Counselling Skills For Leaders

Introduction

Why is counselling an important skill now?

The speed and complexity of modern life continues to increase as do people’s expectations from it. Coping well requires autonomous and flexible thinking and clear decisions. Unfortunately, most of us have been conditioned to conform and not think for ourselves.

Counselling skills help people to change as they learn to think things through for themselves and make their own decisions, free of the effects of past conditioning.

What is counselling for?

When we seek, or accept, help with an issue we have been unable to resolve on our own, there is often an emotional component in the situation. We often feel bad about needing help. The problem may itself cause confusing feelings “I like my boss but she/he drives me mad doing X, dare I level with her/him?” In the latter case feelings of liking, irritation and anxiety are present together.

It is extremely difficult to think clearly when we are feeling strong feelings whether good or bad. The primary function of counselling is to help people think clearly when feelings are present. Feelings can arise from an experience in the present. For example, Hearing “Your job is redundant” would obviously generate negative feelings in most people. Someone who got into trouble with head teachers at school might equally find meeting a senior administrator intimidating. This would remind that person of the earlier painful experience. He or she would then find it hard to think.

What are counselling skills?

The counsellor’s job is to help the other person, the client, help him/her self. If the client is to be open about her/his thoughts and feelings, he/she needs to feel safe, respected and understood.

Objective

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Define performance at work in the context of an organization
• Realize the role of managers as leaders and developers of people in their team
• Find out their personality styles and use this knowledge to enhance personal efficiency and effectiveness
• Explain why counselling skills are important for leaders, what is counselling for and what are the skills needed to do counselling
• Practice counselling skills in a variety of situations where leaders can help their team members overcome personal issues or problems through practical role plays and practice drills

Who Should Attend

This programme has been specially put together for the team leaders in the management and senior executive group who would like to learn counselling skills and processes and how to apply these in their daily roles in the organization.

Methodology

This stimulating programme will maximize understanding and learning through an “experiential learning” and “learner-centered” approach which is used throughout the programme, including interactive lectures, role plays, group discussions, team activities and case studies.

Module