Coaching practices for Motivational Interviewing When Starting Out

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Motivational Interviewing When Starting Out, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Every time I lay out for someone all the reasons they should change, they just argue back for staying exactly as they are
• They say they want to change but they’re clearly half-in, half-out, and I can’t tell whether it’s that the change doesn’t matter enough to them or that they just don’t believe they could actually pull it off.
• They tell me what kind of parent or partner they want to be, and it’s miles from how they’re actually living
• I want to invite someone to try a new approach, and I sense it would land far better if they first connected it to how they already see themselves
• I actually have useful information that could help them, but the moment I offer unsolicited advice they tune me out or bristle

Practices that may help

1. Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
   Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative conversation style that strengthens a person’s own motivation for change by drawing out their reasons rather than supplying them. Meta-analyses find small-to-moderate effects across health behaviors — modest on average, but reliably better than confrontational or advice-giving styles, which can backfire.
2. Evoke change talk instead of supplying it
   Ask questions that lead the person to voice their own reasons for changing.
   Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
3. Scale importance and confidence with the readiness ruler
   Ask “On a 0–10 scale, how ready are you?” — then ask why not lower.
   Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
4. Develop discrepancy between values and behavior
   Gently hold up the gap between what the person wants and what they’re doing.
   Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
5. Prime identity before the ask — "what kind of person are you?"
   Invite the person to describe who they are in terms that align with the behavior you’re requesting.
   Pre-Suasion, Made Practical
6. Share advice with permission (ask–offer–ask)
   Ask what they know, offer information with consent, then ask what they make of it.
   Motivational Interviewing, Made Practical
7. Hire people who share the Why, not just the skills
   Skills can be learned; shared belief cannot — filtering for Why-alignment at hiring is the highest-leverage culture move.
   Start With Why: Leading Through Purpose
8. Diagnose whether you are stuck on expectancy or value
   Before trying to motivate yourself, identify which of the two factors is actually low.
   Expectancy-Value Theory: Why You Try (or Don’t)
9. Close every informational interview with one forward step
   End by asking: "Is there someone else you think I should talk to?"
   Informational Interviews: Career Research That Builds Your Network
10. Open with "What’s on your mind?"
    The best opening question is also the most open — it invites exactly what the person most needs to talk about.
    The Coaching Habit: Seven Questions to Be More Coach-Like

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