COUNSELING IN BUSINESS

by: Lincoln Bittner

A defining skill of a manager is his or her ability to effectively counsel subordinates and peers alike. Counseling is mistakenly viewed as a negative action when discussed in its general context. This is unfortunate, because truly effective counseling is the means by which you can improve your organization.

In a business setting, the person responsible for counseling the staff is the manager. To be an effective counselor you need to understand what a counselor is and is not. A counselor is a person who gives advice or recommends a course of action. A counselor is not someone who ‘lays down the law’ with a heavy hand. 

Help Your Staff See the Big Picture

As a manager, it is your responsibility to keep the big picture in view and guide your staff toward reaching these goals. If you are a new manager, the people you are supervising may have been in place when you were given the role of manager. To properly counsel these employees, you need to understand what task they are assigned to perform and how they must get it done. You also need to understand the environmental factors of their particular position that can have an affect on their quality of work. 

During my career in operations management, I was a consultant to the largest in-home service franchise in the country. Prior to giving me any direct responsibility for resolving problems with the staff I would be instructing, my customer allowed me to work in the field side by side with these people for a number of weeks. Once I fully understood the challenges faced by these technicians, I was able to train them in the proper ways to work with their customers.

One of my responsibilities was to notify the technicians when they make a mistake on an invoice. Had I been a manager, I could have done as some managers would do, and bring the employee into my office to tell him to ‘get his act together’. This would have had a decidedly negative affect on this person, and the results would be a disgruntled employee whose quality of work would suffer. I chose instead to use the approach of a counselor. Understanding that these people work long hours performing physically tiring work allows me to realize how mistakes can happen. My job as a consultant was to look for ways to ensure that the mistake does not continue to happen after I speak to the employee. 

The Fact-Finding Session

When I meet with any employee during a fact-finding session I follow a set pattern that allows them to realize my respect for them and that they are part of the problem solving process. (The invoices came to me with questions or corrections on them from the accounting department.) I meet with the employee and show them the invoices with the comments written on it and ask them to tell me whether the questions or corrections are valid. This allows them to move past the written comments and evaluate the invoice as a whole. I realize they have a unique knowledge of this sale that nobody else could have because they were there when the services were sold. 

The employee either agrees with the notation from accounting, or gives me the key to understanding the concern that I need. If they agree with the notation, I ask them how they think this might have happened. This opens up the door to discussion where I can instruct them if they have forgotten a key piece to the procedure. I can also offer solutions that they can use when feeling fatigued or when working with a customer who is making the process very stressful. 

Correcting an Employee's Mistakes is Your Job

No matter what you call it, correcting an employee’s mistakes is what a manager does, and counseling is the most effective process. The example above shows the steps to being an effective counselor.

• Understand the requirements of the position. You cannot determine how the error occurred if you do not know the process for completing the task.

• Understand the environmental factors. Noise, fatigue, weather, lighting, and other factors can contribute to the mistake being made.

• Have some solutions available in case the employee is unable to independently realize them.

• Approach the employee with the intent of gaining their insight into the problem. Nobody has a better understanding of what occurred than the person who was there. This is the area most often missed by managers.

• Pose your questions in such a way that the employee does not feel threatened by them.

• An employee you feel can be counseled is one that you want to keep. To ensure the tone of the question is correct, write it down in advance and review it carefully.

• Listen to the responses and comments made by the employee. Too often I have seen managers who have already made up their mind as to how the problem occurred and how it will be fixed. This is not counseling, but commanding, and will lead to an adversarial condition. The use of good listening skills will also help you catch on to non-related issues that you can address later that will help you improve your organization.

• Have the grace to allow the employee to come up with the solution to the problem. You want them to take ownership of the problem and the solution. This is where real growth happens. By doing this, you demonstrate your respect for the employee. This demonstration will not be lost on the employees that are worth having in your organization.

By following these simple steps you will be able to help those people you supervise to become the best in your business.