The Effectiveness of having Coaching and Counseling sessions

Background of Study

Every organization’s ultimate goal is to achieve its strategic objectives. Making profits is one of the strategic objectives for many organizations. Employee performance is an important building block of an organization that lays the foundation for high performance (Stone, 2007). To enhance employees high performance, employers should come up with measures that can help their employees work and think individually while meeting their responsibilities in an innovative way, while at the same time understanding and foreseeing their industry’s market and business situation (Armstrong, 2014). Consequently the question of how an employee can work in both an efficient and effective manner to maximize a firm growth and productivity arises. Effective coaching & counseling sessions can be of immense assistance to help increase productivity and engagement of employees in an organization (Stone, 2007). Further (Stone, 2007) points out that the relationship existing between performance and leadership is both indirect and direct; this is why it is important for employers to develop their members of staff by use of development programs.

Introduction

The most necessary step in any effort to increase employee performance is counseling or coaching. Counseling or coaching is the day-to-day communication between a supervisor and an employee (Sisko, 2014).

Coaching

“Coaching is a one-to-one method of helping people develop their skills and competences” (Armstrong, 2010, p.366). Organizations provide coaching to their employees from internal and external expertise who concentrates on specific skills and behavior (Armstrong, 2008). Coaching can help in enhancing an employee performance (Downey, 2014) as it provides the employee with a chance to increase their skills and motivation which eventually leads to an overall positive impact on the employee job performance (Mooney, 2015). By improving the performance of the individuals, it will in turn drive the organizational performances through increased labor productivity, service quality and enhanced customer satisfaction (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Coaching always provides positive feedback about employee contributions. At the same time, usual coaching brings performance problems to an employee's concentration when they are of no consequence or big enough, and assists the employee to make them correct (Whitmore, 2002). The purpose of coaching is not to make the employee feel badly, or to show how much the HR expert or supervisor knows. The goal of coaching is to work with the employee to resolve performance dilemma and get better the work of the employee, the team, and the department (Downey, 2003).

Coaching Models

There are several models used for effective coaching. Given below are the few of them

●       GROW Coaching Model

●       OSCAR Coaching Model

●       CLEAR Coaching Model

●       FUEL Coaching Model

●       ‘Raagaa” Coaching Model

I would like to elaborate on the GROW model for Coaching here.

The GROW model (or process) is a simple method for goal setting and problem solving. It was developed in the United Kingdom and was used in corporate coaching.

Figure 1.0: Grow Model

(Source: ProVeritas Group, 2017)

Through this model Managers and Coaches can plan and structure a conversation or idea to deliver the desired end result (Downey, 2014).

The below four steps are in this model.

01.  Goal

02.  Reality

03.  Options

04.  Way Forward

01. Goal

The first stage is to agree and understand the goal that the mentee wants to cover in the session (Whitmore, 2002).

A Goal should be SMART, PURE and CLEAR

 Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time phased

Positively stated, Understood, Relevant and Ethical

Challenging, Legal, Environmentally sound, Appropriate and Recorded

02. Reality

After setting the Goal, the next phase determines the reality of the situation (Whitworth, 2007) this exploration is to raise the awareness and self-awareness of the employee (Whitmore, 2002). Awareness is defined as perceiving things as they really are and self-awareness is recognizing those internal factors that distort one’s own perception of reality (Downey, 2003).

03. Options

Thirdly GROW model involves in inventing the options that bridge the gap between the Current Reality and the Goal. Necessarily the coach must guide the coachee to identify these options in their own light (Downey, 2014).

Once your mentee is aware of the reality around the situation they need to think about actions, solutions and ideas that will help resolve or move the situation forward. Having options is important as choice enables us to feel in control and empowered. It is even more powerful if those choices are our own and the choice we make is also our own. When asked to think about options for taking an issue forward we can be faced with negativity. This negativity comes from our own limiting beliefs. As a mentor we need to get people to see beyond these beliefs.

05.Way Forward

Once the options for mowing forward have been agreed, it is necessary that the mentee has fully bought into action if they are to feel confident in achieving same (Popovic & Jinks, 2014).

The final phase of the GROW model examines the effectiveness of their choices and assures if the objective has been achieved.

The below video explains the GROW model

When employees are coached, they:

●           Build valuable skills and knowledge they can use to advance in their careers

●           Feel supported and encouraged by their manager and the company

●           Experience the pride and satisfaction that come with surmounting new challenges

Counseling

Counseling is a more individual attempt. It is harder because there are no clear answers. It requires the supervisor to really pay consideration to the work and career related concerns of the subordinate (Popovic & Jinks, 2014). A person stressed with his project or doubtful her abilities want more than exhortation or training class. They require to be heard and understand first before they will open themselves to support and new approaches (Downey, 2003). Even employees with family or financial problems need to be heard first before they can be approved along to right company resources (e.g., employee assistance programs).

It is a trusted supervisor with whom workers will talk about career decisions within and without the company. A qualified, confident supervisor knows that people will sometimes leave a group for good and personal reasons, hurting immediate productivity (Whitmore, 2002). Yet that same supervisor also knows that time invested in people pays off in the long run in inspiration, output, devotion, dependability and retention (Downey, 2014). Counseling is not about donations or being a get smaller. It's about helping people achieve their possible and mutually reveling in it. Eventually, it's about group performance (Whitworth, 2007).

Counseling can be done on different areas, like as follows:

1. Psychosocial support: Psychosocial support is the procedure of meeting a person's emotional, social, mental and religious desires. All of these are necessary fundamentals of positive human development.
2. Career development support: It is a complex managerial course which involves people, addresses their ambitions, assigns those roles & responsibilities, matching with their potential, evaluate their presentation, and create Job positions to accommodate growth ambitions of workers.
3. Job related issues support: Job related issues support is the process of providing guidance to the employees if they are facing any kind of issues on their jobs.

Differences between coaching and counseling

Although many people think that coaching and counseling are relatively same, conceptually these are two different wide areas. Coaching refers to the process of continuous development on the employees (Sheward & Brach, 2012). So the employees succeed in their area of performance. Whereas Counseling is concerned with the employees who perform low (Sisko, 2014).An effective manager who counsel can become role model, coach, broker and advocate for the employee (Whitworth, 2007).

Table 1.0: Differences between Coaching and Counseling

Coaching	Counseling
Future-focused	Past-focused
Solution-focused	Problem-focused
Works towards outcomes	Works towards emotions
Does not give advice	Gives advice and recommendations
Asks the question “How can we change?”	Asks the question “Why should we change?”
The coachee has the answers- assisted to find their  own solutions	The counselor has the answers – gives diagnosis and treatment
Backtracking – using client language and tone to recap important words or phrases	Paraphrasing – restatement of a statement or text using other words

(Source: Ericson Coaaching International, 2015)

Real example from the organization I work for.

I work for a private Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka, who strategically planned for a Change targeting for the year 2020, named Transformation 2020 with a vision of becoming Systematically Important Bank in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the Vision, the Change program had to be done for all 2550 employees of the Bank. Many coaching and training work shops were introduced in the early 2017, and later the bank adopted to a mechanism as below:

Change Coach work shops were arranges in the below manner

1. All the TLT (The leadership team) members and senior management staff were categorized as Change Leaders – 75Nos

2. The potential people from branch managers, department heads and assistant managers were identified as Change Coaches. – 225Nos

Three change coaches will be reporting to a change leader.

3.All the other staff – 2250Nos will be reporting to the change coaches.

Ten change agents will be allocated for a change coach.

The ten change agents were requested by the change coach to come to a particular location and within 3 months 3 sessions will be conducted by the change coaches to the change agents, and the problems arised from the workshops were discussed on the Change Connect Day where all the change leaders and change Agents met together at a place in July 2017. This way, all the 2550 employees were covered on the coaching and counseling session about the Transformation 2020.

Key findings and recommendations

Coaching provides an invaluable space for personal development. For example, managers are frequently presented with employees struggling with low confidence (Stone, 2007). The traditional approach would be to send them to an assertiveness course and hope this addresses the issue. In the short-term, the employee learns new strategies for communicating which may improve confidence (Armstrong, 2010). Unfortunately, in isolation these courses rarely produce a sustained increase in confidence. Although external behavior may change; it needs to be supported by changes in their internal thought processes. This is often where coaching is most effective(Armstrong, 2008).

Managers should not underestimate the impact of coaching on their people as it frequently creates a fundamental shift in their approach to their work. For example, increased self-confidence enables employees to bring more of themselves into the workplace. This results in employees being more resilient and assertive ( Stone, 2007).

Coaching focuses on helping another person learn in ways that let him or her keep growing afterward. It is based on asking rather than telling, on provoking thought rather than giving directions and on holding a person accountable for his or her goals (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Employee counseling has emerged as the latest HR tool to attract and retain the best employees and increase the quality of the workforce (Armstrong 2012). In today's fast-paced corporate world, there is virtually no organization free of stress or stress-free employees. The employees can be stressed, depressed, suffering from too much anxiety arising out of workplace related issues like managing deadlines, meeting targets, lack of time to fulfill personal and family commitments, or bereaved and disturbed due to some personal problems.

Counseling can be defined as the provision of brief psychological therapy for employees of an organization (Downey, 2003). This is paid for by the employer. An ‘external’ service, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), typically comprises face-to-face counseling, a telephone helpline, legal advice and critical-incident debriefing. In an ‘in-house’ service, counselors may be directly employed by the organization.

Counseling offers the employer a service that is valued by employees, has the potential for savings by reducing sickness absence, takes pressure off managers through the availability of a constructive means of dealing with ‘difficult’ staff or situations, and contributes to its reputation as a caring employer. Workplace counseling is often viewed by employers as an insurance policy against the threat of compensation claims made by employees exposed to work-related stress (Mooney, 2015).

The biggest bottleneck in employee counseling at the workplace is the lack of trust on the employee's part to believe in the organization or his/her superior to share and understand one’s problems. Also, the confidentiality that the counselor won't disclose his personal problems or issues to others in the organization. Time, effort and resources required on the part of the organization are a constraint. 

Conclusion

One of the most vital issues facing organization is preserving employee assurance to business goals and objectives. Most of all companies are facing a time of great managerial change led by oversees outsourcing, downsizing, global reform, and retreating career progression paths. Because of these changes, workers are less probable to rise up the position and more likely to amend jobs or area of occupation often. With performance being an elementary foundation stone to financial achievement, employers will need to put into operation constant learning programs and enable workers to obtain new skills to thrive. There are many situations in the office when counseling can be implemented.

At any time, employees may experience problems related to personal, professional or might be their career development, which may seriously affect success at the company and in achievements of its financial and strategic goals. If these difficulties go unsettled for a period of time, they are possible to crash the employee's talent to perform effectively on the job.

Coaching when used in an effective manner can positively affect an organization. It can produce improved relationships and teamwork between staff at different levels. Employees have increased job satisfaction, which improves productivity and quality, and there is an overall improved use of people, skills and resources, as well as greater flexibility and adaptability to change. Coaching when used in organizations can help align an individual employee performance with the organization or team objectives, can help improve the communication between the managers and the firm’s teams, can help employees do better than their assumed limits, can maximize the individual strengths and help employees take responsibility and ownership for their mistakes and actions.

Counseling is a strategic resource that workers can use and managers can rely on when work performance, career transition, personal behavior in the workplace and/or cultural fit becomes a question. It provides a means for supervisor to encourage their workers to seek career, personal or current job related support early to avoid small troubles from receiving out of hand and creating greater barriers to accomplishment. It's also a way to help key workers to get rid of personal and professional issues and reach higher career aspirations, so that they maintain to add important value to the business.

The management of banks should therefore ensure a well-planned and strategic coaching and counseling program is in place and the coaching is done and implemented effectively. Not only that but also the banks management should make sure that coaching/ counseling program is exposed to all employees.

Coaches are advised to suggest improvements, enlighten hen and also inform them on how they are doing. Coaches should provide results of events as close to the event as possible to enable the ideas they give to stay fresh in the employees’ minds and so as to make any needed changes in a timely manner. The banks coaches should come up with a routine which is frequent and a detailed discussion with the employees on their performance. This routine should be informal in nature and the parties should discuss their view on the employee development and performance.

Coaches at the bank should be encouraged to have an introductory session with potential coachees first. If the person does not feel right with a given coach he or she should be allowed to see a different mentor or coach. In order for people to develop and grow towards optimal personal performance, they require the right environment. The individual needs to feel understood, accepted and valued for the person they really are. If the person does not feel valued for being themselves, but instead only feeling valued for being the person that they perceive someone else wants them to be, they will start to develop out of congruence with their intrinsic, inherent path, which will result in distress and dysfunction. The coach should therefore be very careful to not spend too much of the session talking and leading the discussion. They should be consciously aware of slowing their thoughts and listening to the coachee to help reflect back to the individual their situation and possible solutions.

References

Aiden, J Sisko. (2014) The ultimate guide to counseling coaching and mentoring: The handbook of coaching skills and tools to improve results and performance of your team. United States, JNR Publishing Group.

Armstrong, M. (2008) Strategic human resource management: A guide to action. 4^th edn. London, Koganpage.

Armstrong, M. (2010) Essential human resource management practice: A Guide to people management. London, Koganpage.

Armstrong, M and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 13^th edn. London, Koganpage.

Downey, M. (2003) Effective Coaching: Lessond from the coach’s coach. New York, Texere Publishing Limited.

Downey, M. (2014) Effective modern coaching: The principles and art of successful business coaching. London, LID Publishing Limited.

Mooney, P. (2015) Fog clearance: Mapping the borders between coaching and counseling. Oxfordshire, Oak tree press.

Popovic, N and Jinks, D. (2014) Personal consultancy: A model for integrating counselling and coaching. New York, Routlegde.

Stone, Florence M. (2007) Coaching counseling and mentoring: How to choose and use the right technique to boost employee performance. United States, AMACOM.

Sheward, S and Branch, R. (2012) Motivational career counselling and coaching: cognitive and behavioral approaches. London, SAGE Publications Limited.

Whitmore, J. (2002) Coaching for performance: Growing people performance and purpose. London, Nicholas Brealey Publications.

Whitworth, L. (2007) Co- Active Coaching: New skills for coaching people toward success in work and life. California, Davies Black Publishing.