Julie's Ideas Blog 19: Developmental Alliances Part 1

As far as I can see, I first published information about developmental alliances back in 1992 (Hay, 1992).  At that time, I wrote about it being a new approach based on some examples that were occurring then – and which still sound very relevant as trends now:
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• a company in the information technology sector seeking ways to maintain morale and motivation of professional staff who had limited promotion prospects because of cuts in numbers of managerial posts;
• a local authority running action learning projects and recognising the powerful impact of peer feedback;
• a major bank where mentors were questioning their role because branch managers in the future faced significantly different careers;
• and a professional association that had set up its own mentoring network.

A year later (Hay, 1993) I related developmental alliances particularly to the banking sector, with quotes from members of a Mentoring Network that I had been coordinating. I pointed out issues such as having most managers being white and male, how to mentor across gender and cultural boundaries, the need for a different approach within flat rather than hierarchical organisations, and the increasing rate of change.
In 1992 I proposed a seven stage ‘alliance process’, complete with a memory aid (donkey bridge) of:

1. alliance – initiating the relationship and agreeing the contract between the parties;
2. assessment – establishing/describing the current and desired future situations;
3. analysis – applying appropriate frameworks and theories so the mentee gains awareness;
4. alternatives – identifying options that extend the range of possibilities to be considered by the mentee;
5. action – considering the relative merits of various options so the mentee can choose and plan appropriate actions;
6. autonomy – the intended result of the process is enhanced autonomy for the mentee. Autonomy refers to greater awareness of self, others and options plus the increased ability to take action;
7. appraisal – review of actions and results to check that outcomes are consistent with personal and professional development.

I explained how a developmental alliance approach would help to create flatter organisations that become true communities with greater psychological and emotional health for all involved. It would also indicate respect for employees, take greater account of their own opinions about their careers, encourage them to show initiative including with customers, as well as meaning that mentors no longer needed to be older or more senior – and potentially still steeped in an organisational culture that needs to be changed.

A couple of years later my book entitled Transformational Mentoring: Creating Developmental Alliances for Changing Organizational Cultures was published (Hay 1995).  In that I defined a developmental alliance as a relationship between equals in which one or more of those involved is enabled to Increase awareness, identify alternatives and initiate action to develop themselves.  I also proposed a diagram to contrast the different perspectives between traditional mentoring, developmental alliances, coaching and counselling. The vertical axis has two dimensions: whether the approach is person-led or organization-led, and 'who knows best'. The horizontal axis varies from a short-term, specific focus to a long-term, broad focus.  I will show you the diagram in my blog next week.

Shortly afterwards, I also produced a do-it-yourself pack (still available at www.sherwoodpublishing.com) (Hay, 1997) for anyone who wants to initiate their own, personal, mentoring scheme. Based on the supporting material for in-house mentoring schemes that I had introduced, the pack contained a sequence of issues to be worked through in stages. The idea is that the individual invites someone to be their mentor, and then they work through the stages together.

References

Hay, Julie (1992) Developmental Alliances can Replace Mentors The Mentor 1:8 10

Hay, Julie (1993) A New Approach to Mentoring Financial Training Review October 16-18

Hay, Julie (1995) Transformational Mentoring: Creating Developmental Alliances for Changing Organizational Cultures  Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill, republished Watford: Sherwood 1999

Hay, Julie (1997) Action Mentoring Watford: Sherwood

© 2018 Julie Hay​
 
​Julie is a fan of open access publishing so feel free to reproduce any of these blogs as long as you still attribute it to her.

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