Mentoring and Counseling in the Workplace Essay

Mentoring and Counseling in the Workplace - Essay Example Thus, obtaining in-group status may be a prerequisite for subordinates to receive mentoring from their supervisors (McManus). The most critical cycle for effective counseling is the 4Es cycle - Enter, Empathize, Empower and Exit. At a workplace, if people need to share their problems and if they need to go back with a sense of relief, then the most important requisite for a mentor or counselor is that the mentor or counselor needs to build a trust based relationship quickly that could actually help the aggrieved person. Some of the essential characteristics that a mentor or counselor needs to possess as an individual are strong yet effective communication, make an objective assessment of situations, the ability to call a spade a spade and communicating this reality to the person opposite in a way to empower them in their current situation and give feedback effectively. Empathy is one of the soft skills that any person would need to be an effective counselor. Empathy actually means affection clubbed with passion touched by the quality of suffering. This particular characteristic is viewed by many professionals as the most important one in a helping relationship. ... The following are the most important yet critical values that a mentor or counselor needs: 1. A professional qualification with consistently high academic performance. 2. Have the required soft skills to be an effective counselor providing support services to people. 3. Last but not least, needs to have mastered the 4E counseling cycle. Empathy is one of the soft skills that any person would need to be an effective counselor. Empathy actually means affection clubbed with passion touched by the quality of suffering. This particular characteristic is viewed by many professionals as the most important one in a helping relationship. "Empathy is often viewed as conveying sensitivity to the client and trying to understand what "walking in the other guy's shoes" may feel like. The counselor need not necessarily have undergone the experiences of a person who is actually having a problem in order to understand the former's feelings (Brooks/cole - A division of Thomson learning)." Genuineness is another important aspect that any person who intends to take up a counseling profession needs. Genuineness is the expression of true feelings. "To be a genuine mentor or counselor, one must avoid role playing or feeling one way and acting another. Genuine counselors do not take refuge in any specific role, such as therapist. Genuineness involves self-disclosure. It implies a willingness to be known to others (Brooks/cole - A division of Thomson learning)." Balanced Objectivity or Subjectivity - This refers to private, personal and unique ways of experiencing situations. Both these characteristics have their own disadvantages when not balanced properly at a workplace which actually is a collection of various kinds of