Counselling

HR Articles - What is ?

Counselling is a process through which one person helps another by purposeful conversation in an understanding atmosphere .It seeks to establish a helping relationship in which the one counseled can express their thoughts and feeling in such a way to clarify their own.

The main purpose of counselling is to develop the employee. It involved the following:
1) Helping him to realize his potential as a manager.
2) Helping him to understand himself- his strengths and his weaknesses.
3) Providing him an opportunity to acquire more insight into his behaviour and analyse the dynamics of such behaviour.
4) Helping him to have better understanding of the environment.
5) Increasing his personal and inter-personal effectiveness through effective feedback.
6) Encouraging him to set goals for further improvement.
7) Encouraging him to generate alternatives for dealing with various problems and definite action plan.
8) Helping him to review in a non-threatening way his progress in achieving various objectives.
9) Providing him empathic atmosphere for his sharing and discussing his tensions, conflicts, concerns and problems.

Counselling is essentially helping. Helping involves several processes. Without manager's concern for his employee, effective helping cannot be provided in the Counselling sessions. Such concern is known when the counsellor is able to feel for his subordinate and is able to emphasize with him. These would be reflected in the kinds of questions asked and the tone in which conversation takes place. Managers may constantly ask themselves how much concern and genuine empathy they have for the employees whom they are counselling. Without such genuine concern, counselling may only degenerate into a ritual and cannot achieve its goals.

Counselling should not be regarded as merely giving help. It is also receiving help on various aspect. Unless such a relationship is established - i.e. both persons involved in the relationship feel free to ask for and provide help to each other - counselling cannot be effective. Mutuality is based on trust and genuine perception that each person has enough to contribute. Although the counselor is in superior position, he continues to learn and to receive help from the counselee.

The Process of Counselling

Counseling is helping the employee to grow and develop in the organization. Every manager is counseling his employee knowingly or unknowingly in his day-to-day work life. An effective counsellor manager is one who helps his employees to become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and helps the, grow to improve further on the strong points and overcome weaknesses. By the process of mutuality and support he helps the employee to develop, providing the proper emotional climate. Mutuality involves working together with the employee and developing future plans of action for employees growth and contribution to the organization. Support involves acceptance of the employee as a total person with his strength and weakness and encouraging him with warmth.

Counselling requires certain interpersonal skills which can be acquired easily if a manager is genuinely interested in developing his subordinates. Counselling skills are important for a manager particularly at the time of performance review.

Sequential Process of Performance Counselling

Source: HR Concepts

Compiled and Edited by

Mr. S. Murugesan - Lecturer

Dr. P. N. Narayana Raja - Principal

Madurai Institute of Social Sciences

(Run by: DVR Foundation for HRD)

Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India