Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) · Leadership development organization
Core Leadership Skills (opens in a new tab)
Explore self-awareness, communication, influence and learning agility as reflection points for your development.
YOUR WORK. YOUR PRACTICE.
Motivational Interviewing (MI) in leadership and supervision
Practice inviting a colleague's perspective while addressing commitments, capacity and the work you are responsible for together.
A clear expectation can still open a conversation.
Supervision involves decisions, competing priorities and follow-through. A colleague may need clarity, a chance to explain what happened or a discussion about what is workable. Practice holding the purpose of the work alongside their account.
When someone is considering a change in how they work, explore their reasons, ideas and confidence. When your task is to clarify a requirement or give feedback, practice directness with curiosity and an honest account of what is open to discussion.
What is Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, goal-oriented way of talking that helps people explore and strengthen their own motivation for change. Careful listening, shared focus and respect for choice guide the conversation. These skills also help when the immediate task is to understand a concern, explain information or agree what happens next.
BECOMING WITHIN YOUR WORK
Become more intentional about how you lead.
Your values, habits and authority shape how colleagues experience a conversation. Practice making expectations clear, inviting useful disagreement and recognizing what is yours to decide. Leadership development also includes your capacity to pause, learn and ask for support.
A question to carry into practice
How do I want to use my authority in this moment, and what could I learn from the colleague’s account?
Explore professional identity and practice resources
Explore the resources that fit your role, alongside your organization’s guidance and local credentialing requirements. These independent resources are offered for learning; their inclusion does not imply affiliation or endorsement.
CONVERSATIONS YOU CAN PRACTICE
Bring the realities of your work.
Discuss a commitment
Understand what happened and clarify what each person can undertake next.
Work through competing priorities
Hear the capacity concern and establish which decisions and trade-offs belong to you.
Respond when feedback felt dismissive
Acknowledge the colleague's experience and revisit how the feedback was delivered.
Explore a new way of working
Understand the colleague's view of a proposed change and the support they might find useful.
The daily conversation rotates within your field. Additional conversation choices depend on your account's access.
FROM PRACTICE TO YOUR NEXT CONVERSATION
A few minutes today. Something to try tomorrow.
Have a short back-and-forth with a fictional partner. Get specific feedback on your responses, choose something to try next, and return to your saved conversations as you develop.
Consider how your authority shaped the response you received. Identify a way to invite useful disagreement and take responsibility for your contribution.
Build my practice home →WHY BECOMING MI
Becoming is personal and professional.
Becoming MI connects daily practice with the person and professional you want to become. Try a response, consider feedback, and carry something useful into your next conversation.
Your whole well-being belongs here.
Your values, responsibilities and well-being meet in your work. We make room for that whole experience, including the resources and support you need.
Explore AMIGA’s approach to becoming →