By Akintola Benson-Oke

THE administration of  Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the Governor of Lagos State has since realised that, in order to deliver effective and efficient service to the people, officers of the Lagos State Public Service must be continually equipped with the necessary competencies and skills. Indeed, the aim of the Lagos State Government is to transform the Civil Service into the quintessential future workforce that can, in addition to delivering an effective HR service and getting basic people processes right, also respond to the government’s current and future challenges in terms of skills gap and functionality.

To this end, numerous training programmes have been approved and organised for the officers to be able to meet the present challenges and deliver on our fundamental commitments to the people of Lagos State. This training is devoted to examining how the Civil Service can better utilize counselling to assist officers fulfill their full potential within the civil service. Tagged, “Human Resources Counselling in the Workplace,” it will further the government’s efforts to fulfill its role of staffing government and civil service position with qualified and suitable candidates so that, with round pegs in round holes and square pegs out of round holes, the critical organs of the Civil Service, the government and the society at large will be positioned to run more effectively and efficiently.

Management experts have identified a number of areas where organisations and their human resources can benefit from counselling. They have thus developed a set of introspective questions that can help in assessing an individual’s standing vis-à-vis acceptable team-work, leadership and work place effectiveness qualities. The answers to these questions often serve as the first basis for designing a counselling framework for any assessed employee.

Human resources counsellor wants to probe to discover the answers to the following:

a.)Are you able to maximise efficiency in your use of time and resources?

b.)Are you able and willing to initiate action?

c.)Do you instill motivation?

d.)Do you provide guidance?

e.)Do you instill confidence?

f.)Do your words and actions build morale?

g.)Do you seek to create and maintain an efficient work environment?

The questions above are designed to nudge both the counsellors and the counselled in a direction that will enable the adoption of a framework that will nudge the counselled in a direction that would take his/her career to the highest levels as a decision to follow the suggestions embedded in them inevitably leads to career advancement.

This training will examine the implementable counselling strategies that can provide the government with modern and efficient HR teams that will provide a source of expertise on people, policies, processes and recruitment campaigns. This is because the government relies on the Civil Service to support the government workforce and help departments and specialised offices to build a modern, effective Civil Service.

I am enthused that it will also focus on the relevance of human resources counselling to enable the ability of the officers of the Lagos State Civil Service to respond to the rapidly-occurring changes in work processes and socio-cultural norms and expectations. It will also focus on the modalities for attracting and retaining talented, committed and suitable candidates to fill all government and Civil Service positions. Furthermore, the facilitators will devote time and attention to empower participants to design, develop, and implement strategies for assisting counselling participants to build career paths and rewards that will encourage long-term commitments to the Civil Service and fidelity to the lofty ideals of the service.

In the introduction to an article by Linda Ginac titled, “Career Counselling is a Valuable Benefit to Employees,” an important point was made that one of the most crucial issues facing management is preserving employee commitment to organisation goals and objectives despite possible organisational instability. The author then noted that organisations experience instability or changes from time to time as a result of downsizing, global restructuring, and diminishing career advancement paths, among others. Because of these changes, therefore, employees are less likely to rise up the ranks and more likely to change jobs or area of specialization often. With performance being a fundamental cornerstone to financial success, employers will need to implement continuous learning programmes and enable employees to acquire new skills to thrive.

Furthermore, the author noted that, “at any time, employees may experience career challenges which may seriously affect success at the company. If these difficulties go unresolved for a period of time, they are likely to impact the employee’s ability to cope effectively on the job. For senior-level professionals, the impact can be even more devastating because their work usually has a direct impact  on overall business strategy and direction. Career counseling is a strategic resource that employees can use and managers can rely on when work performance, career transition, personal conduct in the workplace and/or cultural fit becomes an issue. It provides a means for employers to encourage their employees to seek career assistance early to prevent small problems from getting out of hand and creating greater barriers to success. It’s also a way to help key employees reach higher career aspirations so that they continue to add significant value to the company.”

Human resources counselling may have the following benefits on an organisation:

a- increase in employee productivity and supervisory effectiveness

b.)- retention of valued employees

c.)- less time spent managing poor performers

d.)- increased quality in employee performance

e.- improved employee morale

f.)-resource base for professional, experienced facilitators of training and staff development programmes.

Furthermore, human resources counselling is a form of leadership development training. Without doubt, high performances have been known to increase in organisations that expose their human capital to counseling and leadership development through training programmes of this nature and I am hopeful that the learning outcomes of this training will translate into more dynamism, effectiveness and efficiency for the public service.

A Human Resources expert, Fionnuala Courtney, has articulated six of the big benefits that counselling engagements with leadership training components can offer any organisation. First, it has been shown that counselling engagements Increase productivity.( The right, consistent counselling can increase the productivity of the people in an organisation. At its primal level, counselling is about understanding people emotionally. In a book titled, The New Leaders, Daniel Goleman states that emotional intelligence is critical to the success of a leader. Emotional intelligence involves being smart about emotions and using empathy effectively to empower and engage employees. Counselling engagements that encompasses emotional intelligence can hone these emotional skills in people managers and leaders.

Counselling engagement also help retain and maximise the capacities of people in organisations such as the Lagos State Public Service.( Ms. Courtney stated that 75% of people voluntarily leaving jobs do not quit their jobs but in fact ‘quit their bosses’! This means that employees leave because of ineffective managers and managers with poor leadership skills that could be addressed by an adequate dose of counselling. By investing in counselling engagements, an organisation can retain its people and reduce costly recruitment expenses.

Furthermore, counselling engagements help nurture future leaders.( Organisations need to be strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Without strategy, important roles are often given to the most forward candidates with dominant personalities. Quality appointment is a combination of the right qualities and the right training. Identify those who have what it takes and provide them with targeted counselling engagements with leadership training components. Thus, nurturing future leaders supports succession planning and offers career pathways to employees, further increasing retention.

Counselling engagements also increase employee participation.( We all like to know how we are progressing in our roles, receiving praise when it is well-earned and constructive feedback as necessary. In fact, 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to only 18% of those with low engagement. Giving feedback is a skill of successful leaders. Through counselling engagements, organisations can teach effective ways to give feedback to motivate and increase the skill level of their people.

Dr. Benson-Oke,  Lagos State Commissioner for Establishment, Training &Pensions