Counseling

Relevance
 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 employees

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 employees 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

leaders role in supporting the
subordinates effort. Gain the
subordinates 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 leaders 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 employees 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 members 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