The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "People Problems".

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
COUNSELLING SKILLS
People Problems

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020
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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Workplace counselling centres on the one-to-one
relationship between the manager and the employee. As
such, it is impossible to predict how each instance of
counselling will develop. In some cases, employee and
manager will find common ground at once; in other cases,
there may be reticence and sullen defensiveness on the part
of the employee. Nevertheless, there are a number of
structures, styles and issues that are common to all kinds of
counselling. These allow us to devise some models upon
which we can base our own approaches to counselling.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
PEOPLE PROBLEMS
The list of possible problems people might face in their
home and work lives is potentially endless.
However, there are a number of recurrent themes. They fall
into 5 categories:
1. Performance Problems: sub-standard work; poor
motivation; lack of skills; anti-organisation attitudes.
2. Work Relationship Problems: personality clashes; boss-
subordinate problems; harassment; bullying.
3. Life Issues: sickness and injury; bereavement; divorce;
money; fitting in home and work; racism; legal
problems; drugs and alcoholism.
4. Out-of-work Issues: sexual problems; marital problems;
family problems; problems with children and teenagers.
5. Personal Issues: stress; one-off outbursts; behavioural
problems; appearance; body odour; manners and
habits.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
IN PLACE OF DISCIPLINE
The problem of sub-standard work performance is one
which falls fairly and squarely on the shoulders of managers.
It is an issue they cannot avoid. The traditional response
when matters become serious is to use discipline. This
approach carries with it a number of problems.
1. Discipline assumes that people will perform better if
threatened.
2. Discipline encourages a culture of accusation and
counter-accusation.
3. Discipline usually results in imposed solutions on
resentful employees.
4. Discipline destroys relationships.
Counselling not only avoids the pitfalls of discipline, it also
leads to effective personal change.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
PERFORMANCE COUNSELLING
Counselling to improve work performance stands a good
chance of success when problems are relatively minor and
caught in the early stages.
A model of performance counselling could include these
points:
1. Explore what's gone wrong, what actually happened,
what the difference between the desired standards and the
employee's standard is.
2. Challenge the employee to say how they are going to get
back on to the standard required.
3. Consider solutions based on the employee's acceptance
of their responsibility to make changes and improve.
A performance counselling works when it is carried out as a
problem-solving exercise without the overtones of
judgment and reprimand associated with discipline.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
SICKNESS ABSENCE
In an age of high stress, many businesses have a much
higher level of workplace absenteeism than their
competitors. In some sectors, the % absence from work runs
into double figures (10%-15%) against single figures for
other sectors.
Dealing with absenteeism is a matter that falls squarely in
the lap of managers, and yet we often do little about it in
the belief that we can do nothing if someone is sick, injured
or temporarily disabled.
The key to managing absence is to make contact with every
person who is or has been absent and the key to that lies in
different forms of counselling.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
SICKNESS COUNSELLING
Attendance counselling comes in three main formats:
1. The Corridor Chat. This is the simplest and shortest
form of counselling, though counselling nonetheless. It
means making sure that, as the manager, you check
with every person who has been off as soon as they
return - even if it means stopping them "in the corridor"
to welcome them back and assess how things are.
2. A Standard Counselling Session for those who have
been off work for a lengthy period or who have had a
number of short periods off work
3. A Home Counselling Session for those with long-term
sicknesses and difficulties about returning to work. In
such cases, a counselling session followed by referral to
specialist medical help is likely to be unavoidable.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
CAREER COUNSELLING
Career counselling can be carried out regularly as part of a
development and appraisal system.
A career counselling session enables the employee to...
1. explore their past performance and future expectations;
re-assess their personal strengths and weaknesses; and
re-consider the fit between their goals and their present
job
2. challenge themselves on how to make the job more
interesting and valuable
3. consider solutions to "stuckness" by means of projects,
secondments, job change, change of duties, skills,
development.
Turning appraisal into career counselling means shifting the
focus from appraisal as control to appraisal as development.
Helping people discover their strengths and potential can be
an invaluable outcome of such counselling.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
BEREAVEMENT
Bereavement happens to all of us at some time in our lives.
It may be a natural death or an unexpected and traumatic
one.
Most organisations have arrangements for leave at such
times. In a few cases additional support in the form of
counselling may be needed to help people come to terms
with a loss, discuss time off from work, or deal with
performance problems that arise from how people react.
Most people appreciate a few words from their team leader
at such times. The counselling approach is a useful
framework for dealing with such contact since it shows
support and builds self-reliance, is compassionate and also
practical. In cases of extended grief or depression, it may be
necessary to refer the person to a GP or self-help group.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
BEREAVEMENT COUNSELLING
These guidelines are useful when counselling employees
trying to come to terms with the death of a loved one.
1. provide support in practical areas such as pension and
insurance matters, house sales, what to do with
possessions
2. encourage people to express their feelings in their own
time, possibly through recounting what happened
3. help people face the finality of the loss through
recognising separation
4. use discussion to focus on positive but realistic
memories of the dead person
5. get the person to accept their new self-image as widow,
widower, childless, no longer pregnant and so on.
It needs to be remembered that, if you counsel one of your
team following a bereavement, it is still as a workplace
responsibility and is within the organisational context.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Managers are often aware of deep-seated personal
antipathies between colleagues, bosses and their staff or
between employees and others in their private lives. Such
problems can easily spill over into the workplace and affect
performance negatively.
Many managers believe that they should steer clear of
personal problems, such as these, due to the fear of...
1. being accused of prying
2. unleashing problems they cannot handle
3. being recruited to one side against another
4. becoming unpopular
5. not having the skills to handle it.
But personal relationship problems have a cost to the
organisation, the individual and the manager if they are left
to fester. Counselling offers the best way forward.

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
A COUNSELLING SCRIPT
Contracting framework: Thanks for coming to
see me, Jan. You know we need to talk about
yesterday's incident between you and Mark.
This is off the record. I just want to see what's
happened and what we can do.
Exploration: Would you like to kick off?...So, in a
nutshell, you and Mark have split up but you still
have to work together? How do you feel about
that?...
Challenge: You do see that this situation can't
be allowed to just drift, don't you? On the one
hand you have an important job to do; on the
other, you have a difficult personal relationship
getting in the way.
Action: OK, let's agree that we aren't going to
solve this overnight. You need time to make
some decisions. I understand that. You know we
are very pleased with your work. But you do see
how this might look...
Ending: Thanks for being so open and honest.
Let's pencil in a date next week just to review
where we've both got to...

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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People Problems
Counselling Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn