[acb-hsp] Facilitating Learning and Change

Sat Jan 14 19:25:36 EST 2012

Facilitating Learning and Change: Perspectives on the Helping

Process

by David Coghlan

Carl Rogers and Nondirectiveness

The first major treatment of nondirectiveness as an approach to working with people

is found in one of Carl Rogers' early books (Rogers, 1942). In this work he devoted

a chapter, "The Directive Versus the Nondirective Approach", to his critical views

on current practices in counselling and psychotherapy, in which the counsellor engaged

in such behaviours as advice-giving, exhortation, interpretation, reassurance, persuasion

and others (Rogers, 1942; Kirschenbaum & Henderson, 1990). In his comparison of the

two approaches, Rogers locates the differences in practice between the directive

and nondirective approaches in their underlying philosophies of counselling.

In the directive approach the assumption is that the counsellor chooses the desirable

and socially approved goal for the client and directs his/her efforts to helping

the client attain that goal. Accordingly, there is an emphasis on social conformity

and the counselling

process

 is problem-focused. In contrast, the nondirective approach is based on assumptions

that the client has the right to select his/her own goals and to be psychologically

independent. Therefore, the nondirective approach is client-- centred, rather than

problem-centred.

Rogers ceased using the term, nondirective" in his published works after 1947. Cain

(1989) discusses several possible reasons for this. One is that Rogers got tired

of being attacked on the nondirective nature of his approach to counselling, which

was perceived as lacking substance and direction. Rogers firmly believed that his

approach did have direction, but that it was a direction set by the client rather

than by the therapist. A second possibility, in Cain's view, is that as Rogers' thought

evolved, the issue of nondirectiveness by the therapist became less central and the

client's self-direction became more important. And so Rogers moved from his use of

the term, "nondirective" in 1942 to "client-centred" (Rogers, 1951) and then to "person-centred"

(Rogers, 1980).

Rogers' philosophy of the person is based on the premise that the human being is

basically a trustworthy organism, capable of evaluating the outer and inner situation,

understanding himself/herself in its context, making constructive choices as to the

next steps in life and acting on those choices. A person working in a facilitative

mode can aid in releasing these capacities when relating as a real person to the

other, owning and expressing his/her own feelings; when experiencing a nonpossessive

caring and love for the other; and when acceptantly understanding the inner world

of the other. The conditions necessary(underlined) to initiate constructive personality

change

, and which, when taken together, appear to be sufficient to inaugurate that

process. The three conditions which constitute this facilitative process are:

1. Genuineness, realness or congruence

2. Acceptance, caring or prizing unconditional positive regard

3. Empathic understanding.

These conditions relate to the ability to build trust to allow oneself to experience

positive feelings towards the other, be strong in oneself to allow freedom to the

other, be able to enter the world of the other, and see things as he/she does, to

be free from external evaluation and allow the other person to be the

process

 of becoming. When this approach is made with an individual or with a group, Rogers

attests, over time, the choices made, the directions pursued and the actions taken

are increasingly constructive personally and tend towards a more realistic social

harmony with others.

T.R. Batten and the Nondirective Approach

In his classic work on the application of a nondirective approach to community development,

Batten (1967) describes how the group worker"aims at stimulating a

process

 of self-determination and self-help, and he values it for all the potential learning

experiences in which participation in this

process involves" (p. 11). Batten articulates his assumptions about the nondirective

process

, and in particular about power, control and influence, which for him, are always

in the hands of the group. In Batten's view, the nondirective worker endeavours to

enlighten the group and influence attitudes and behaviour. Such a worker aims to

educate by asking questions intended to help the group think more systematically

and relevantly than it otherwise would, thus hoping to influence the group indirectly

through contributing to an emergence of a "we-feeling". The worker does this in two

ways - by providing structure, and by encouraging the clients to think freely, systematically

ands objectively about purposes in their work with people and how their work can

be done more effectively.

Batten himself poses the central question regarding the nondirective approach: "How

can a nondirective worker structure, systematise and enlarge the scope of people's

thinking without reverting to a directive approach?" (p. 44) Batten maintains that

the nondirective worker aims to provide: (1) a stimulus to get the group thinking

and continue with its own thinking until it reaches satisfactory conclusions, and

(2) a structure which ensures, as far as possible, that the conclusions reached are

practical and relevant to the group's own needs. Batten provides his own answer to

his question, "His use of structure is quite consistent with his nondirective approach

because, in using it, he does not in any way try to guide the group toward accepting

any specific ideas or conclusions of his own" (p. 88).

It is easy to see how Batten and Rogers hold a somewhat similar philosophy of what

it means to be nondirective. In Batten's terms, the nondirective worker's aim is

to release the group to do the work it judges it needs to do. This is achieved by

the worker behaving in a manner which, while a structure is created by the questions

that are asked, does not direct the group towards any outcome not determined by the

group. Both Batten and Rogers, therefore, view nondirectiveness in a helping relationship

as a client-centredness, whereby the client, whether an individual in counselling

or a community group engaged in action-planning, determines what the problems are

and how they are to be solved. Nondirectiveness, for both Batten and Rogers, clearly

does not mean directionless or without substance; the term refers the underlying

philosophy of helping of the person in the helping role towards the client, and the

helping

process

 itself governs behaviour in the helping

process.

Process Consultation

"Process

 Consultation" is the creation of Edgar H. Schein (1969,1987,1988, 1999), who defines

it as"the creation of a relationship with the client that permits the client to perceive,

understand and act on

process

 events that occur in the client's internal and external environment in order to

improve the situation as defined by the client" (1999, p. 20). Schein's underlying

assumptions are that managers frequently do not know what is wrong in an organisation

and consequently require a special kind of help to understand what their problems

actually are. Secondly they often do not know what kinds of help consultants can

offer, and consequently require assistance in knowing what kind of help to seek.

Thus, consultants work jointly with managers so that they can learn how to discover

the problems for themselves, share in the understanding and be actively involved

in creating solutions.

Based of these assumptions it is evident that the process

 consultation model stands in sharp contrast to traditional consultation models.

These other models are based on particular areas of consultant expertise wherein

the client asks for advice and/or expert problem-solving contributions, but does

not learn(underlined) how to perform those functions as a consequence. Schein refers

to them as the "doctor-patient" model, where the client goes to the expert for diagnosis

and prescription, and the 11 purchase" model whereby the client hires the professional

to actually perform a required function.

Process

 consultants, by contrast, have emphasised the building of effective helping relationships

which are achieved by working jointly with clients in order that clients begin to

solve their own organisational problems. Furthermore they aim to pass on their skills

to enable managers to become

process

 consultants in their own organisations. Thus, a core collorary goal for

process consultants is to facilitate managers to become effective helpers.

Schein uses the words, "diagnosis" and "intervention" to describe certain concepts

in process

 consultation. In the traditional consulting models, clients present material to

consultants who initially make a diagnosis based on their particular expertise and

previous experience, then intervene, typically by prescribing behaviour. Thus, diagnosis

precedes intervention. However, in

process

 consultation diagnosis and intervention occur simultaneously.

Process

 consultants, through their facilitation and interventions, attempt to help clients

construct their own definitions and understanding of the problem.

In a typology of consultant interventions, Schein (1999) describes pure, exploratory

diagnostic, and confrontive inquiry as examples of moment-to-moment consultant interventions.

Pure inquiry aims at eliciting the story and the consultants listens carefully and

neutrally. This form of inquiry is most important in its aim to create the climate

of

process

 consultation to promote open-ended inquiry. Through exploratory diagnostic inquiry

the consultant begins to manage the

process

 of how content is elaborated and analysed by exploring reasoning, emotional responses

and actions. In confrontive inquiry the consultant shares his/her own ideas and reactions

about the

process

 and content of the story in order to enable the client to think about the situation

from a different perspective.

The emphasis on the helping relationship is in Schein's view the decisive factor

as to whether or not help will occur in the relationship between consultant and client.

He notes that while this is well-- established in psychotherapy and other helping

roles, in organizational consulting consultants report that they think it important

to make a formal diagnosis, write reports and make specific recommendations in order

to feel they have done their job. Schein (1999) articulates ten principles of

process

 consultation. Always try to be helpful. Always stay in touch with current reality.

Access your ignorance. Everything you do is an intervention. It is the client who

owns the problem and the solution. Go with the flow. Timing is crucial. Be constructively

opportunistic with confrontive interventions. Everything is a source of data; learn

from inevitable errors. When in doubt share the problem.

This description of the process

 consultation approach, its theory and practice demonstrates many similarities with

the person-centred approach, particularly regarding the nature of the helping role

(Coghlan & McIlduff, 1995). While both disciplines work in different arenas, they

are linked through sharing some common fundamental assumptions about facilitating

positive

change

. They have arisen and developed independently of each other. For both Rogers and

Schein their approach is wider and more fundamental than that of providing a technique

of how to work in a helping role with individuals, groups and organisations. For

Schein,

process

 consultation is a "philosophy of how to provide help to human systems"; for Rogers,

the person-- centred approach is a facilitative "way of being". Despite different

terminology, the underpinning philosophical foundations of theory and practice of

both traditions are consistent with each other.

The Intervention Category Approach of John Heron

Building on the original work of Blake and Mouton (1983), John Heron (1990) presents

a comprehensive typology of one-to-one helping interventions. He distinguishes six

intervention categories: prescriptive (directing the behaviour of another), informative

(imparting knowledge and information), confronting (directly challenging some limiting

behaviour or attitude), cathartic (enabling the discharge of painful emotion), catalytic

(enabling self-directed behaviour) and supportive (seeking to affirm the worth and

value of the client). He provides a range of behaviours which can be utilised

within each category.

In Heron's view three issues are critical. One is that the practitioner be skilled

in intervening within

(underlined) each category. This presupposes both the rigorous training required

to help people release painful emotion, for example or to be able to enable self--

directed learning and the attitudinal disposition of being able to give advice without

any accompanying emotional hooks so that the client feels free to take or not take

the advice. The second is that the practitioner be skilled in choosing which category(underlined)

to utilise in any given situation. So in Heron's terms, there is an appropriate time

to be prescriptive, informative, confronting, cathartic, catalytic or supportive.

A mismatch between situation and category results in ineffective help. So if a person

is grieving or is in the throes of painful emotion, a cathartic or supportive intervention

is likely to be more appropriate than an informative intervention as to why this

situation might be occurring. The third issue is that the supportive and catalytic

categories underpin all six. In other words all the interventions are grounded in

respect for the autonomy of the person and self-directed learning and action. Hence,

for example, advice is directed at enabling the client to make his/her own choices,

rather than meeting the needs of the practitioner to control the behaviour of the

client.

It is regard to this latter point that Heron introduces an important sophistication

to this framework, namely the notion of degenerate interventions. While he also notes

the existence of unsolicited, manipulative, compulsive and perverted interventions

(which explicitly aim to harm or damage others), it is the notion of degenerate interventions

that are of interest in this context. Degenerate interventions, for Heron, are mismanaged

or misguided interventions, which while they are grounded in good intentions they

fail to be helpful because they are rooted in the practitioner's lack of awareness

and insight. He provides multiple examples under each category. An example of degenerate

prescriptive interventions is taking-over (whether oppressively, moralistically or

benevolently). Degenerate informative intervention would be over-teaching (whether

oppressively or seductively) where so much information is being provided that the

client is overwhelmed and so input ceases to be useful. Yet the practitioner is trapped

into providing what information or knowledge he/she has to give, rather than what

is useful to the client. Degenerate confronting interventions are instanced in punitive

confrontations, cathartic in unintentionally restricting the release of emotion.

Instances of degenerate catalytic interventions occur through an interrogation or

curiosity approach to inquiry, asking closed questions and inadvertently slipping

into a prescriptive mode. Finally, degenerate supportive interventions are found

in moral or experiential patronge and qualified support. The propensity for degenerate

interventions is confronted by the personal and professional training and development

of those engaging in helping roles.

Heron (1999) adapted his six categories to group facilitation. To meet the exigencies

of the group situation, he refrained the categories as six dimensions of group facilitation:

planning, meaning, confronting, feeling, structuring and valuing. He describes how

each dimensions can be applied in three different ways, a hierarchical model where

the facilitator directs from the front, a cooperative mode where the facilitator

shares power with the group and an autonomous mode where the group is given freedom

to find its own way.

Heron's presentation of the six dimensions and the three modes of implementing them

offers a solution to an important common problem for consultants and

facilitators

. This common problem may be framed as a tension between structuring and directiveness

in group facilitation. Frequently

facilitators

 and consultants get accused of directing a group when they construct a structure

for how the group might work. Coghlan and McIlduff (1990) noted from Heron's work

that the structuring dimension reflects what(underlined) the facilitator does with

regard to structure (high, medium or low structure) while directiveness or nondirectiveness

reflects how the facilitator uses structure. Hence, Heron provides a conceptual and

practical solution by constructuring a frame whereby the structuring of a group's

work may be unilaterally decided by the consultant (hierarchical mode), offered to

the group for consideration (co-operative mode) or left to the group to create itself

(autonomous mode).

Reflections

In this article I have traced some important threads in the development of a client-centred

approach to helping change

 and learning take place. Carl Rogers pioneered the nondirective approach and articulated

its core assumptions. Coming from a different perspective, Batten contributed a useful

distinction between structuring and nondirectiveness. Schein's

process

 consultation, so familiar to the field of OD and frequently miscast as a group intervention,

is a sophisticated philosophy of helping which has close links to Rogers approach

(Coghlan & McIlduff, 1995). In some respects Heron's approach brings Rogers, Batten

and Schein together through a practical framework of intervention categories and

underlying values, though both Rogers and Schein discourage an emphasis on what the

practitioner does and prefer to focus on the helping relationship. I hope that this

exploration stimulates OD practitioners and action researchers to reflect on their

own intervention practice and how they exemplify their values on how to be helpful.

-1-

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com

Publication Information:

Article Title: Facilitating Learning and Change: Perspectives on the Helping Process.

Contributors: David Coghlan - author. Journal Title: Organization Development Journal.

Volume: 20. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 116+. © 2002 O D Institute.

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