Counselling

We mention counselling because it uses similar skills to coaching. A counsellor will generally be used by individuals to help them deal with a specific problem; counselling focuses on emotions and feelings rather than performance. Counselling tends to look at the causes for today s issues; it looks at the past and the route taken to arrive at the point where the individual currently is. Coaching turns the attention to the future, with the starting point being where the individual is today; its focus is on planning a route to arrive at a pre-agreed point.

Within the workplace, individuals would generally only seek the advice of a counsellor if they had a problem, whereas coaching can involve the development of good performance as well as under-performance.