Ever since Miller and Rollnick published their first works in the 1980’s, the world at large has recognized the fields of motivational interviewing, together with Deci and Ryan’s self-determination science, as the epitome of Carl Roger’s client-centred approach.  Years ago, together with Team EXOS, earlier known as Athletes Performance International, we incorporated MI into our approach to dealing with elite athletes, especially the OARS technique to create a warmer interpersonal environment. We began to use the phrase ‘athlete centred’ as opposed to the standard approach that focussed on the coach as the centre of attention, not the athlete.

MI as an approach, supported by a network of trainers across the world, focusses on the support of personal autonomy, respecting that we as coaches or therapists are only visiting the life the athlete is living, and that when it comes to change, the athlete is the expert, not us. Change is hard for anyone, and often the clash of emotions with thinking generates a natural ambivalence, approach-avoidance if you will. We want something but it is all too hard. Resolve to pivot or change is eroded by past experience, and this undermines one’s sense of effectance or self-efficacy, and thus change appears daunting.

The approach is highly centred on empathy skills, something one imagines is not typical in coaching which rather takes on an adversarial tone. Good coaches, in our organization at least, and certainly others, ask, they don’t tell.

I have covered most of these themes in my own work, Sugarman R (2014), Client Centered Training: A trainer and coach’s guide to motivating clients. For that reason and more, I was thrilled to now see the masters in the field publishing specifically in the field of MI in coaching athletes, together with Breckon and Moyers.

They start off with the idea that this is the first book on MI in coaching sport (sorry guys, mine was first!!) and with the well accepted idea that we believe what comes out of our own mind before any else’s wisdom (Blaise Pascal) and hence MI provides the tools that help people solve their own problems. Better conversations produce better outcomes, namely, as the self-determinists say, a warm relationship is better than a stirring speech.

These conversations should look like dancing, not wrestling, and the authors give examples of the pushback we might be typically receiving, the yes-but effects. Coaching can fall foul of the righting reflex, the desire to jump in and fix, without the recipient learning any skills at all.  In reality, the athlete should do more talking than the coach, as the coach elicits responses by asking questions and making sure the athlete feels heard and supported.  Doubt, low motivation, ambivalence is normal in most situations, including those that involve elite performers. So the best approach has proven to be allowing the person to make the case for why the sacrifices that change demands are acceptable and desirable.  MI is thus merely a conversation with the purpose of scaffolding and not directing change.

There is a downside thus to fixing, and the righting reflex, the premature focus, needs to be managed, or tamed as they write. Reaching out and connecting, establishing the warm and supportive scaffold includes problem solving, rather than preaching. So with examples of coaching as usual versus coaching with guidance, the authors approach this initial skill of getting to know and support the person. One is an expert coach when invited to be so, and getting the invitation is a skill: choice for the person receiving the coaching is vital and respectful, allowing them a menu of alternatives with the choice of best fit left to them, with guidance and healthy respect for their sense of autonomy. One has to become a keen observer of this process.

Mindset is described as a way of being. In a way, MI is similar to the concepts within Acceptance and Commitment in the focus on psychological flexibility, dealing with adversity by an adherence to problem solving and values. Autonomy means a sense that we are guiding our own lives, and mastery, that we are getting better at the who or what is important to us, values in other words. Avoidance, or resistance, is what MI is trying to solve.

Different ways of inspiring motivation are always the target of research, such as preaching, teaching, inspiring, tough love, humour, avoidance, and so on, all challenged by research. If we teach, they will do, if we argue, point out, convince and so on are all proven ineffective or downright negative in outcomes. MI is a forward-looking conversation, an attempt to unblock inherent motivational skill, not confronting but supportive of attempts to resolve the issues in their own way, evocative in approach. 

Ambivalence and doubt are regarded as normal. Meeting resistance is probably best laid at the feet of the coach, if one is to apportion blame (I address this in my own work by saying that ownership of this resistance energizes the coach to attempt to resolve this, rather than blaming the person on the end of it). The mindset is, as a colleague noted, to be a guide by the side, not a sage on the stage. Expertise is given with permission.

An important aspect of MI is the idea that if we listen, we can hear opposition to change, namely ‘sustain talk’, but we seek to support the emergence of ‘change talk’, drawing on Prochaska and Clemente’s transtheoretical model of change. This means moving from argument and ‘yes-but’ conversations to the first emergence of ‘yeah, I could…’ kind of statements. 

Another important part of all this is the summarizing, as I mentioned as weeds/bouquets, with the idea that the summary contains the elements of positivity, namely the flowers growing in the weeds, which we selectively emphasise, creating a more positive focus. 

The skills thus required including asking open ended questions, the answer to which cannot be a single word, to get them talking really. This is followed by a positive affirmation, making them feel good about opening up and talking, not jumping on them or opposing what they are saying, and then of course a reflection of the emotional valence or content of their replies, allowing for a sense of connection and checking we accurately got it right empathy-wise. The summary that follows then is a check-in to show we listened, and to see we got it right, followed by another, open-ended inquiry. This is characterised as the OARS approach, and you can spot the abbreviated elements in the paragraph above. Here, questions, listening, summarizing, praise, gratitude and affirmation are described in turn. 

Another principle of MI is rolling with resistance, a rather judo-like approach of accepting pushback is part of the process of defending autonomy, and thus is acceptable and not off-putting in this philosophy. This requires stepping back, staying loose, and rolling with it, a strategic approach rather than a confrontation with a power base applied to the complementarity of the relational definition. 

Nothing works in the above approach with the intensity created by a good connection to start, and the next session outlines how this can be so. The dangers of a cluttered and preconceived mindset is laid out, with premature solution-finding, righting reflex, rushing, changing the subject, confronting, arguing or passing judgment, and needing to be in control (the expert) all getting in the way of establishing a warm and motivating connections and context in which the player can find their own resolve. This means being open and curious to start.

A good toolbox has strategies, and here they refer to following, guiding and then fixing if necessary, assessing motivation, and the why and how of change. Throughout, the book gives conversations as they might be, as opposed to the more adversarial and complementary conversations that imply a power base that is used like a weapon.

Goal setting, as a strategy, has had a scary ride sometimes, with emphasis on SMART and then SMARTER goals, but here, the sequence is to connect and assess, thus finding out what would be helpful, something we assume the athlete actually knows, but fails to connect to. The why allows us to harness to their hearts, the deep emotional needs that drive us all, and then the what, the finding the plan which they can devise and stick to, as it is theirs, and they learn to listen to themselves at a deeper level; and then the how, working the plan to its outcome. 

I noted before that this is not an abandonment of the expert role, giving advice and feedback is still, if not more critical and we do it anyway. How it is done, with respect for the expert athlete choice, is critical, and the evidence here is that the more respect for autonomy is shown, the more likely the advice is to be taken on board. Ask, offer, ask is the approach. 

All this depends on teamwork, as much as the individual work. The next chapter focusses on better relationships within the team and coaching group. Making decisions together, not quite a traditional role for coaches, and allowing natural leaders to emerge, is part of the build here. Group discussions of difficult issues clear the air, and so often this does not happen. 

Curiosity also applies to other areas, such as athletes that require lifestyle changes. A group I worked with mourned the loss of Pizza in their diets, forced into Mediterranean style eating, which while amazing for them, was done with a top-down approach to enforcement of what was undoubtedly good for them, but didn’t quite require consultation. This conversation depends on values and mapping out priorities, and thus the process will emerge. 

Recently, at EXOS, we began to formalise the way in which we approach the poor communities we work with, dealing with disadvantage and the challenges of social capital, an amazing addition to this book. Trust, defiance, instability, social and financial loads, fantasy and focus all impinge on upward mobility, and athletes who succeed frequently find themselves out of their depth. Here, clues are given to be aware and manage these issues.

Connecting of course runs headlong into culture, and securing the future and being flexible is critical, and this is where we finish off…

Quick reference sheets finish off the book. 

So long in coming, I welcome this addition to the coach’s armoury, and no longer do I feel so alone in promoting this. Sadly, compared to these founding experts, I sucked at modifying the approach as they have done, so read this and start your journey into the wonderful science of coaching using MI and the tools these authors hand out like free pearls: they are. This is a must buy, must study, for any coach, trainer, PT or anyone else who seeks to create a warm relationship where people can compete.

 

Ref: Sugarman, R (2014). Client Centered Training: a trainer and coach’s guide to motivating clients. Level 7 Psychology, Special PTA Global Edition. 

 

Ⓒ 2020 Roy Sugarman

 

Roy Sugarman PhD, Director: Applied Neuroscience, Performance Innovation Team, Team EXOS USA, Arizona

 

Categories: Psychology

Keywords: Psychology, sport