How Can I Become a Counsellor?
While there are no formal requirements for being a business counsellor, it’s important to remember what the purpose of counselling is. A counsellor’s job is to help a business or a business person untangle that which is holding him back. A client expects certain knowledge and experience when you offer to act as a guide, an adviser and a teacher. While there is no formal requirement, there are many expectations. A counsellor is a business expert with the training and experience that goes with it.
Formal Business Training
While a degree is not required to counsel at businesses, it can lend a great deal to your credibility to have a business degree. Even without a degree there are business certification programmes that you can take advantage toward that end. If you have a niche that you wish to specialise in such as accounting, management, or IT having some formal training in those can only help.
Experience
A lack of a degree can be forgiven if there is experience that makes up the difference. The businesses seeking counselling only want to succeed. If you can show them that you have a track record of experience, especially successful experience, they can more easily have confidence in you as a counsellor. A good counsellor will know his way around business. He will be able to talk about various business issues and be able to pull examples from his history when making a point. If the counsellor can show how he has succeeded using a method or idea, it will be more appealing to those with whom he is working.
People Skills
While both training and experience are valuable assets to have when business counselling, the whole idea of counselling centres on people. A good business counsellor will share the skills that a good counsellor of any type will have. You will need to be able to get people to open up and to explore themselves and their businesses. The first thing a good counsellor does is begin to establish trust. Through words and body language the counsellor puts the client at ease and give shows them that he is non-judgmental. He listens actively with verbal and non-verbal encouraging cues. If he doesn’t understand something, he may paraphrase what he heard back and have the client correct him. Some of information the client shares may be embarrassing or difficult for them. As a counsellor you need to make sure the client feels that his story is safe with you and that you preserve confidentiality. If the client shuts down, no counselling will take place. If you intend to counsel, a course in basic counselling would be worth your time.
Resource Source
We need tools when working our way through the business world. It is helpful for you as a counsellor to have such resources on the tip of your tongue. Network actively in your business community so your contact app is full of the names of smart people. Know government and community organisations that help businesses. Know the right professional groups and conferences that provide support and new ideas for businesses. Have of working knowledge of current business trends and ideas. And read, read, read. Become a fount of information.