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
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
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:

Glossary & Key References

Terms

Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.

None

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?

Moderate risk: CRITICAL

Frequency

Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?

Routinely, regular course of procedure

Level of Difficulty

Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?

Moderate difficulty or complexity

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.

Requisite Work Aids, Tools, Equipment or Materials

None