THE ROLE OF COUNSELING IN WORK PLACE

Mike has made a good reputation in his organization for his efficiency in carrying out his duties effectively, he has won so many staff awards and enjoyed promotions because of his outstanding performance but things suddenly changed, Mike comes late to work, he can meet up with deadline as usual and prefers to keep to himself? What has gone wrong with Mike? This is where counseling plays a meaningful role in an organization.

At times everyone feels stressed out, depressed, angry, anxious or confused, sometimes these problems gradually go away on their own or they get better with the support of colleagues, friends and family. However there are other times when these problems can cause major disruption in our lives and affect our performance at work and interaction with others. It is necessary to seek for counseling to help identify the problems, as the saying ‘ a problem shared is half solved’’

Counseling is a process where a counselor assists a counselee to take informed decision of problems related to personal, social, academic and career concerns. It is very important to seek for counseling when you discover that situation is weighing you down.

Some workplaces do not have provision for a professional counselor but line managers, supervisors or colleagues can be in a better position to assist in taking necessary course of action.

There are three areas where counseling may be required at workplace, it maybe needed because of issues arising within the individual, caused by the organization or emanating from sources external to both the individual and organization.

Problems arising within the individual may be psychological or due to controllable events like illness. Examples of psychological problems include frustration, lack of job satisfaction, arrogance and failure to succeed.

Problems caused by the work organization acting on the individual include technical incompetence, underutilization, relationship with colleagues and superiors and uncertain future where there may be changes or threat of redundancy.

Problems from outside both the individual and work place may not be really have an impact on the work of the staff, this could be inform of problems around money, marital or sexual relationship, family (behavior of children, illness and bereavement.)