Counselling is presented as a preferable alternative to discipline for addressing workplace performance problems. It takes a less formal, more collaborative approach focused on understanding why issues occurred and helping employees resolve problems through open discussion and agreed-upon actions. The key features of counselling include keeping discussions confidential, making employees address unacceptable behavior, using counseling skills to explore solutions, and reconciling people rather than dividing them. The overall aim is to build trust and find win-win outcomes through counseling.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Counselling and Discipline
COUNSELLING AND
DISCIPLINE
How to find a solution to people problems
MTL: The Professional Development Programme

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Counselling and Discipline
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Learn.
Counselling
and Discipline
Introduction: The counselling approach to discipline is a way of dealing with
performance problems which avoids the potentially hostile approach of disciplinary
action. The aim of counselling is to look at why a problem has arisen, force the
employee to face up to the problem, and help them take action to resolve the
problem. In this topic, we'll look at 7 key features of the counselling approach.

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Counselling and Discipline
Counselling, like coaching, is a way to help others perform
1. WHAT IS
COUNSELLING?
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Counselling is the number one approach in the
workplace for resolving people problems. These
can be personal problems, such as home
problems affecting work; help with career
choices; how to get people back to work after
sickness; and crises arousing out of life changes
such as divorce and bereavement. The principles,
skills, and approaches used in helping people
with these issues can also be applied to dealing
with low-level disciplinary problems.

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Counselling and Discipline
2.
COUNSELLING
AND
DISCIPLINE
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Counselling is less formal than discipline
Counselling is a relatively recent approach to
dealing with workplace disciplinary problems. It is
most effective when problems are caught early
and people are able to make changes fairly
painlessly. One of the key differences between
counselling and discipline is the difference in
tone. While discipline is formal, counselling
allows for a more informal tone in which
discussions can be off the record and kept
confidential. Some organisations will use
counselling to resolve every first-time case of
discipline.

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Counselling can give people options of how to change
3. WHAT
COUNSELLING
IS NOT
Many people regard counselling as a soft
response to discipline. This is only true if it is
badly handled and allows people to get off lightly.
In skilful counselling, employees are made to face
up to unacceptable behaviour or performance.
The focus is always on putting things right
through employee action. Often, it will require
some tough commitments and tough changes on
the part of employees.

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Counselling and Discipline
4. WHEN
COUNSELLING
WORKS
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Counselling can throw light on the way ahead
Not every situation will be suitable for
counselling. A serious case of misconduct, for
example, is unlikely to be appropriate for
counselling. Counselling works best when the
breach of discipline is minor, unexpected, and
attitudinal. It is also appropriate when there is a
clear reason for the breach of discipline and when
the employee accepts the problem and wants
help to move on.

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Counselling and Discipline
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Take one step of counselling at a time
5. THE FIVE
STAGES OF
COUNSELLING
There are five stages in a classic disciplinary
counselling session. They are:
a. contracting, ie outlining what you expect to do
during the session
b. exploring, which means looking at the facts
c. challenging, ie spelling out the gap between
current and desired performance
d. solutions, which means closing the gap
e. agreement, ie summarising the action the
employee will take.

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Counselling and Discipline
6.
COUNSELLING
SKILLS
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Counselling produces win-win solutions
The skills of the counselling manager are those of
person-centred therapy. This means working with
people to help them explore options for change.
These skills include building trust and
understanding; creating a safe climate; making
assertive and challenging points about standards,
rules, and targets; patient exploration of issues,
active listening, sensible questions, and open
communication; action based on win-win
solutions.

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Counselling and Discipline
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Counselling brings people together; discipline divides them
7.
RECONCILING
NOT DIVIDING
Disciplinary processes are by their very nature
divisive while counselling ones are healing. Here
are 3 other differences :
a. where discipline creates suspicion, counselling
creates trust
b. where discipline assumes people work better if
threatened, counselling assumes people work
better if helped
c. where discipline encourages accusation
counselling explores what can be done.

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This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
There is no guarantee that counselling will always succeed in disciplinary cases. However,
compared to the punitive approach of discipline, it has many more positives in it than negatives.
And when it works, not only will you have avoided the need for discipline, you will have solved the
problem and created a new kind of relationship with your employee.