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 (Amstrong,2008). 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)
Video 1.0 Differences between
coaching and counseling
(CoCoaching, 2014)
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.
References
Armstrong,
M. (2008) Strategic human resource management: A guide to
action. 4th edn. London, Koganpage.
Sheward,
S and Branch, R. (2012) Motivational career counselling and
coaching: cognitive and behavioral approaches. London, SAGE
Publications Limited.
Whitworth,
L. (2007) Co- Active Coaching: New skills for coaching people
toward success in work and life. California, Davies Black Publishing.
Counseling focuses on moving people from a state of dysfunction to one of being functional. But there are many people who are very functional, but may be not highly functional or achieving their full potential. Coaching aids them (Paterson,2008).
ReplyDeleteHi Sureshkumar,
DeleteYes.Agree with your comment. Anyhow as per Amstrong (2004), understanding the differences between coaching and counseling is crucial to successful manager-employee relationships. Working on your coaching and counseling skills will help you be a better manager and develop a more productive and engaged staff.
Hi Chandrika, There are similarities, in that both counseling and coaching deal with helping people manage and improve their lives. They both, apparently, work with career, leadership and personal issues (Maples, 2008). According to Cole (2000), coaching is “an action-oriented partnership that concentrates on where you are today and how you can reach your goals”
ReplyDelete"Hi Lakshmi,
DeleteAlthough coaching and counselling seems to be similar, these are two different wide areas.
Coaching is used to increase performance, when the employee is already performing the job well and needs encouragement to reach greater heights. The employee has excellent skills in some areas but needs support to achieve goals in other areas of the job. An example is an employee who has excelled at managing a staff but needs to work on being more politically savvy ( Whitworth, 2007). Counseling is used to improve performance, when the manager has identified a problem with the employee's current performance that, if uncorrected, may derail his or her ability to succeed or even to stay with the organization. An example is an employee who isn't meeting sales targets (Whitworth, 2007)."
As per Grover & Furnham (2015) “Coaching as an intervention, potentially due to its diverse and widespread application as well as the heterogeneity of its practitioners, has evolved as an amalgamation of a number of helping, development and training techniques”.
ReplyDelete"Hi Taniya,
DeleteCoaching also could be told as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential ( Amstrong, 2004)."
Coaching and counselling sessions helps to have a best-practice models which are based on the idea of the superiority of the organizational performance. Further, Pfeffer’s model is a good example of the set. This model shows seven important HR practices which are employment security, selective hiring, self-managed teams, high compensation contingent on performance, training, reduction of status differentials and sharing information. (Armstrong 2006, p. 65)
ReplyDelete"Hi Dishan,
DeleteTo be a good coach or counselor, managers have to be good listeners and be genuinely interested in retaining the best talent. Good managers set clear expectations and provide frequent feedback on where employees need to improve and encourage employees to learn and grow (Downey, 2014)."