provides Employee
Counseling?
• Depends on the organization and organizational
culture
• Can be done using:
– Corporate resources (In-house)
– Outside resources (Out-of-house)
 In-House Efforts
Advantages: Disadvantages:

• Internal control • Confidentiality

• Familiarity with • Lack of needed
organization resources
• Better coordination
of efforts
 Advantages: Disadvantages:

• Sense of ownership • Employee reluctance

• Greater internal to use services
credibility • Limitations in staff
skill and expertise
 Contracting Externally
(Out-of-House)

Advantages: Disadvantages:

• Subject matter • Lack of on-site

experts services
• Confidentiality easier • Possible
to maintain communications
problems
• Lower cost • Lack of organizational
• Better identification knowledge
and use of resources
 Situations for Counseling in an
Organization

• When an employee violates your

standards

• When an employee is consistently late or

absent

• When an employee’s productivity is down

• When one employee behaves in such a way
that productivity of others is negatively
affected

• When two employees have a conflict that is

becoming public and it is affecting the work
• When you want to compliment an individual

• When you want to delegate a new task

 THE STAGES OF A
COUNSELING SESSION

•OPEN THE SESSION

Identify the purpose and establish a

constructive and subordinate-centered
tone.
•DISCUSS THE ISSUE

Help the subordinate develop an

understanding of the issues and viable
goals to effectively deal with them.
•DEVELOP A PLAN

Develop an action plan with subordinate.

The plan that evolves from the counseling
process must be action-focused and
facilitate both leader and subordinate
attention toward resolving the identified
developmental needs.
• CLOSE THE SESSION

Discuss the implementation, including the

leader’s role in supporting the
subordinate’s effort. Gain the
subordinate’s commitment to the plan.
Ensure plan is specific enough to drive
behaviors needed to affect the
developmental needs
 Develop a Plan of Action

•Actions should facilitate the attainment of

goals
•Plan may entail contacting a referral
agency
•Actions should be specific enough to drive
behavior
 Close the Session

• Summarize the counseling session

• Discuss implementation of the plan; check
for understanding and acceptance

• Identify leader’s responsibilities

●
What is follow-up and why is it necessary?

●
Describe the assessment of the plan of
action. Why is it an integral part of the
counseling process?
 Situations which do not call
for counseling

• When you disagree with an employee’s life

style
• When you are upset
• When you dislike the personality of an
employee
 Counseling Skills
• Listen carefully
• Demonstrate empathy
• Do not make judgments
• Understand emotions/feelings behind the story
of the person being counseled
• Question with care
• Ask open ended questions
• Reflect back, summarize and paraphrase so
that the understanding is correct and complete
• Use appropriate body language
• Do not show superiority or patronage
 Benefits of Counseling

• Helps the person being counseled to

understand himself

• Allows the individual to help himself

• Assists in understand the situations more

objectively
• Facilitates to look at the situations with a
new perspective

• Develops positive outlook

• Motivates to search for alternate solutions to

problems
• Helps in superior decision making

• Prepares the person to cope with the situation

and the related stresses
Types of counseling
 Directive Counseling
• Directive counseling is the process of listening
to a member’s problem, deciding with the
member what should be done, and then
encouraging and motivating the person to do it
•Accomplishes the function of advice; but it may
also reassure; give emotional release; and, to a
minor extent, clarify thinking.
 Nondirective Counseling
• Nondirective, or client-centered, counseling is the
process of skillfully listening to a counselee,
encouraging the person to explain bothersome
problems, and helping them to understand those
problems and determine courses of action
• This type of counseling focuses on the
member, rather than on the counselor as
a judge and advisor; hence, it is “client-
centered.”
 PERSONAL COUNSELING
• All personal problems should not be referred
to a specialist.

• Examples - drug and alcohol abuse,

psychological problems or behavioral disorders,
medical problems, limitations, personality
conflict
 Causes of Failure of
Accomplishment at Work
• The employee does not know how
- Lack of instruction or feedback.

• Something or someone is hindering work

output
- Physical or mental restrictions, time or
equipment restrictions
• Attitude
- Poor attitude, employee is “burned-
out” or unhappy, or does not
particularly enjoy the task
 Consequences of Failing to
Take Action
• Increased workload

• Department morale
affected

• The employee may never

see the problem
• Problem is reinforced as acceptable
Limitations/Constraints in Counseling

• Person being counselled may not have trust in

his counselor (normally, his superior) or the
organization

• Suspicion over the level of confidentiality

• Organization's constraints on using it's
resources, time and efforts

• Lack of skills of the counselor

Thank You
Ambika Mehrotra
Anjum Liyaquat
Megha Jaiswal
Parakram Hazarika
Rahul Kholi
Shraddha Mahani