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The Rickter Scale®:
Articles, Reports and Evaluations
Measuring
Movements In Clients
An article originally published in Careers
Guidance Today Magazine, March 2000
Since 1993, Rick Hutchinson and Keith Stead have been developing a motivational
assessment and evaluation tool that, with the advent of initiatives such as the
Learning Gateway and Excellence in Cities, has become a favoured means of
working with even the most challenging clients.
Let us be quite clear: The Rickter Scale® is essentially a colourful plastic
board. It is no more and no less - a tool, a device, an assemblage of sliders in
a framework of scales that read from 0 to 10.
However, its novel attractiveness and appealing simplicity belie the synergy of
theory and practical development that account for its effectiveness.
Having said that, the co-developers are clear that like any other tool, The
Rickter Scale® is only going to be as effective as the professionals who use it.
And whilst it offers a way of working with clients, a guidance model in fact,
positive outcomes will still depend upon the interviewer's own experience and
expertise, integrity, positive expectations of clients and level of
self-efficacy. Whatever the interviewee's response, either positive or negative,
the interviewer cannot NOT influence the client.
The Rickter Scale® was born out of frustration with a system that all too often
demands control and conformity as a result of political and financial
expedients. In particular, it was developed because clients were being labelled
as 'failures', and the team working with those clients also labelled as having
failed, because either hard outcome targets had not been achieved, or the client
had for instance re-offended.
This frustration was compounded, because time after time, those very same
clients had already begun to address serious life issues such as drug or alcohol
use, had progressed from chaotic lifestyle to stability, had sorted out their
relationships, enhanced their employability, and generally improved their
self-confidence, self-worth and self-efficacy. And yet there seemed to be no
effective way of measuring these softer outcomes, or to measure 'distance
travelled' - the real progress achieved by clients, progress more likely to
bring about generative and lasting change than, say, a handful of NVQ units.
The Rickter Scale® was therefore designed to provide staff with an innovative
non-paper based assessment and evaluation tool, with the specific intention of
providing a multi-sensory experience for the client, and in this way appealing
to any preferred learning style or representational system.
In a non-threatening and non-judgemental way, The Rickter Scale® allows clients
to explore their present circumstances, to identify priority areas for support
and intervention, to explore their past in order to pick up on strategies that
have worked for them previously and to explore future possibilities.
Using The Rickter Scale®, clients are empowered to make informed choices and set
goals which are realistic and achievable, to take responsibility for their own
action plan and determine the level of support they require.
Developed by practitioners for practitioners, The Rickter Scale® and Rickter
Guidance Model bring together the best of current practice with a range of
powerful techniques that enable staff to work more effectively with their
clients. They incorporate 'what works' from the theory and practice of
Motivational Interviewing, Neuro-linguistic Programming, Theory of Constraints
and Systems Thinking, as well as the work of researchers like Goleman (emotional
intelligence), Seligman (optimism and pessimism), Covey (characteristics of
effective people) and Bandura (self-efficacy). All of these sources have enabled
a better understanding of soft skills and their significance within the context
of learning and personal development. Additionally, the traditional view of the
role of emotional processing is currently being transformed by recent neuro-scientific
research. What is emerging is a new picture of emotions - as a body/mind system
that provides important information to our reasoning processes (Carla Hannaford,
1995). The developers of The Rickter Scale® are mindful not only of the
contribution made by the scientific community in informing its continued
improvement, but also the participation of practitioners in providing invaluable
feedback and reflection.
The Rickter Scale® is a hand-held instrument, and because the client keeps
his/her fingers in contact with each 'slider' on the Scale as various issues are
explored, the focus of attention is removed from the interviewer and indeed the
'interview situation' to what is essentially a mirror image of the client's own
thoughts and feelings. The full process, or exploration of the board, allows
clients to take up new perspectives on their own lives, and offer a whole-person
response to the interviewer. They can then reflect not merely patterns of
behaviour, but also their capabilities, beliefs, values and sense of identity -
what Robert Dilts refers to as responding at different 'neuro-logical levels'.
In handing The Rickter Scale® to a client, the interviewer is quite literally
handing over responsibility for goal setting and action-planning to that client.
Meanwhile, the interviewer can assume the more appropriate and supportive role
of facilitator, broker and coordinator.
The significance of clients keeping their fingers in contact with the Board
during the questioning is related to what is known in Neuro-linguistic
Programming as anchoring. Whatever thoughts come to mind, and however clients
represent their experiences on a scale of 0 to 10, having them return to those
same scalings at a later date is likely to trigger the very same thought
processes and associated emotions. It is therefore possible to use the power of
anchoring to explore options for the future, and by attaching emotion to the
client's stated goals, create compelling motivational drivers.
On delivery, each Rickter Scale is pre-printed with a Frame of Reference, a set
of ten headings that has been developed in consultation with the purchasing
organisation. Through this process of consultation, practitioners and their
managers can take ownership of either a single Frame, or multiple Frames of
Reference that will then reflect their clients' needs and the organisation's
purpose in working with that particular client group, e.g., enhancing
employability or working towards independent living. The Frame of Reference is
accompanied by a set of questions that, when answered by clients through scaling
their responses 'on the board', will provide the interviewer with a Baseline
Profile.
It is at this point that The Rickter Scale® demonstrates the effectiveness of the
client seeing beyond isolated problems, incidents and behaviours to deeper
patterns, i.e. systems thinking. When clients can see 'the big picture', and
understand the connections between events, they are better able to influence
them. (O'Conner and MacDermott, 1997)
At the second or subsequent use of The Rickter Scale®, comparison can be made
with this first Profile and thus 'distance travelled' may be measured. Whilst
the recording documentation is minimal, both qualitative and quantitative
evidence can be provided not only to demonstrate the client's progress, but also
to reflect the effectiveness of the organisation's support and intervention. It
may further be possible to collate such evidence to demonstrate 'value for
money', as in the case of a hostel for offenders in Yorkshire. They recently
received funding from the Rowntree Foundation on the basis that they now have an
assessment and evaluation system in place that can reflect the effectiveness of
the project's drug work with its residents.
As Prochaska et al pointed out in 1994, research shows that only 20% of any
group are ready to put in the work to change at a given point - though the vast
majority of development programmes are designed as though 100% are.
If people are not ready to change, then that fact itself can become the key
focus of attention. Anything else is likely to be a waste of time. Therefore it
would seem logical that the initial step in these programmes should be to help
clients assess their own readiness, and then to progress through the following
five levels of change (Prochaska and DiClemente):
-
obliviousness,
unconscious incompetence or outright resistance
-
contemplating
a change at some vague point in the future
-
ripeness
to formulate a plan or set goals
-
readiness
to take the necessary action
-
maintenance
The
Rickter Scale® incorporates this sequence during the
'exploration' phase. Adapting the thoughts of Daniel Goleman, the very fact that many clients are likely to
be in the middle of a life crisis can provide a 'window
of opportunity' - the point when some of them will be
most motivated to improve their situation and move on.
In which case, the interviewer may then become the
facilitator of that change, and The Rickter Scale® the
structured means by which a positive outcome can be
achieved.
Integral to this structure is the constant and immediate
feedback that the client derives from using The Rickter
Scale®. And this is a tool, remember, that delivers such
feedback through a combination of its visual
representation, ongoing internal dialogue and the
feedback derived by clients being physically in contact
with The Rickter Scale® - being literally in touch with
their reality.
In many ways this recalls Mihalyi Csiksezentmihalyi's
words:
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"A good game always involves some way of keeping
score. The score (or scaling) feeds back to the player,
giving him/her a constant feel for how well his/her
efforts are succeeding. Feedback, more than any other
factor, injects a gamelike fun into work and
learning". |
So too does it add the 'fun' element to the use of The
Rickter Scale®, as has been frequently reported by
clients.
Ending on a more serious note, The Rickter Scale® is
currently implemented in a wide range of organisations
throughout the United Kingdom. As well as providing
informative case studies and a wealth of evidence of
good practice amongst practitioners, its use has also
highlighted several other issues, such as the attention
being paid to supervision, networking and providing an
appropriate environment for one-to-one work. The authors
feel that these elements are critical to the ultimate
success of such initiatives as The Learning Gateway,
Excellence in Cities Programmes, the Health/Education
Action Zones, and Scotland's New Futures Fund
Initiative, indeed to any attempt to initiate change
within the context of social inclusion.
And as case loads increase and clients seem to become
ever more damaged and difficult to reach, professionals
too must have the opportunity to off-load, to realise
that colleagues everywhere are facing similar
challenges, and to actually get to share good practice
and 'what works'.
Finally, we need to help our guidance professionals and
our teachers and all those others directly involved in
striving towards social inclusion not only to cope with
change themselves, but to thrive on it. It is pointless
trying to motivate clients whilst lacking motivation
oneself. If practitioners do not have a sufficiently
high level of self-efficacy, then they will not enable
their clients to achieve adequate levels either. And if
practitioners have low expectations of their clients,
then the outcome is likely to be a self-fulfilling
prophecy. Who in those circumstances are the ones more
likely to be the recipients of the 'failure' labels? Let
us ensure that does not happen by providing adequate
resources, training and support at the time it is most
needed. Let us act now.
The Rickter Scale® offers the opportunity to celebrate
difference, overcome limiting beliefs, provide
motivation and achieve potential. It offers new
perspectives and a means of exploring possibilities that
enable clients to make informed choices. And like a
device of similar name, it measures movement - one might
say 'assessment on a seismic scale'!
Author: Keith
Stead
Last Edited: April 2001
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STEPS and The Rickter Scale®
This is an outline of my thinking on possible
synergies between The Pacific Institute’s STEPS programme and The Rickter Scale®.
As Project Manager of West Edinburgh Action I have been using both programmes
for about 18 months, and I have recently begun exploring ways in which the two
programmes might complement each other. I am a licenced STEPS facilitator and a
Rickter Scale trainer, and I believe I have good insight into both processes.
West Edinburgh Action is a community based employment access agency, run in
Wester Hailes by Stevenson College of Further Education. It provides a range of
information, guidance and jobsearch services to the local area, and its client
group is diverse, with a wide range of age, ability and economic circumstances
represented. Rickter Scale and STEPS programmes are mainly offered to unemployed
adult clients.
Taken separately, The Rickter Scale®
is used both as a tool to measure
"distance travelled" over time, and also as an action planning and motivational
tool. It might be used at any time with clients at the discretion of our client
advisers. We offer the STEPS programme to clients as part of an employability
package that also includes core skills development, work experience and job
placement and mentoring services.
I have developed a model of employability that puts major emphasis on the
individual's personal effectiveness attributes, particularly self-efficacy,
self-esteem, self-motivation and effective goal setting. I find STEPS to be an
excellent tool for the quick and effective development of these attributes
within our client group. Given this, I am constantly looking at ways in which
our implementation of the STEPS programme can be improved.
In particular there are 3 issues that concern me: how to get clients to commit
to the 4 days of the course; how to demonstrate increases in personal
effectiveness to clients, funders and employers; and how to help clients set
effective, relevant life goals. In all 3 areas I believe that The Rickter Scale®
can provide significant added value.
Gaining client commitment
Completion rates for participants in the STEPS programme are extremely high,
typically 90% plus, and feedback from completers is consistently excellent. The
issue however is getting clients to participate in the first place. This
conundrum is a commonplace, not just within employment access programmes, but
also in the wider arena of lifelong learning. How do you get low self-esteem,
pessimistic and unmotivated individuals to engage in programmes that will
address these issues?
Our experience is that the action planning and motivational aspects of The
Rickter Scale®
process makes this task significantly easier, allowing clients to discover and
articulate gaps in their own personal effectiveness (or other) attributes.
Taking ownership in this way is the first step in committing to a development
programme, and we find that it is then much easier to convince the client that
STEPS is an appropriate first course of action.
For our purposes The Rickter Company has developed a frame of reference with
individual scale dimensions that explore the specific attributes of our
employability model mentioned above. We introduce the client to this "Barriers"
scale as soon as possible within the employability development process, since we
believe that personal effectiveness is key to the client's subsequent progress.
We usually find that we then have little difficulty in gaining the client's
commitment to the STEPS programme and beyond.
Measuring the Effectiveness of STEPS
I believe that the Barriers frame of The Rickter Scale®
mentioned above is an ideal tool for this, since it provides both numeric and
graphical analysis of the client's perceived movement in areas such as goal
setting ability, motivation, resilience and self-efficacy. Used before and after
the course, it has already demonstrated clearly the positive effect of STEPS on
these attributes.
Unfortunately resource constraints within the project have meant that we have a
very small number of "before and after" measures at this stage since the post
course Rickter Scale®
measurement has often been missed out in favour of less structured feedback from
the client on their progress.
There is however an opportunity within the project to implement a well designed
study of this issue, and I would be happy to talk to The Rickter Company / The
Pacific Institute about the possibilities if either or both want to take it
forward.
The Goal Setting Process
The STEPS programme has a well structured approach to this, giving clients an
insight into why it’s important, how to set well formed goals, and how to
achieve them through the affirmation / imprinting process. It also addresses the
question “which goals”, helping participants to identify desired changes in
their own lives.
My experience is that the process of articulating individual needs and desires
takes time to learn however, and some participants may not be comfortable
initially with concepts such as self-reflection, life balance and formal
guidelines for the writing of affirmations. Some may also have basic literacy
issues, which makes this section of the course quite challenging.
The Rickter process, on the other hand, requires no analytical or literacy
skill, and it does not rely on the participant’s understanding of formal
processes. If done correctly and according to Rickter Company guidelines, the
outcome of the exploration stage for each scale dimension is a well -structured
statement of the client’s desired goal. Crucially, this statement will usually
comply with most of the STEPS guidelines for effective affirmations – it will be
first person, present tense and positive, it will include visual, auditory and
kinaesthetic elements, and it will contain positive emotion triggers. It will
also be entirely in the individual’s own words. The range of life issues
addressed in the “Life Board” frame of reference (usually the most appropriate
one to use in this situation, in my opinion) will also add a balanced approach.
A further essential element of the STEPS process at this stage is the imprinting
of desired states through daily repetition of goal statements. This is not part
of the Rickter process, but it would be possible to capture the client’s Rickter
goal statements on audio, then either transcribe them (editing as appropriate)
into written affirmations or use the tape directly in the subsequent imprinting
process. I hope to be able to test this possibility over the next few STEPS
courses, resources permitting. Whilst the need to introduce the Rickter life
board in the middle of the STEPS affirmation unit does present a number of
logistical issues, I think that the outcome of this experiment could be
exciting.
I do not suggest The Rickter Scale®
can be used as a substitute for the STEPS affirmation process. STEPS sets out to
help individuals to be independent, self-directed and accountable, and part of
this is learning the formal process of writing and imprinting affirmations, so
that the individual can continue to use it on an ongoing basis to goal set
throughout life, without the need for mediation from other agencies. However I
do believe that there is potential for The Rickter Scale®
process to add significant value to this important stage of the STEPS process.
Bruce Penman
8 February 2000.
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