List and explain the stages of business counselling.

Stage 1: Developing a rapport with a client
- The counsellor gets to know the counselee by obtaining his personal data. This
will be possible through a friendly interview during the first meeting.
- Counsellor to find out how the counselee got to know him e.g through referral.
This will give the counsellor an insight into the counselee’s commitment to the
counselling exercise.
- Creating a conducive environment for personal discussion e.g offering a seat and
a cup of tea to make the counselee feel at ease and calm.
- Finding out the social, economic, political and technological inclinations of the
counselee. It enables the counsellor to tailor corrective action towards existing
inclinations.
- Providing a sympathetic hearing by trying to identify with some of the
sentimental feelings of the counselee. This helps in building a dynamic
counselling relationship.
- Trying to have a deeper understanding of the counselee ’ s temperament,
intelligence, traits and psychological state at the time of seeking assistance.
Stage 2: Problem analysis
- The counsellor should first identify the problem for which the counselee needs
assistance. The counselee is allowed enough time to talk about his problem.
The counsellor listens actively gesturing, nodding and at times prompting the
counselee to continue narrating his problem.
Through such a process, the counsellor is able to understand the root causes of
the counselee’s problem and thus be able to differentiate the symptoms from the
actual causes.
Stage 3: Goal-setting
- At this stage the counsellor and counselee will set specific and realistic
objectives aimed at solving the identified problem. However, the major
contribution should come from the counselee in order for him to take it as a
personal challenge. All factors that might influence the process of problem solving
are taken into consideration.
Stage 4: Alternatives analysis
- The counsellor and counselee will look at the feasible range of possible problemsolving
strategies. The counsellor discusses the alternatives fully with the
counselee to enable the latter see their feasibility. Thereafter, selection is done
of the most appropriate strategy that fits-in well with the counselee’s resources.
Stage 5: Plan of action
- A plan of action will be drawn jointly by the counsellor and counselee in order to
implement or operationalize a particular strategy. Such a plan should contain a
time-schedule and a sequence of activities to be undertaken. For each activity,
there is need to indicate the person(s) to be responsible.
Stage 6: Implementation
- Implementation of the action-plan is the sole responsibility of the counselee. The
counsellor ’ s work at this stage is merely to give continuous guidance. The
success of the counselling exercise will depend on the extent to which the
counselee himself solves the actual problem. This will make him develop the
confidence to solve such a problem should it occur again. The counsellor should
be seen as a facilitator and not a direct contributor to the problem-solving.
Stage 7: Evaluation
- The purpose is to review and correct the extent to which the client is
implementing the recommendations of the counsellor. In case of difficulties,
both parties review and eliminate them.
- Lack of skills by the counselee to implement the strategy will call for training to
impart the required skills.
- Implementation could also necessitate reduced workload for the counselee to
permit effective implementation.
- Any positive achievements by the counselee at the implementation stage should
be commended to encourage and spur him to further achievements.
Stage 8: Termination
- If the client has built capability to perform required activities without the help of
the counsellor, it is time to terminate the counselling relationship. Alternatively, it
could also happen when the counselee is unwilling to receive further assistance
despite the counsellor’s efforts.

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Kavungya answered the question on April 24, 2019 at 07:12