Career Theories and Models at Work

Ideas for Practice

Nancy Arthur, Roberta Neault, Mary McMahon

• Publisher: CERIC
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781988066363
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Counseling

This edited international collection of contemporary and emerging career development theories and models aims to inform the practice of career development professionals around the globe. In addition to serving both new and seasoned practitioners, the book is intended to be used as a text for undergraduate and graduate career counselling courses.

In order to effectively serve clients and the public, career practitioners need to be equipped with the latest theories and models in the field. Ethical career practice requires practitioners to be up-to-date with their knowledge about theory and how theory informs practice. This publication provides practitioners with a tangible resource they can use to develop theory-informed interventions.

• Contains 43 chapters on the theories and models that define the practice of career development today
• Contributors are 60 of the leading career researchers and practitioners from four continents and nine countries: Australia, Canada, England, Finland, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States
• Featured authors include the original theorists and those who have adapted the work in unique ways to inform career development practice
• Presented in a reader-friendly format, each chapter includes a Case Vignette that illustrates how a theory or model can be applied in practice, and Practice Points that summarize key takeaways for career practitioners to implement with clients. Additional references are also included.

Chapter 1

Active Engagement: Answering the Call for Imagination

Norman Amundson

The basic tenets of active engagement were developed over many years, in reaction to changing economic, political, and social contextual variables and the need to be more imaginative and effective with career counselling interventions (Amundson, 2018). For example, broader environmental challenges affecting all contexts included expanded globalization, technological and informational advances, demographic shifts, global terrorism, and financial upheaval (Amundson, 2005, 2006). At a personal level, these challenges resulted in greater unpredictability, overlapping work/life issues, and an ever-increasing pace of life. As people tried to deal with these challenges, they often found themselves feeling uncertain, with what appeared to be limited options. In many respects, they were facing a “crisis of imagination” and were hopeful that career counsellors could broaden their perspective and guide them in negotiating new pathways.

Traditional career counselling methods seemed “stuck” and inadequate in the face of these multiple challenges. As a personal response, perhaps a mid-career crisis, I took time to reflect upon my own learning of career counselling methods. A few things had changed over the years, but change was progressing at a snail’s pace. Counsellors were still operating in drab offices, fitting individual clients into standard time slots, and relying primarily on verbal discussion methods. It seemed time to propose a change—time for a more actively engaged approach to the career counselling process. In this chapter, I provide an overview of concepts that support active engagement and a case vignette that illustrates its power in practice.

Overview of Active Engagement Principles and Methods

Crisis of Imagination

As counsellors, it is not enough for us to just give people information or directives; people have to be encouraged to expand their own imaginations so that they will have more options. Given that I conceptualize problems as often residing within a crisis of imagination, it is not surprising that solutions have to be found within the same domain. If we are indeed in the business of helping people become more imaginative, then we need to use our own imaginations also. We need to become more flexible, curious, relational, and inspired, with the courage to take risks.

Being As Well As Doing

Coming alongside this call to action is the need to be aware of “being,” as well as “doing” (Hansen & Amundson, 2009). We need to ground our “being” with a quietness of spirit and have the patience to listen to our small inner voice. There are many times in counselling sessions when I have felt confused, without any great clarity about what to do next. In these moments it is usually important to slow down and focus more on the process, rather than trying to push ahead. We can become more familiar with this quietness of spirit through philosophy, art, nature, and meditation. We can take this more reflective stance and apply it within our career counselling role.

Mattering

The starting point for every type of intervention is the establishment of a “mattering” climate—a relational environment where clients feel that they are important, that counsellors are taking time to listen to their concerns, and that counsellors are viewing them as something more than just another client in an impersonal system. The expression of mattering comes through a counsellor’s words, but also through small actions such as meeting people at the doorway, offering a drink of water or coffee, and attending to issues of discomfort. Creating a feeling of mattering helps to increase a client’s self-confidence and build the working alliance. Mattering is ongoing and helps to fuel the career counselling process.

Dynamic Metaphoric Interventions

The active engagement model allows for a broad array of interventions. What stands out is the dynamic nature of many of these interventions. Malcolm Gladwell (2000), in his book, The Tipping Point, refers to the importance of creating relevant, memorable, and transformative experiences (the stickiness factor) as a driver for change. One way to create memorable experiences is to focus on storytelling and the metaphors embedded within stories. Metaphors are malleable, they bring in the visual dimension, and they help to refine thinking as well as provide guiding images for making changes and moving forward. Metaphors can be used to create separation from problems (also called externalizing the problem) after which counsellors and clients can explore, extend, and change images to create the possibility for more-positive outcomes. As an illustration, picture a golfer and think of career counselling as providing the backswing: in order to move forward, one first needs to go backwards. Many people in solving problems want to jump right to the solution, but there are advantages to taking a step back before moving ahead. The movement backwards is a time for reviewing past accomplishments; it is also a time for setting new priorities, and building hope and positive energy. The backswing is short, focused, and energy producing. It sets the stage for movement forward with a release and follow through. In many ways, as career counsellors, we are in the backswing business, helping clients to review strengths, priorities, and opportunities, and then helping them to launch forward with renewed energy and gusto.

Metaphors occur naturally as part of our conceptual system, and we can also ask people to think about their problem situations using visual imagery. Observing or creating a visual image sets the stage for further exploration and discussion. It is important here to recognize that these metaphoric images are only a reflection of reality and as such can be changed and, in some cases, even substituted. I remember working with one young woman who described herself as a floor mat that people wiped their feet on. I told her that when I looked at her I saw a wall hanging; I took the rug off the floor, recognizing its intrinsic beauty and making it a piece of art. This shift in perspective went a long way toward creating a mattering climate and supporting the client to develop a more positive view of herself.

Using Drawings and Physical Activity

Working with metaphors leads naturally to the use of drawings and physical activity. Rather than just talking about a situation, one can create a physical representation of what is happening. This can be a drawing on a flip chart or a physical exercise that helps to draw out the important elements of the metaphor. In solution-focused counselling, one technique that is used extensively is called the “miracle question” (de Shazer, 1985). This technique invites clients to situate themselves in the problem space and then look ahead to possible solutions. A miracle allows them to move to the solution space, from which they can look back at what needs to occur in order to make the move forward possible. Metaphorically speaking, they start their problem solving from the top of the hill looking down rather than from the bottom looking up. This change in perspective helps to generate a more positive stance and supports greater flexibility. One can approach this exercise at a strictly cognitive level, but one can do so much more by adding a drawing, visualization, or even having people get up and walk their problem from one side of the room to the other. Something special happens when we go beyond simply talking about a problem.

Strength Affirmation

Another important component of active engagement is its emphasis on actively communicating and supporting clients through strength affirmation. One active engagement exercise, Story Wheels (formerly the Circle of Strength), starts by asking clients to recall stories of achievement, of career flow, or of times when they were able to successfully navigate a life or career challenge. The career counsellor then asks for more details and encourages a full telling of the story. Once the story is laid out, the focus shifts to analyzing the various components, and identifying the strengths that are embedded within the story. Clients are encouraged to begin this process, with the career counsellor actively contributing their own observations. Within a group context, the other group members join the career counsellor in providing feedback. This type of structured strength affirmation is very powerful because it has its roots in the story as told by the client. This type of active affirmation is more than just “being positive”; it is a behaviour-based affirmation process that is harder for the client to deny. This affirmation strategy is certainly appropriate for the Story Wheels exercise, but it can also be used at a broader level (del Corso & Briddick, 2015). Within active engagement, counsellors are encouraged to express the strengths they observe at every opportunity.

Evidence-Based Evaluation

There are innumerable exercises and strategies embedded within the active engagement approach. In recent years I have been focusing my attention on illustrating the impact of these dynamic exercises through various program development and evaluation projects (evidence-based practice), often in conjunction with those researching hope-action theory. More information about hope-action theory and practice is included in Chapter 27.

In searching out evidence-based practice, I have broadened my approach to include arts-based evaluation as well as a more-traditional evaluation approach (Simons & McCormack, 2007). The results from both formative and summative evaluation have been encouraging with a wide range of clients (e.g., immigrants with professional health training, Syrian refugees, unemployed clients, university alumni, and so on). Some of the activities that have been evaluated include Walking the Problem, Story Wheels, Career Flow, Overcoming Challenges, Workplace Attractors, My Life as a Book, and Two- and Three-Chair Problem-Solving. The results have been very encouraging and clearly point to the effectiveness of interventions with an actively engaged focus.

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