“Support needs challenge”
Supportive climate |
Defensive climate |
| Description Non-judgemental presentation of perceptions, feelings, events; genuine requests for information; descriptively reflecting opinions and direct observations of visible behaviour back to the other person; avoiding terms like ‘good’ or ‘bad’ |
Evaluation Passing judgement; blaming, criticizing or praising; questioning motives or standards |
| Problem orientation Collaboration; mutually defining and solving problems rather than telling someone what to do |
Control Doing something to other people; telling them what to do or how to feel or think |
| Spontaneity (flexibility) Freedom from ‘hidden agendas’ or other deceptions; straightforwardness; the ability to respond to events and people with flexibility. Spontaneity should not be construed to mean lack of organization or absence of plans and structure |
Strategy (hidden agenda) Manipulating through the use of tricks or hidden plans; hiding intentions |
| Empathy (involvement) Willingness to become involved with others; identifying with, respecting, accepting, understanding others |
Neutrality (indifference) Indifference, detachment, aloofness; viewing the other person as an object of study |
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Equality |
Superiority Failure to recognize the worth of the other person, arousing feelings of inadequacy in the other; communicating that one is better than the other |
| Provisionalism (tentativeness) Tentativeness; open-mindedness; willingness to explore alternative points of view or plans of action |
Certainty (dogmatism) Dogmatism; resisting consideration of alternatives; emphasis on proving a point rather than solving the problem |