The research on what works (and on what doesn’t work) to facilitate the uptake of MI competency is pretty clear. Workshops that expose participants to MI practices and provide some brief practice opportunity are simply not sufficient to yield a good level of skill and effectiveness with the approach. Workshops do not result in people being “trained” – even though they are important as a way to get the ball rolling in that direction! To become “trained” in MI, learners need all three of:
The fact is that skill practice after MI workshops is an essential part of competency development. Additionally, obtaining accurate feedback on such practice is also critical to proficiency. An important concern for many learners is that while they may have ample opportunity for practice after workshop participation, very few are able to obtain quality feedback on what they are practicing. The reasons for this vary.
Even for MI learners who develop some solid confidence after their initial exposure training – it’s important to have access to a variety of ways to obtain feedback and “sharpen the saw”. Some organizations are simply unable to provide adequate supervision time that would allow learners to obtain coaching and objective feedback on their skills. Other times, supervisors have not been able to obtain MI training themselves and thus are at a loss to be a useful resource to the people they supervise who are striving for MI skill enhancement. Even when supervisors have had adequate training, many don’t practice MI in their typical day-to-day work. For that reason, some supervisors find it difficult to provide experience-based coaching to the people who would otherwise benefit so much from that kind of support.
For all of these reasons, the MI trainers at the Paul Burke Training Group are able to provide post workshop coaching services to learners who are willing and able to sign on for one-on-one coaching sessions conducted via telephone and/or Skype. Workshop participants can participate in one or more individual sessions and agencies can purchase bulk-rate discounted packages for larger groups of learners for weekly, bi-monthly or monthly follow-up practice sessions.
In each case when we are contracted to provide post-workshop coaching, we establish individualized learning plans with learners. In this way, every learner is able to develop a customized continuing development plan that meets their unique needs, skill level, preferred learning format, and time schedule. On request, formal use of the MITI 4.0 skill assessment coding tool is available to all learners who participate in coaching, along with in-depth review of assessment outcomes. The MITI 4.0 coding instrument is invaluable in helping learners to measure their learning progress and overall proficiency with the practice of MI.
If you’d like to learn more about how our coaching service can expedite the process of learning MI, or about how we can develop a custom-made plan for you or your agency, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail us anytime!
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