Transactional Transactional Analysis: Analysis:

Understanding What Understanding What Makes People TickMakes People Tick

Transactional Transactional Analysis: Analysis:

Understanding What Understanding What Makes People TickMakes People Tick

Mentoring CPD & Mentoring CPD & SupervisionSupervision

Transactional Analysis: What is it?

• Developed by Eric Bernes• Post-Freudian• It is:

– is a theory of personality– a systematic psychotherapy

for personal growth and personal change.

• It also offers:– a theory of communication– a theory of child

development– a diagnostic system for

many types of psychopathological disorder

– and has been applied to education, management and communication training

Transactional Analysis: What is it?

• There are 3 philosophical premises of TA:

– People are OK; thus each person has validity, importance, equality of respect

– Everyone has the capacity to think.

– People decide their story and destiny, and these decisions can be changed.

• Therefore: – people can change – we all have a right to be in

the world and be accepted

The Key Ideas• The Ego-State

(Parent-Adult-Child) PAC Model

Exercise One• In small groups discuss

work related behaviours that would relate to – Parent– Adult – Child(you might want to think

about personality types here too)

• What types of language and ways of speaking/communicating would you associate with the different ego states?

The Key Ideas

Exercise Two• Again looking at

language and behaviours in the workplace, what might apply to:– Negative controlling

parent– Positive controlling parent– Negative nurturing parent– Positive nurturing parent– Positive free child– Negative free child– Positive adaptive child– Negative adaptive child

The Key Ideas

The Key Ideas

Exercise three• How are contaminations

useful and how do we use these productively?

• When are contaminations not productive?

• What ego state might you adopt to counter a negative contamination? How will this help?

Drivers• Be perfect

• Hurry up

• Try hard

• Be strong

• Please Others

Managing Drivers• Be perfect – address self

worth & self esteem• Hurry up – encourage

taking time• Try Hard – tackling

perfectionism• Be Strong – provide

opportunities to be open and to express feelings

• Please Others - support disengagement from others’ needs and encourage engagement in looking after own needs

Exercise four• Working in pairs, use

your preferred mentoring technique to explore what your partner’s driver/drivers and help them identify a strategy to tackle them.