Counseling

For complete information on the eleven leadership competencies, order Resources for Leadership.

This competency enables the learner to:

• List five elementary counseling skills.
• List three reasons to counsel with people.
• List three ways you know someone might need to talk.
• List two environmental settings that support a counseling session.
• Name one reason you should not offer advice.
• List two circumstances when you must report a person's problems to someone in authority.

About Counseling

Counseling is a private talk with someone that helps the individual with a personal problem.

• Takes away minor aches and pains—common sense stuff.
• What to do until the doctor arrives—help the person tell you "where it hurts" and send for help.

As a leader, people will come to you with problems. Because you are a leader, you will spot people with problems. You can't turn them away or just let them suffer, because the ignored problem, if serious, will almost inevitably become a group problem.

Counseling is considered pretty difficult. Professional counselors, like lawyers, bankers, clergymen, vocational counselors, teachers, psychiatrists and others, sometimes spend years learning how to counsel in their fields. People often pay large amounts of money to be counseled.