COUNSELLING SKILLS

FOR MANAGERS
Forces of change in human society

• Development in Science and Technology

• Better communication avenues

• Economic interdependency

• Search for a meaning in life

 Conception of Basic Human Nature
• Is human nature inherently evil, good, or neutral?
• Are human basically active or passive?
• Are human rational or irrational?

“The psychologist believes in the dignity and worth

of the individual human being. He/she is
committed to increasing man’s understanding of
self and others.”
• Human beings are the only living creature who find their
own existence a problem and from which they cannot
escape.
• They are basically evaluative which is crucial for their
well-being
• Problem concerning self direction: ‘Who Am I?’,
‘Where am I going?’ and ‘Why?’
• "Education makes us study almost everything else
except studying ourselves”
Individual’s attitude towards self includes:
– Self-acceptance
– Self-confidence
– Self-reliance
– Initiative
 Who Am I?
A+
B-
A+: Positive but False Self

B-: Negative but Inaccurate Self

C+

C+: Source of Dignity & Humility

 Understanding Self
A mentally healthy person has:
• A positive self-concept and moves towards self-
actualization
• He is integrated, i.e., there is balance of psychic forces in
him
• He has a unifying look of the life
• He has the capacity to resist stress
• He exhibits a sense of autonomy in relation to
environment and decision making
• He exhibits healthy and objective perception of reality;
free from distortion and displays social sensitivity.
 Some statistics around psychological illness in the work
place
• One in five of the working population (approximately
20 percent of the total working population) suffers some
form of mental illness each year.
• Some 90 million working days are lost each year as a
result of mental illness.
• Over half of the employees feel that emotional/personal
problems and stress are the ‘true’ reasons for their being
absent from work.
• Between 30 to 40 percent of all sickness at work is reported
due to mental illness or emotional stress.
• Alcohol and Drug abuse by employees to bust stress also
poses a problem for the organization as it adversely affect
its progress.
 THE NEED FOR WORK PLACE COUNSELLING
• The welfare of employees is one of the major
responsibilities of the employers. More and more
employers realize that illness and productivity do not go
well together.
• The fact that harassed employees can take legal
actions is another reason why organizations should
introduce counselling.
• Employers are turning to counselling as one way of
helping the employees to cope with the changes taking
place in organizations.
• Counselling can be seen as a way of improving mental
health of the troubled persons. Employees do not
leave their problems aside as they enter into work-place.
• The financial expenses borne by the organizations to
deal with the psychological and social problems are
quite high and it can prove costly to an organization in
situations like poor relationship between two members
of the team, a manager going through an impending
divorce, an employee beginning to be abused by drug.

• More and more companies are realizing that their

employees are one of their best assets.

• The direct link between the responsibility of taking

care of their staff and the drive for achieving success
and/or profit is a major factor in convincing employers
to employ counselling services as one of the means to
manage workforce constructively.
• Counselling services can also be viewed as a preventive
service.
• Organizations are realizing that a ‘wholeness’ approach
needs to be adopted towards employees which implies that
their physical, mental, emotional and social well-being go
together and that they need to be worked with in totality.
Emphasizing one element is not enough.
• And finally, counselling can itself be a source of
organizational change. Rather than just being an
appendage to a company, counselling can bring the values,
the energy for change, the vitality of acceptance, a
realization of who we are and what we can be to the very
dynamics of work-place life.
• Counselling can influence organizational culture to work
towards the ideal strong and adaptive culture that serves
the company.
 DEFINITION

Counselling is defined as a process in

which one of the participants intends
that there should come about, in one or
both parties, more appreciation of,
more expression of, more functional
use of latent inner resources of the
individual.
 Counseling as a Helping Relationship
• Is meaningful as it is personal and intimate
• Is affective in nature
• Involves the integrity of the helper and the helped
• Is carried out with mutual consent
• Takes place as the person in need is aware of his
limitations and inadequacies
• Involves confidence reposed in the helper
• Involves give and take: not one way process
• Is marked by the desire to change
• Involves a certain amount of structure
 Reason for Disengagement with Counseling
We can use Counseling skills but cannot engage in
Counseling process for two reasons:
• Role conflict
• Lack of training: inability to listen. Understand,
communicate; these help and motivate better but should
not attempt to deal with deep seated long term
emotional problems.
Some people feel that they do not have the skills, others
simply do not understand, and some others do not know
how it works
People in business are not exposed to it.
 Counselor's Needs in Counseling
Before taking the responsibility, critically
examine your motivation for being a counselor
• What do I expect from this relationship?
• What will be my satisfaction and reward in
this relationship?

The reason for helping are seldom pure and

altruistic.
These motivation affect the effectiveness of
relationship.
• Be aware of your motives – credibility
and effectiveness will be enhanced. Self
deception hinders effectiveness.

• Self clarification is essential for

personal growth. Have courage for in-
depth analysis.
 Findings of why counselors help others?
• To avoid dealing with their own problems:
This limits the effectiveness and client is not able to
develop trust and confidence in the counselor.
• Wants to control and obtain status:
Will have only one type of client as others would want
to avoid the controlling behaviour.
• Believe that they have solutions to life’s problems:
Try to convert the client in their way but end up
alienating many.
• Out of the sincere wish to help others:
No hidden motivation but are viewed with skepticism
by suspicious and cynical clients.