COUNSELING AT

WORK
By SK Giridhar
Organisational Expert
Motivational Speaker
 As an HR Pro, one should always do
counseling for those who violate the
standards and act willfully etc.
 So, let us go through the details of
counseling at work in the coming
slides.
 Situations that Call for
Counseling in an
Organization
Given below is a partial indicative list of situations that call
for counseling from a superior to his subordinate -
 When an employee violates your standards.
 When an employee is consistently late or absent.
 When an employee’s 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.
Given below is a partial indicative list of
situations which do not call for
counseling –

 When you disagree with an employee’s life

style
 When you are upset.
 When you dislike the personality of an
employee.
 Preparation for the
Counseling Interview
 Choose an appropriate, quiet and
private location.
 Make sure that you are not disturbed
during the counseling session.
 Take care that you have allowed
sufficient time to the the person you
are counseling and that he is not being
rushed into it.
 Objectives of the
Interview
Counselor should help the person being counseled
Counselor should help the person being counseled
to:

 Tell his story.

 Look out for new perspectives.
 Clarify the issues.
 Identify areas for change.
 Set goals.
 Develop action plan.
 Review progress.
 Counselor should provide full support during the
interview and also after the interview to carry
out the action plan and to review the progress.
 Counseling Skills
 Listen carefully.
 Demonstrate empathy.
 Do not make judgments.
 Understand emotions/feelings behind the story of
the person being counselled.
 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.
 Techniques of Counseling
(Based on Rogers, Carkheff
and Patterson's model)
 Structure
 Listen (active and empathic)
 Be silent (when required)
 Respond
 Reflect
 Question
 Interpret
 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.
 Benefits of Counseling
 Helps the person being counselled 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.
 skgiridhar@gmail.com

 0 9720 3938 34