3.1 – Establish and Sustain Working Alliance
Purpose & Context
Career Development Professionals (CDPs) establish and sustain a working alliance with clients to ensure ongoing identification, monitoring and achievement of client goals remains the focus of all interactions. Appropriate attitudes and communication skills are essential to building a relationship of respect and trust. CDPs work with the client to ensure that all professional behaviours and actions are focused on meeting the unique needs of the client.
Effective Performance
Competent career development professionals must be able to:
- P1. Interact respectfully:
- Be punctual, e.g. start appointments on time
- Be truthful
- Respect client’s uniqueness, e.g. values, preferences, autonomy, ethnocultural beliefs, expressed needs
- Be open-minded, e.g. avoid individual biases, manage role perceptions, avoid stereotyping, be willing toaccept new ideas
- P2. Prepare welcoming environment, for example:
- Tidy meeting space, e.g. keep desk clutter to a minimum, store materials in their proper place, wipe down
surfaces - Provide comfortable seating
- Reduce noise and eliminate distractions, e.g. turn off radio, store handheld device/phone, set telephone calls
to voicemail, close office door - Welcome client by name
- Introduce self by name
- Tidy meeting space, e.g. keep desk clutter to a minimum, store materials in their proper place, wipe down
- P3. Identify possible barriers that limit ability to establish rapport or working alliance, e.g. language, cultural
factors, ability to access services, mental health concerns- Work with client to identify and implement strategies to overcome barriers
- P4. Discuss roles and responsibilities of CDP and client
- P5. Confirm agreement to work together
- P6. Respond to client’s needs in a responsive manner:
- Focus full attention on client
- Seek input and feedback to develop clear understanding of needs:
- Listen actively, e.g. allow silence, seek clarification as required
- Allow client to lead conversation, e.g. avoid dominating the discussion, avoid interrupting
- Allow client the time needed, i.e. don’t rush the conversation
- Adapt/tailor approach to fit client’s needs considering cultural factors, cognitive status, literacy level,
religious and other requirements:- Adjust way of communicating, e.g. use language appropriate to client
- Accommodate requests, as needed
- P7. Encourage self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-determination:
- Describe client’s responsibilities and rights, e.g. human rights, service rights
- Reach shared understanding of respective roles in making decisions and completing tasks
- Help client take active role in achieving goals:
- Provide information, tools, and resources to help client make informed decisions
- Seek agreement on next steps towards meeting goals
- Recognize efforts, e.g. acknowledge progress towards goals
- P8. Ensure follow-up and next steps are clear before end of appointment
- Encourage check-ins between appointments for additional questions, concerns, or supports, e.g. by phone,
email
- Encourage check-ins between appointments for additional questions, concerns, or supports, e.g. by phone,
- P9. Check on progress outside of scheduled appointments
Knowledge & Understanding
Competent career development professionals must know and understand:
- K1. Communication strategies
- K2. Interpersonal skills
- K3. Attitudes underpinning the working alliance.:
- Empathy, i.e. ability to understand and share feelings
- Authenticity, i.e. expressing self truly and genuinely
- Respect, i.e. acceptance of others’ feelings, rights, or customs regardless of agreement
- K4. Client’s service rights
Contextual Variables
Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:
Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:
Glossary & Key References
Terms
Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.
Information Sources and Resources for Consideration
The Working Alliance – Training Workbook. Ottawa: VOCO Training Centre, 2019.
Context Rating Scales
Criticality
Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?
Frequency
Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?
Level of Difficulty
Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?
Time Required to Gain Proficiency
Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?
To become proficient in establishing working alliances, a career development professional requires a minimum experience of working with 20 clients.
Autonomy
Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and alone.
Automation
It is unlikely that this competency will automate.