Julie's Ideas Blog 20: Developmental Alliances Part 2

As I wrote in my last blog, I defined ‘developmental alliance’ and provided a diagram (below) to contrast the different perspectives between traditional mentoring, developmental alliances, coaching and counselling. As I wrote about these (Hay, 1995a), I was thinking about how these approaches are usually used within an organisation – not necessarily about how psychotherapeutic counselling or life coaching or similar would necessarily be conducted. Within an organisational context, I think that we could say that:
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• A developmental alliance has a long-term, broad focus, is person-led (with the organisation's needs being considered but coming a definite second), and is based on a belief that the mentee knows best and the mentor is there to help the mentee identify opportunities for growth and development.
• Coaching is diametrically opposed to a developmental alliance on this model. Coaching is short-term, with a specific focus, such as a set of tasks about which the coach has expert knowledge. The coach aims to help the 'pupil' develop the skills that the organisation requires.
• Counselling in the workplace also tends to be a relatively short-term approach with a specific focal point. Rather than teaching a task, the counsellor sets out to help, or enable, the client to solve problems that the client has already identified. The requirements of the organization are usually suspended.
• Finally, traditional mentoring has a long-term, broad focus. The mentor is assumed to know best, having the greater knowledge and experience. Mentors are also expected to take account of the needs of the organization. They are in the business of providing opportunities so that the mentee can develop into a more useful employee. 

Different Perspectives (Hay, 1995a, p.62)

Later (Hay, 1997) I challenged an article by Nykodym, Freedman, Simonetti, Nielsen & Battles (1995) in the Transactional Analysis Journal that emphasised traditional mentoring, which for me often results in a dependency style of operation. I used the concepts of three-cornered contracts (English, 1975) and psychological distances (Micholt, 1992) to illustrate this.  I also added in links to other TA concepts such as the four-cornered contract to include the manager of the mentee, the discount matrix (Schiff & Contributors, 1975) and the Steps to Success (Hay, 1995b), working styles (Hay, 2009) and drivers (Kahler & Capers (1974) , stroking patterns and AP3 (Hay, 1995b). Then, in Hay (1998) I pointed out that organisations vary so their mentoring schemes will need to vary accordingly. A very hierarchical organisation may need to retain a traditional mentoring format whereas one that has flattened and outsourced may suit a developmental alliance. Hybrid versions may also be appropriate, and it may be worth considering whether the organisation needs to gradually move from one format to another as the culture changes.

References
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English, Fanita (1975) The three-cornered contract Transactional Analysis Journal 5:4 383-384

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

Hay, Julie (1995b) Donkey Bridges for Developmental Transactional Analysis Watford: Sherwood

Hay, Julie (1997) Transformational Mentoring: Using Transactional Analysis to Make a Difference Transactional Analysis Journal 27:3 158-167

Hay, Julie (1998) Mentoring: Traditional versus Developmental Organisations & People 5:3 22-26

Hay, Julie (2009) Transactional Analysis for Trainers 2nd edition Hertford: Sherwood Publishing

Kahler Taibi & Capers, Hedges (1974) The miniscript Transactional Analysis Journal, 4:1 26-42

Micholt, Nelly (1992) Psychological Distance and Group Intervention Transactional Analysis Journal 22:4 228-233

Nykodym, Nick, Freedman, Lucy, Simonetti, J L, Nielsen, W R & Battles, K (1995) Mentoring: Using transactional analysis to help organizational
members use their energy and more productive ways Transactional Analysis Journal 25:2 170-179

Schiff, Jacqui & Contributors (1975) Cathexis Reader New York: Harper & Row

© 2018 Julie Hay​
 
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