Mr.Samvedan has provided the right information on counselling I thought this will also be of help.
Counsel your employees- Very Important:
Read these cases and you will understand the importance.
Ritvik Sethi’s heart is bursting with anxiety. He has an appointment with his boss, Madan Jain. For the third time in a row Ritivik has goofed up with the address on the shipping order. Ritvik is the shipment clerk in an upcoming e-retailing company, which is known for its prompt and safe delivery.
As Ritvik enters Madan Jain’s cabin, he is hoping and praying that his discharge from services would be as graceful as possible. For he was warned about his carelessness twice before! Contrary to his expectations, Madan offers Ritvik a cup of coffee along with a comfortable chair. After small talk Madan gets down to business with, “Ritvik, I am concerned that you don’t understand the importance of checking the correct address prior to shipping orders. Let’s discuss the steps you intend to take to correct this problem and your plan to implement them.”
During the ensuing one hour-long conversation Madan becomes the counsellor and Ritvik the counselee. Madan comes up with suggestions for a work plan to avoid mix-ups of shipping orders. Ritvik is more than happy to try out the plan. Anything, as long as he does not lose his job!
Take for instance, the case of Indo Gulf Corporation's fertiliser plant at Jagdishpur. They had a perennial problem of machinery maintenance. Every 15 days the plant had to be closed down in a phased manner to allow maintenance work on the machines. The management team at the plant documented the mean time between failures of the machine. The time put in by workers on repair and maintenance work was also recorded. Armed with this evidence, the management then invited the workers for a quiet chat, where the hard data was presented to them. It led to a sea change in the worker’s attitude. Nothing works like sound counselling! As stated by the Managing Director B N Puranmulka, “We offered sound counsel. If workers took a little time off for maintenance, the failure rate of machines would go down. And their work would be more organised." As a result the management-worker brains trust came up with a simple solution- print the worker's name on the machine he worked on. That way, if a machine was dirty, everybody knew who was not being hygienic.
What is counselling?
In plain and simple terms counselling enables you to see a glass half full when it is half empty. People’s performances are influenced by personal and work related problems. In such circumstances they feel the need for some outside support to help them tide over the difficult situations. Thus it is part of the normal role of the manager to counsel his staff whenever the need arises.
Technically, counselling can be defined as help provided by managers to the subordinates in analysing their performance and on the job behaviour. It enables individuals to take responsibilities by helping them to overcome their worries and resolves difficulties.
Is counselling required at workplace?
It is essential to help subordinates understand the organisational culture better. It enables employees to realise their potential and increase interpersonal effectiveness. Counselling provides an emphatic atmosphere wherein employees share and discuss their frustrations and problems. It enhances the capacity to deal with problems by generating appropriate alternatives.
Hurdles for counselling
The biggest foe to counselling is a rigid organisational structure that allows no or little interaction amongst employees. Time is another constraint, as counselling requires undivided and uninterrupted attention. Improper and ineffective communication also hinders counselling. Lack of trust on the employees’ part is a major inhibiting factor. If the counsellor is not genuine in his approach, counselling fails miserably as the employee may feel manipulated.
Essentials of counselling
Identify the problem: Give the employee a chance to describe the problem before analysing it. Analysis includes the causes of the problem, efforts made by the employee to overcome it and various remedial measures available.
Establish rapport with the employee: Trust, warmth, acceptance, mutuality and openness are the key ingredients to build rapport. This enables the employee to communicate problems without any inhibition or apprehension.
Listen attentively: Essential for effective counselling.
Explore with queries: Questions are asked to clarify issues, focus properly on the problem, establish mutuality, stimulate thinking and demonstrate interest. They are not asked make the employee withdraw. Thus refrain from aggressive questioning.
Ample time: Effective counselling needs sufficient time. This does not mean that the counselling can go on for hours together. Patient listening is a must and that needs time.
Create a feeling of challenge: Make challenging statements that would make the conversation interesting. Also it creates the spirit to fight.
Set limits: When faced with situations beyond your help, bring in someone better equipped to help.
Concrete advice: Counselling is not just limited to listening, it calls for proactive problem solving.
Help the employee make decisions: Let him arrive at a decision after helping him navigate through various stages of problem identification, solutions and alternatives. The onus of the decision should rest on him completely.
Cheers
Archna