stephenrollnick

Hi,

I work as an organisational psychologist in the UK and have recently been given a challenging assignment which is to design a programme for a very resistant, successful group of people around targeting unconscious bias in the workplace.

I know that this is traditionally not a space in which we use MI but I was wondering whether anyone has used MI in the corporate space and if so whether you could point me in the right direction.

Any other tips or help would be muchly appreciated.

thanks in advance,

Antonio

Hi Antonio,

yes, people have used MI in corporpate settings, although Ive seen nothing written and published on this topic. The obvious limitation is that MI is really for circumstances where the primary motive of the interviewer is the well-being of the other.

If I consider your posting, I get stuck on your description which I dont really understand!  if you could help us clarify what you mean by "to design a programme for a very resistant, successful group of people around targeting unconscious bias in the workplace", .then let's have a go at seeing how MI could be helpful!

There's a business school in Paris, quite a famous one apparently, that even had Bill Miller fly over to talk with them....

Kind regards, Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply.

Hope this is clearer.

I have been asked by an organisation to design and deliver some training around bias (diversity and inclusion). The training is designed to encourage open debate, awareness raising, and teach people skills around how to handle bias in the workplace. I thought that providing the group with some tools in eliciting change talk with a focus on how someone could change their behaviours towards others if they suspect they may have bias could be very powerful. The audience the training would be designed for are very well rewarded white males who may be resistant to changing their behaviours in the workplace as they consider themselves to be very good at what they currently do and how they do it. I suppose therein lies the challenge.

Do you think MI may fit into this picture somewhere?

Best,

Antonio

Antonio,

Apologies for the delay in replying.

I think I might get it!  So you will be in a trainer/facilitator role. You will be working with "managers" or senior people.  You dont say whether individually or in a group?  Assuming it in a group, you want to help them develop more flexible and compassionate attitudes towards others around diversity issues.  And in addition to helping them change their own attitudes and behaviour, you want to give them skills like eliciting change talk that they can use with others?

Its complex, these parallel processes you are working with.   You need skills to "change them", and you want to give them skills to "change others"?

This sounds to me like a legitimate and helpful scenario in which to use MI skills, for both you and them.  In principle, yes. It feels ethically solid to me, because your ultimate goal is the well-being of people who might come from different background and be at the receiving end of prejudice and poor management.

How you approach this is complex training challenge. i still dont want to go into any detail for fear of still not quite understanding your role, how much training and supervision you have had in MI, whether you are working with a group or individuals, whether its a taster educational experience or a workshop, of what length, and so on.

I certainly dont think its easy to train people in eliciting change talk unless they grasp the spirit of Mi, and then its only really possible if they have the skills to use reflective listening, hence my question about how much training time you have and indeed, what your experience of these skills are yourself?

Feel free to be more concrete..... and maybe we can construct some kind of framework...?

kind regards,

Steve