7/28/2019 Counsling at Workplace

1/1

September 2006 student accountant 47

technical

whats your problem?One of the many people management skills

that managers are called on to use is that of

counselling providing advice, guidance, and

support to employees at all levels.

Situations often arise in the workplace

where specific, people-centred skills are

required. It is therefore important that

managers understand what counselling

involves, and appreciate the often delicateskills required. The wider importance of

counselling for the organisation is that many

of the problems it identifies can often be

resolved by appropriate motivation methods.

Widening and deepening interest in the

organisation, and in its many tasks and

departments, is a tried and tested method for

motivating employees.

So what exactly is counselling? It can

be defined as a particular situation when an

individual takes on the role of a counsellor

and agrees to offer attention, advice,

guidance, and support to another person on

a temporary basis. Problems can be resolved

through the neutral and non-judgementalapproach that counselling offers. In any

meeting, the counsellor should be in a

position to help the individual employee (or

employees) to identify problems and issues,

and possible solutions.

The counsellor must adopt a passive

role, with interest shown, and effort made

to encourage reflection and discussion

around issues while allowing the employee

to lead and talk. Open questions must be

used to help the employee explore ideas

and feelings. This is because there is always

counselling and the workplacerelevant to ACCA Qualification Paper F1and CAT Paper 5

the risk of leading the employee, and of the

counsellor taking over the meeting or session.

The counsellor must be an active listener,

speaking only to clarify issues and elicit

answers when appropriate. Above all, the

counsellor must be impartial.

Adopting the role of counsellor is not

easy, and there are particular counselling

skills that must be developed. For example,the counsellor must be able to establish a

rapport with the employee, and to clarify

and summarise issues as appropriate. The

counsellor must ask non-specific questions,

use a non-directive approach, listen, and

be able to recognise what the employee

is actually saying. When required, the

counsellor must allow the employee to be

silent if they wish to be, to allow the meeting

to progress at the employees speed, and

anticipate but not lead the employees

views on the causes and solutions to the

problems.

What advantages does counselling

provide for the wider organisation? It providesa means of understanding and addressing

individual problems, which are very often

not directly related to the workplace. It

also provides a confidential service for the

employee to discuss problems without

directly involving management. Over the

longer term, an organisation might develop

counselling as part of its human resources

policy, demonstrating a commitment to its

employees beyond that normally expected.

John Ball is former examiner for Paper 1.3