Work often suffers when an employee is practically troubled. Even problems that are not work-related but personal (family issues, debt, illness, and so on) may eventually affect work productivity. Managers dealing with such issues may be able to assist that affected individual or individuals to discover a solution, especially if it is a work-related issue) such as a (personality clash or poor communication skills). However, many companies as part of their employee medical benefits program, allow outside counseling for individuals and circumstances where added professional skills are necessary.
Handled successfully, counseling is a process that helps individuals clarify their motivations, worries and hopes. It also help them come to terms with their feelings, and enables them to take responsibility for, and begin to resolve their difficulties. Counseling is not a process for advise-giving, nor does it involve the counselor providing or managing solutions to the problems experienced by the “client.”
Advantages
Counseling your colleagues:
- May help solve issues that hamper individual and business productivity;
- Help reduce employee time lost due to low morale, depression, and illness;
- Assists in building teams among people having divergent personality styles.
Disadvantages
- It may create the need for more management training.
Counseling process
1. Make sure your company supports peer counseling: Check your company’s personnel policies to make sure that they support peer counseling. Some firms have formal procedures for initiating counseling; it is important to respect these procedures when that is the case.
2. Find a suitable room: It is essential to choose somewhere that is quiet, free from interruption, and appropriate to the nature of the problem. Make sure you will not be disturbed by putting a “Do not disturb” sign on the door, and defer phone calls to avoid interruptions.
- Try to avoid a formal office setting with a desk between you and your colleague.
- If you need to keep an unobtrusive eye on the time, position a clock where you can easily see it.
3. Allow sufficient time for the meeting: If you know you have to end the meeting at a particular time, inform your colleague at the outset. To make sure there is enough time for the session it is sensible to block out the time for such a meeting in advance. Even if there are no time constraints, it is often useful to set a limit of about an hour, to prevent the discussion merely going over the same ground again and again.
4. Address your feelings toward your colleague: Before the meeting, it is essential to assess your personal feelings towards your colleague and put them to one side. Whether or not you like the person is irrelevant.
5. Open the meeting by explaining the framework: It is important to lay down some ground rules at the beginning of the counseling session. These may include:
- The expectations of the discussion – for example, you may not be able to provide advice or guidance to solve all your colleague’s problems;
- Time limitations – state again what these are, and whether you will offer a follow-up session if needed;
- Note taking – stress that any note you take are for your own use and will not be revealed to a third party;
- Confidentiality – assure your colleague that confidential matters will be treated as such; otherwise the person may hesitate to be candid with you. Explain that the only exception will be if you both agree that something needs to be discussed with another party.
6. Begin to explore the issues: The format for a counseling session is not set in stone; each is dependent on the needs of the individual. However, you will find the following skills essential in exploring your colleague’s issues.
- Actively listen – what does the person feel? What point of view is being expressed? What seems to be happening to him or her to cause the issue to arise? What does this person do (or not do) in response to that situation? It is essential to understand that, in emotional terms, your colleague’s view of the facts or the situation is more important than the facts themselves and that people’s behavior may not reflect their true feelings.
By rephrasing the concerns your colleague expresses, you demonstrate that you have listened carefully, at the same time you are seeking clarification of the issues involved. Throughout the conversation, occasionally summarizing what has been said will help both of you stay focused.
- Empathize – empathy is not the same as sympathy. Empathy means you recognize and understand the issues confronting your colleague without necessarily becoming an advocate or agreeing totally with the version you are hearing. Your empathy can help encourage your colleague to be more honest and precise in describing the issues
- Question – There are many reasons for questions, and many types of questions. In a counseling situation, questions enable you to clarify your understanding of the issues, help focus on areas you think may be important, and demonstrate your interest in the other person.
Open, closed and probing questions are all of value in a counseling session. Open questions can help your colleague begin to talk about an issue and the feelings it provokes. Closed questions help you to establish precise facts, but tend to lead to very short answers. Open questions enable you to deepen your understanding of an issue and can help to draw out the whole picture.
- Challenge – By occasionally challenging a statement, you force your colleague to reconsider, and possibly rephrase the statement. It is useful to challenge it if it appears that the discussion is going around in circles, if your colleague has an unrealistic self-image (either too positive or, more usually, too negative) or, if there appears to be contradictions in what you are hearing.
Challenging statements may be based on phrases such as “You say that you are struggling with your current project, yet I see you as meeting all the objectives and deadlines. Why do you think there is a difference in our views?
7. Recognize situations that are beyond your help: In certain circumstances, it may be necessary to refer your colleague to trained counselors or organizations that may be better equipped to help. Be aware of outside resources – names of specific counselors, for example, or a list from the phone directory that you can share with your colleague. Your personnel department or human resources manager that may have some information, but be sure not to break a confidence if you ask for a referral.
- Employee Assistant Programs (EAP) have been initiated by many organizations to provide external sources of help, guidance, and advice for their staff.
8. Help your colleague with problem solving skills: Counseling does not mean that the counselor provides solutions to the issues raised by the other person. The counselor, can, however, help by bringing problem solving techniques to bear. The discussion should have served to identify the problem area and some possible causes. You can now encourage the individual to set specific objectives to tackle the problem and assign a timetable and means of monitoring progress,
9. Close the session constructively: Summarize what has been discussed and what actions have been agreed upon. If appropriate, arrange a follow-up session.
…………………………………………………………………………
