Table Of ContentMOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING
FOR LEADERS IN THE HELPING PROFESSIONS
Applications of Motivational Interviewing
Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller,
and Theresa B. Moyers, Series Editors
www.guilford.com/AMI
Since the publication of Miller and Rollnick’s classic Motivational Interview-
ing, now in its third edition, MI has been widely adopted as a tool for facilitat-
ing change. This highly practical series includes general MI resources as well
as books on specific clinical contexts, problems, and populations. Each volume
presents powerful MI strategies that are grounded in research and illustrated
with concrete, “how-to-do-it” examples.
Motivational Interviewing in Health Care: Helping Patients Change Behavior
Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller, and Christopher C. Butler
Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Young Adults
Sylvie Naar and Mariann Suarez
Motivational Interviewing in Social Work Practice
Melinda Hohman
Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment of Anxiety
Henny A. Westra
Motivational Interviewing, Third Edition: Helping People Change
William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick
Motivational Interviewing in Groups
Christopher C. Wagner and Karen S. Ingersoll, with Contributors
Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment
of Psychological Problems, Second Edition
Hal Arkowitz, William R. Miller, and Stephen Rollnick, Editors
Motivational Interviewing in Diabetes Care
Marc P. Steinberg and William R. Miller
Motivational Interviewing in Nutrition and Fitness
Dawn Clifford and Laura Curtis
Motivational Interviewing in Schools:
Conversations to Improve Behavior and Learning
Stephen Rollnick, Sebastian G. Kaplan, and Richard Rutschman
Motivational Interviewing with Offenders: Engagement, Rehabilitation, and Reentry
Jill D. Stinson and Michael D. Clark
Motivational Interviewing and CBT:
Combining Strategies for Maximum Effectivenss
Sylvie Naar and Steven A. Safren
Building Motivational Interviewing Skills: A Practitioner Workbook, Second Edition
David B. Rosengren
Coaching Athletes to Be Their Best: Motivational Interviewing in Sports
Stephen Rollnick, Jonathan Fader, Jeff Breckon, and Theresa B. Moyers
Motivational Interviewing for Leaders in the Helping Professions:
Facilitating Change in Organizations
Colleen Marshall and Anette Søgaard Nielsen
MOTIVATIONAL
INTERVIEWING
for Leaders in the
Helping Professions
Facilitating Change in Organizations
Colleen Marshall
Anette Søgaard Nielsen
Series Editor’s Note by
Theresa B. Moyers
The Guilford Press
New York London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Marshall, Colleen, author. | Nielsen, Anette Søgaard, author.
Title: Motivational interviewing for leaders in the helping professions :
facilitating change in organizations / Colleen Marshall, Anette Søgaard
Nielsen.
Description: New York : The Guilford Press, [2020] | Series: Applications
of motivational interviewing | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020025569 | ISBN 9781462543816 (paperback ; alk. paper)
| ISBN 9781462543823 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781462543847 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Motivational interviewing. | Employee motivation. |
Organizational change. | Leadership. | Social service.
Classification: LCC BF637.I5 M365 2020 | DDC 158.3/9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025569
About the Authors
Colleen Marshall, MA, LMFT, has extensive experience in clinical prac-
tice, leadership, and management, and has held executive and senior-
level positions in large behavioral health organizations. She is currently
Director of Behavioral Health Operations for Well, a health technology
and services company, and serves as a consultant and trainer for start-
up, nonprofit, and health care organizations. Ms. Marshall is a mem-
ber of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), for
which she has served as Chair, Treasurer, board member, and trainer of
new trainers. She has helped to consult and lead large-scale motivational
interviewing implementation and has been invited to speak at regional,
national, and international conferences.
Anette Søgaard Nielsen, PhD, is Professor at the Institute of Clinical
Research at the University of Southern Denmark. She has extensive
experience in leadership and management, primarily as the leader of one
of Denmark’s largest treatment institutions for alcohol use disorders,
and as the head of smaller research teams. Dr. Nielsen has been a mem-
ber of MINT since 1997, for which she has served as a board member
and trainer of new trainers. She is the author or coauthor of numerous
peer-reviewed articles, chapters, books, and other publications, with a
focus on evidence-based treatment of alcohol use disorders.
v
Series Editor’s Note
The book you are holding in your hands is a welcome addition to the
Applications of Motivational Interviewing series. We have been try-
ing for many years to bring forward a book about the value of motiva-
tional interviewing (MI) for organizational leaders. We saw a natural
fit for MI in complex organizations, but we also did not want a book
portraying MI as a way of manipulating employees and colleagues to do
things that were not in their best interest. This long-awaited book is just
what we were hoping for. It comes from two outstanding MI experts
who work in complex organizations and bring a wealth of information
that we hope will be useful to at least two groups of readers. First, we
hope this book will be helpful for those who want to develop their skills
as leaders among the employees and colleagues with whom they work
every day. In addition, we are excited about the possibilities for those
who will use the ideas in this book to help their organizations as a whole
to move forward. Get ready for a new way of thinking about leadership!
Theresa B. Moyers
vi
Acknowledgments
For both of us, this book has been a journey of reflecting on what
true collaboration, partnership, support, and leadership look like. We
would like to thank everyone who has provided this help to us. Although
we cannot name everyone who has influenced us and helped us in our
development as leaders, there are a few people that we want to be sure to
thank. To Orville Coonce, Karen Thomsen, and Unni Bille-Brahe: You
were the perfect leaders. You always believed in us, challenged us, and
created the space for us to grow. Thank you for all you taught us. Many
of the ideas of this book come from what you modeled. To Terri Moyers:
Thank you for gently pushing us to write this book. We so appreciate
your confidence in us and your support. To William Miller and Ste-
phen Rollnick: Without your partnership and collaboration, none of this
would have been possible. Your giving spirit, compassion, and brilliance
have really changed the world, and certainly have changed us. Thank you
for introducing us to motivational interviewing. To the MINT (Motiva-
tional Interviewing Network of Trainers) community: Thank you for
creating the space where we always feel welcomed, accepted, inspired,
and loved. We have been very lucky to be surrounded by such great role
models and compassionate people. To Susan Dew: Thank you for all the
editing, language guidance, and help in making our ideas clear. To Lone
Vester Nielsen: Thank you for the beautiful and simple artwork. Your
art has really helped make the concepts of this book come alive. And to
Jim Nageotte and the staff at The Guilford Press: Thanks for all your
help in editing and guiding this book. We truly have appreciated your
support. Thank you all.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Colleen: I wish to express special thanks to Renee Sievert: Thank
you for your friendship and collaboration. Many of the best ideas I have
learned about leadership have come from your trainings and our conver-
sations. To my husband, Greg Marshall: You are my model for the per-
fect partnership. You make everything possible in my life. I am so lucky
to call you my husband. To my parents, Clarence J. (C. J.) and Donna
Ross: Thank you for always being my biggest cheerleaders. Thank you
for providing me great models of family, love, and supportive parenting.
To my boys, Thomas, Jeffrey, Russell, and Daniel: You have always been
and always will be my why, my motivation.
Anette: I wish to express special thanks to my husband, Peter
Schøning, for supporting me and for being so patient with me. I love
you. To my parents, Anne-Lise and Karl Nielsen, for believing in me
always. To my son and daughter, Anders and Amalie, who have man-
aged to grow into wonderful, considerate, and kind young people. I am
so proud of you.
Finally, we will just add: It has been really fun to write this book
together. We have learned of lot from each other, and the result is not
just a book, but also a friendship. Thank you all, for helping us to make
that happen.
Preface
We feel fortunate to be able to share with you our many years of expe-
rience in learning motivational interviewing (MI) and using it in the
workplace. The aim of this book is simple. In introducing you to MI, we
hope to draw your attention to a specific, not well-addressed, workplace
problem. We hope that by reading this book, by thinking about the ideas
shared therein, and, most important, by applying what you learn, you
will be better equipped to manage a very specific problem that faces
most leaders every day: How can you best help your employees and
organization embrace change?
MI is a way of helping others strengthen their own motivation to
change, of enabling them to resolve their internal ambivalence and move
toward making changes in their lives, including their work lives. We
illustrate how the skilled use of MI can help leaders support employees
in their development and their ability to make important changes. We
also describe how leaders can benefit from applying the principles of MI
when implementing change across the whole organization.
MI and leadership have been the backbone of our work lives for
decades. We have both served as leaders of small and large institutions
in health care, social services, and helping organizations for over 20
years. We have also served as MI trainers and consultants, training and
supporting helping professionals to learn and implement MI for over
15 years. This book builds on our own experiences, both as leaders of
helping organizations and as MI trainers. We realized while writing this
book how much our work with MI has shaped our attitudes toward
employees and organizations. In particular, we realized how the spirit,
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