Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick)

The Source

Motivational Interviewing, developed by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick, originally for clinical and addiction-counseling contexts. Like NVC, this came into the project already known and clinically used, rather than newly researched.

Core Ideas (from the project so far)

• The MI spirit — partnership, acceptance, compassion, evocation. Eliciting what the client already wants, rather than persuading them toward what the coach wants for them. Treated as the clinical, well-validated version of the curriculum's own ethics test.
• Change talk vs. sustain talk — listening for and reinforcing a client's own stated reasons for change, rather than arguing for change yourself.
• Rolling with resistance — not confronting a client's ambivalence directly, but moving the conversation forward through it. Pairs with Voss's calibrated questions and labeling.
• Distinct role in the curriculum — MI describes how the coaching relationship itself is conducted, distinct from the content taught within it (composure, listening, the Seven Levers, etc.).
• The savior/choice-denial connection — someone looking to be rescued has often, without realizing it, outsourced their own choice to someone else. MI's evocation principle depends entirely on the client bringing their own motivation — the opposite of what a savior-seeker wants.

My Notes

Open Questions