Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee

ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling interviews the average manager will talk as much as 85 percent of the time. For a counseling interview to serve its purpose of drawing out responses from the employee, the interviewer must be an effective listener, not a talker. The manager must know how to ask questions which force the employee to speak about his or her unsatisfactory performance. After asking the question, the interviewer should remain silent, thus compelling the employee to speak.

NEVER BE AFRAID OF SILENCE: Most people talk too much because they feel uncomfortable when silence prevails. For example, a manager may ask an employee to suggest how his or her job performance could be improved. If the employee was unprepared for such a question, it may take a few moments to prepare a cogent answer. These few moments may seem like hours, compelling the manager to say something else or to elaborate on the original question. If the manager succumbs to this compulsion, the employee's chain of thought will be interrupted, and he or she will be encouraged to lapse back into a passive mental frame. It's far easier for the employee to listen to the boss talk than it is to try to construct a meaningful answer to a pointed question.

BE AN ENCORAGING EMPLOYER: This encouragement can be in the form of visual feedback (having a facial expression of interest, keeping eyes upon the speaker's face, or nodding) as well as oral comments. The employee will be inclined to tell all he or she knows if the interviewer, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, retains a noncommittal facial expression and tone of voice. By rewording the employee's input, the manager may be able to process the information related more clearly as well as "compel" the employee to elaborate on those parts which they feel that the manager didn't clearly understand.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

---

Five Reasons Why Leaders Fail to Create Successful Change

A bold title, don't you think? I mean, change is... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Test Your Assumptions About Everything

Test your assumptions about everything.Assumptions have a way of creeping... Read More

Christmas Carol Coaching - Help to Get Ahead at Holiday Time!

I've always been fascinated by situations where art imitates real... Read More

Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have SMART Goals

The first step in planning an agenda is to identify... Read More

Assessing Managers for International Competence

How do you select staff for international assignments? It's an... Read More

Organizational Culture and Creative Blocks ? the Similarities

Few Decision makers see the link between between creativity and... Read More

Indiscretion Can Kill Your Business

The quickest way to cancel out all the thought, work,... Read More

Book Summary: Mind Your Own Business

A maverick is an independent person who will not go... Read More

Innovation Management ? how will we make the go or kill decisions?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Project Management Skills

Solving a big problem is a project: you're far more... Read More

Two Critical Success Factors in an ITIL Implementation

Any IT manager who wants to pursue the IT Service... Read More

Cultural Awareness - an HR Perspective

The use of cultural awareness training has increased rapidly in... Read More

Feedback - Make it Descriptive

Have you ever heard yourself say to a team member... Read More

Why Outsourcing Could Be The Best Thing You Do For Your Business

While it's probably not true to say that the traditional... Read More

Appraisal Interviews: What To Say & How To Say It

STEPS TOWARDS A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:Don't say: "You just don't... Read More

Take the Easy Route - Delegate

It was 2.30 am. It was cold and dark and... Read More

Innovation Management: What Problem Is Being Solved?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Business Knowledge Management

In the last few years a lot has been written... Read More

How Managers Can Turn Failures Into Successes

Although there are real, external reasons for managerial difficulty ?... Read More

Policy & Procedure Manuals - Tools For Greater Productivity and Efficiency

In today's tough retail environment the retailer needs all the... Read More

Top Ten Things About Creating a Business Vision

To visualise where you are going, is deeper and more... Read More

Business Innovation ? the Value of Work Processes

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Your Organization Is Only as Good as Your People

Let's begin by singing the jingle from an old US... Read More

Why Saying Well Done Works

Encouraged by the recognition, Sarah Lewsiton went home from work... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Coworker and Caretaker

This article relates to the Coworkers competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees

Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees ... Read More

Creativity and Innovation - Large Firms Versus Small Firms

There is a pervasive assumption that small firms are more... Read More

Getting to Consensus

The need to get people in an organization to pull... Read More

The Business Shaman: Exploring the Mystery of Success!

Note: This article was written for a internet business site.... Read More

How to Create a Trusting Manager-Employee Relationship

BUILDING TRUST AS A MANAGER: 1. Be reliable. Follow through... Read More

Making Meetings Work

We have all attended meetings that were boring, mindless and... Read More

Business Innovation ? Improvisation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

The Truth?

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never... Read More