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Counseling confessions Stories from the field

Todays confession: Yikes! My counselee just told me he wants to leave the irm!"

What happens in the counseling relationship is usually confidential until now.

Weve gone out and asked your colleagues, What really goes on in your counseling relationships ! We uncovered the dra"a and were sharing their true confessions with you. Did you "iss so"e of the gossip Click here to read "ore stories. Seemingly out of the blue one day, my counselee called me and flat-out said, I dont think I want to work at Deloitte anymore. hoa, talk about a bombshell. I mean, how e!actly do you res"ond to that# $fter what felt like %& minutes of nothing but crickets, I tried to com"ose myself and suggested we schedule a time to meet in "erson, gi'en the nature of his comment. I consider myself to be a "retty e!"erienced counselor, but as I hung u" the "hone, I couldnt hel" but feel a bit o'erwhelmed by the situation (and relie'ed that I had bought myself some much needed time to get my thoughts together). $s his career ad'ocate, I needed to understand what was really going on here, since he hadnt gi'en me any indication u" until now that he was unha""y* I decided that the best a""roach was to let my counselee do most of the talking. hen we met the following afternoon, I began the con'ersation by asking him if he could share more about how he arri'ed at this decision. I mean, I would su""ort his decision either way, but we'e all had those days where we felt like wed hit the wall, and I wanted to be sure he wasnt reacting to some isolated e'ent* as it a "roblem on his "ro+ect# Did he o'er-commit himself to Firm acti'ities# as he burnt out on tra'el# as it +ust consulting in general# Something more "ersonal# I knew it wasnt my res"onsibility to con'ince him to stay, but it was my +ob to make sure he had clarity and had considered all of the o"tions first. $s I continued to "robe further, he began to really o"en u" about his longer-term goals. Id tried to initiate similar discussions before, but my counselee was young in his career and still a bit unsure of what he wanted* a""arently until now. e had a long, thoughtful discussion, and in the end we both agreed that based on his interests, the nature of the work we do here might not be the best fit for him in the long run. $fter we s"oke, I felt confident that he was indeed making the right decision. Its ne'er an easy thing to sus"end self-interest and watch your counselee lea'e the Firm, but I felt good about ha'ing asked the tough ,uestions to make sure it was really the right choice. $fter digging dee"er into the situation, I fully su""orted his choice, and Im actually e!cited to see what he will accom"lish as a Deloitte alum-

Do you have a counseling confession to share #"ail us your story$

Consulting Leadership is co""itted to i"proving the %uality and consistency of the counseling

e&perience across the practice. 'o help in our ongoing effort, check out the following counseling tools and resources( Counselors . /isit the )y *ole as a Counselor site to access counseling tools and learning resources. hile youre there, be sure to check out the Counselor 'ips + 'ricks to learn how to be a great counselor. Counselees . 0heck out the Counselee 'ips + 'ricks to learn how to make the most out of your counseling relationshi".

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