Importance of Mentoring and Counselling Techniques in the Appraisal Process and Human Resource - Essay Example

Importance of Mentoring and Counselling Techniques in the Appraisal Process and Their Relevance in Human Resource One of the biggest challenges most organisations are facing in today’s corporate world is to retain and nurture skilled employees. The human resource divisions are increasingly adopting individualistic approaches such as mentoring and counselling technique to motivate employees and align them with the company goals. Mentoring and counselling provides support to employees and individuals both professionally and personally. It has been an effective tool for harnessing the skills of the employees and preparing them for taking up managerial responsibilities. The thrust to encompass added skills for achieving higher targets has been the resultant of the employee centric approach adopted by various organisations. Good counsellors and mentors have been able to support business continuity programs designed by organisations by spending time with the employees. The employees in return feel invested and are encouraged to achieve higher targets. Defining mentoring and counselling Employee mentoring and counselling are powerful personality development techniques most human resource divisions utilise to enhance the skills of their employees. Mentoring is an effective tool to help employees progress in their career and achieve their goals by realising their true potential. The technique involves two people: a mentor and a mentee. Generally, both of them are from similar field or share similar experiences (MentorSET). The mentor helps the mentee in discussing about the opportunities that the person can explore with the skill and calibre that he/she possesses. A mentor helps individuals to solve their interpersonal, emotional, and decision making problems. Counselling, on the other hand, involves guiding the counselee in realising his/her career goals by sharpening the skills, supervising and reviewing end products, providing constructive feedback, and maintaining consistent communication. Similar to mentoring, this technique also involves two people: a counsellor and a counselee. However, in most of the firms, Human Division makes it imperative for the professionals at the higher level to counsel team members with regards to product, work or functional responsibilities. A counsellor generally gives customised guidance to the counselee, by helping him/her to choose the right career path, set appropriate career goals, develop assertive communication skills, and become a better team player (Werner, DeSimone, 369). One of the fundamental responsibilities of HR function is to develop talent and show a clear career path to the employees. In order to evolve individual managerial talents, HR needs to think beyond techniques such as group motivational activities, team meetings, group appraisals or rewards. Therefore, human resources divisions are fast adopting employee-oriented techniques such as mentoring and counselling to give individual attention and customised support to the employees. Furthermore, HR functions are increasingly focusing on developing human capital and such employee-oriented techniques would help them in achieving their vision and goal (About.com). Role of mentoring and counselling in appraisal process Managing poor performance, setting up employee goals, and focusing on individual employee development are some of the most important management tasks entrusted to the HR function during the performance appraisal process. During the appraisal process, effective mentoring and counselling leads to improving performance and building positive relationships within a working group. Further, it encourages employees to accept responsibilities for their actions, achieve and sustain well-rounded performance, and work towards achieving organisational goals and visions. (Werner, DeSimone 369). Mentors or counsellors are entrusted to not only manage talent in the group; they are also responsible for managing performance decline. For instance, if a counsellor does not apprise the counselee of the errors made while executing projects, he/she might continue repeating the mistakes which might hamper the quality of the end product. Human Resources expect counsellors to explicitly define performance matrix of an employee in the beginning of the appraisal cycle. This also requires revisiting and establishing performance standards, which helps in measuring any decline or upsurge in the performance of an employee. In cases, where there has been infrequent communication with the counselee, the counsellors have often failed to understand progress made and were not able present the performance review to the higher authorities properly. Also, if over the period of time, in spite of consistent messaging, employee’s performance drops significantly from the set standard, then the role of the mentor or counsellor becomes significantly higher. Although, it has been observed that most of the employees exhibit minor deviations from achieving their set goals due work load or environmental factors, counsellors or managers are required to be updated about the fact. They should consistently message and revisit the goals so that employees’ skills are harnessed during the appraisal process and larger goals are achieved for the firm (Buon, 18). Differences and similarities between mentoring and counselling Counselling and mentoring share many similarities such as enabling employees to achieve their full potential and carving a clear career path. Both the process involves coaching and guiding employees in decision making, honing their skills, identifying career solutions, setting appropriate career goals, providing one-to-one training, encouraging professional growth, improving competencies and achieving set targets (Parsole, 8). However, the roles of mentor and counsellors differ in several ways. Mentoring is an ongoing relationship between two individuals that can last for a long period of time. On the other hand, counselling is generally a short term intervention provided to help employee deal with a certain problem at a particular point of time. Mentoring roles are often times informal in nature and meetings are held on a need basis when the mentee seeks any advice or guidance. Being a formal relationship, human resources in an organisation encourages the counsellor to address various emotional and performance based issues faced by the counselees. Such meetings are generally conducted as per the planned schedule. Mentors are generally experienced and are always more qualified than the mentee. Mentors have the insights because of their vast experience to guide the mentee and solve their problems. While, the counsellor are usually identified by the top management of a firm who can help an employee for achieving the set goals. A mentor provides guidance on both professional and personal front whereas, the counsellor’s role is restricted to the professional environment (Brefi Group). MENTORING Informal Role Guides Help achieve professional and personal goals Long term commitment Assisting to achieve career growth COUNSELING Formal Role Collaborate and advice Help achieve firm goals Short term intervention Aligning to company goals Differences between mentoring and counselling Conducting effective counselling and mentoring sessions In order to conduct effective counselling sessions, the counsellor needs to stimulate and manage broader vision envisaged by any organisation. At the onset, the counsellor needs to fix time and spend at least two- three hours in a span of six- eight weeks with the assigned counselee. Typically, these sessions should be planned in small meeting rooms without interruptions. It is advisable to hold these meetings away from the work place as this builds trust and confidentiality with the counselee. The counsellor needs to maintain good working relationship and demonstrate confidence in the skills exhibited by the counselee. The sessions should incorporate consistent messaging of firm’s value and vision so that the counselee is motivated and foresees a clear career growth. Effective counselling sessions can be achieved if the counsellor identifies the interest areas of the counselee in order to stimulate them for performing at the highest level. The sessions should also focus on identifying the developmental areas of the counselee and if the problem becomes chronic, the counsellor should apprise the higher management. To conduct effective mentoring sessions it is imperative to share a personal rapport with the mentee. This helps in building a stronger relationship over a period of time. Successful mentoring sessions promotes learning and development for both the mentor and mentee. Mentors, who are generally very experienced professionals, need to share their knowledge of progress and failure to help the mentee in taking advantage from the experience of their mentors. These sessions may also involve enhancing decision making skills, addressing developmental needs and harnessing both professional and personal growth of an individual (Sonic.net) Counselling and mentoring sessions should also include constructive feedback in order to help the mentee/counselee recognize their developmental needs and works towards resolving them. The counsellors/mentor should advice mentee/counselee to attend training sessions or self learning courses in order to fill the gap areas. A planned approach with constant communication can help achieve the targets set by Counsellor/Mentors. A perfect counsellor and mentor An effective counsellor or mentor can help achieve an organisation’s goals. By meeting the mentee/counselee periodically, they can motivate and develop their skills. Effective mentors and counsellor should display certain skills sets to promote the career of an individual. Some of the skills-sets include, good listening attribute, empathy with the mentee/counselee, excellent communication skills including non-verbal communication. Further, the counsellors/mentors needs to exhibit good mannerism and etiquettes to lead by example for the respective counselee/mentee. Above all, the counsellor/mentor needs to maintain the confidentiality about the progress made by the mentee/counselee in order to establish trust based relationship (sonic.net). Building mentor-mentee relationship does not depend on the personal attribute of each individual; it is built on proper interaction and collective progression towards achieving the company’s vision. A perfect mentor is a role-model who the mentee looks upto. He/She forges a personal relationship with the mentee and also focuses to achieve the desired path. A perfect counsellor/mentor who has been monitoring and advising members for achieving the set goals, helps in keeping the employee motivated. This proves beneficial in improving productivity thereby adding to the bottom-line for the organisation. Further, the HR divisions are always faced with the challenge of arresting the ever growing attrition rate, which is fuelled by demand of skilled employees, competitive salaries, and lucrative opportunities in the job market. An effective counsellor/mentor can gauge and assist the counselee/mentee to achieve his/her set target thereby motivating the employee to feel connected with the firm. This in turn helps the counsellor to project the growth achieved by the counselee in the appraisal process. That not only helps in meeting the expectation of the counselee in terms of job satisfaction, salary appraisals but also aids the counsellor to arrest the attrition rate (about.com). Poor Counselling and Mentoring Ineffective counselling and mentoring are the result of being disorganized and poor goal settings. Further, if the mentor propagates his/her own goals and sidelines the mentee’s interest, it can cause obstacles in the career path of the mentee. Negative or biased views and characteristics of the mentor can have detrimental effects on the relationship thereby breaching confidentiality. Some of the typical traits of an ineffective mentor are being rigid, egocentric and boisterous. This hampers the growth of the organisation and can make all the relationship in the working group ineffective thereby contributing to high attrition rate. Often times, the counsellor who are not receptive to ideas and discourage discussions fail to meet the expectations of the employee. Leaders and managers who are dictators and cannot stimulate ideas with the mentee often offload their task to subordinates that ceases relationship to grow. Professionals at the higher level who become over critical about the work of their subordinates can never become good counsellors or mentors. The above stated behaviours not only destroy a mentor-mentee relationship but also work against the mentor’s role as a person who can guide the mentee. Also, the reputation of being a poor mentor travels faster in the organisation, which can be embarrassing and might hamper the image of the firm in the industry (linkroll.com). However, most of the ineffective patterns projected by the mentors or counsellors are due to the lack of preparation of the person for the role. Although, this is not the sole responsibility of the mentor as a person is being appointed by the organisation for the said role, the person needs attend workshops and training sessions to enhance and become an effective mentor/counsellor. In order to be a successful counsellor and mentor, a professional needs to improve his/her communication skills, listening and non-verbal skills. She/ He needs to develop basic etiquette such as respecting mentee/counselee and giving constructive feedback in a subtle manner. In case of extreme behavioural problem displayed by the mentor or counsellor, the higher authorities should reprimand the counsellor and provide appropriate assistance to the professional to enhance their skills. (The Mentoring Group) Case study The following scenario is a real life incident, the names and other situations have been modified to protect the identity of the person and organisation involved. The situation Martha who was working for a market research firm for the last three years was assigned yet another important project by her boss. While collating the results of the interview, she made an error. This lapse changed the hypothesis of the findings which was overlooked by her boss, Pat. The error wasn't caught until the client investigated the findings themselves and contacted Pat with negative remarks. As Martha was on vacation, the entire exercise had to be redone by one of her colleagues. On returning from the vacation, Pat did not inform Martha about the flaws in her report and the seriousness of the error for the client. The colleague who was working on the project in Martha’s absence was not comfortable in sharing his workload with her, as he thought that Martha could not handle the work pressure. This eventually lowered her integrity to produce quality products within her working group. Further, they also criticised and mocked Martha for her inefficiency. Six months after, Martha was presented with her year end appraisal sheet in Pat's office. Pat’s criticisms of Martha’s inefficiency to handle complex projects and her earlier mistake were highlighted. This caught Martha off guard and she was completely taken aback. Pat had never mentioned the error to Martha and she was not apprised of the other shortcomings as mentioned in the discussions. Action As Martha was dissatisfied with the arguments made by Pat, she approached the higher authorities for receiving answers to her questions. The management set up an enquiry to understand the problem and came up with the following suggestions. Pat was advised to communicate more frequently with her subordinates. She was also asked to plan her meetings with the team members in order to understand the progress made by each individual in her group. Martha was assigned a formal counsellor who could advise and provide suggestions for improving the quality of her work. Martha was also asked to initiate meetings with Pat in order to understand her expectations and work towards achieving it. Results As a part of the plan to meet and connect with employees on a regular basis, Pat achieved full support from her team and she was able to service larger client base. As she had become more approachable, employees could share their ideas and suggestions to further improve the systems within the group. On the other hand, Martha was able to perform exceptionally on complex projects and received accolades from the clients. Her clients trusted the analysis and recommendations provided by her. She was also recognised as the best employee in the firm by the top management. In setting up the counselee relationship within the group, Pat was aware of all the problems the group was facing throughout the year. This helped in mitigating the issues at the onset and created a congenial work environment. This in turn, augmented the productivity of the team and increased the overall revenue of the vertical. Works Cited MentorSET. What is Mentoring? 2 Nov. 2006. MentorSET. 2 Aug. 2008. . Heathfield, Susan M. “Tips for Effective Coaching”. About.com. 2 Aug. 2008. Tobin, Daniel R. “Mentoring and Coaching”. Corporate Learning Strategies. 1998. About.com. 2 Aug. 2008. The Coach Mentoring Group. Definition and Differences between Coach, Mentor, Trainer, Consultant, and Therapist. 2 Aug. 2008. . Sonic.net. Mentoring. 2 Aug. 2008. . Munro, M H M Dr. “Mentoring on Purpose”. Mike the Mentor. 3 Aug. 2008. Phillips-Jones, Linda, Rey Carr, Vince Hagedorn. “Mentoring Universals Part 1”. The Mentoring Group. 3 Aug. 2008. . Sonic.net. Characteristics of a Good Mentor. 3 Aug. 2008. . Linkroll.com. Best Practices in Mentoring. 3 Aug. 2008. . Brefi Group. The Differences between Coaching and Mentoring. 3 Aug. 2008. . Werner, Jon M., Randy L. DeSimone. “Performance Management and Coaching.” Human Resource Development 4th Ed.: 369-395. Buon, Tony. “Employee Counseling and Performance Management.” Counselling at Work. Summer 2005.: 18-19. Joshi, Gowri. “Employee Counselling – Are We Ready for It?” 123oye.com. 2 Aug. 2008. . Read More