Motivational Interviewing - Lesson 1A

Please watch the following recorded lectures, and complete the individual exercise below by 5 PM ET on the day before the next live webinar. NOTE: please make sure you scroll all the way down to the end of the page and complete all activities.

Stages of Change


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Introduction to Motivational Interviewing


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Individual Exercise

Instructions: You must complete the assignment and post your responses in the comments section below before the  live lesson starts to earn your certificate of completion. The instructor will review your comments and have a debrief discussion during the next live session.

  1. Download and complete the Motivational Analysis Assessment.
  2. Discussion question: What is your predominant motivation style? Picture yourself trying to change something in your life, how does your motivation style work for you? What are some challenges?
  3. Post your response to the discussion question along with your score to the Motivational Analysis Assessment in the comments section below.

Note: The comments section will not be moderated otherwise. For security purposes, you will need to sign up with your email to post a comment but your email will not be shared.

18 comments on “Motivational Interviewing - Lesson 1A

  1. Based on my Motivational Analysis quiz I am a combination of Power/Influence (5) and Affiliation (5). Seeing the results, I am not shocked, but I would have thought I would at least get one point for Achievement because I tend to be a perfectionist with various things. My style is great for creating collaborative workplaces and overall environments but can be a weakness if I primarily focus on the needs of the individual/team vs the objective of a project.

  2. Affiliation 4
    Achievement 3
    Power/Influence 3
    It is interesting to see how my scores are very close to one another as I have a combination of different motivational styles. This makes me able to wear different hats and use different styles as the situation requires. I enjoy working with people, good listener and feel for others. On the other hand I need to have a clear vision, roadmap and plan for my self to achieve goals and it makes me satisfied to see my goal being achieved and solve problems. I also have the skills to empower others and find ways to influence them. I am glad to be able to blend the different motivational styles and have a combination of all.

  3. My results was Achievement 3 Power and Influence 3 and Affiliation 4. I am a team player but is over-sensitive sometimes. I care about people and want to best for everyone. I am working on being less sensitive. I am a good listener though. I struggle to deal with conflict but I always contemplating the best results and how to deal with negativity. I think I am a team player and sensitive to everyone else's time, needs, goals and the successful outcome of things

  4. Achievement (3) Power (2) Affiliation (5)

    After completing this assignment, I have discovered that my two motivational styles are Achievement and Affiliation. Affiliation was first, with Achievement being second. The results that I was given were shocking as before this assignment, I personally saw myself as more achievement based. However, when I conducted my self reflection, I can see how I can have a bend of both motivational styles while working and have more of an affiliation motivational style outside of workplace.

    While working, I have a desire for excellence and wanting to always have a sense of accomplishment when I finish my workday. These motivations are more in line with the Achievement motivation style as creating goals, taking initiative, and staying organized are imperative to complete tasks at hand. While reading some of the character traits that the affiliate exudes, I found that these characteristics are ones that are more in line with my motivation outside of the workplace. However, character traits such as a team player and being a good listener, I do show during my work hours towards creating and executing game plans for clients.

    Therefore, even though the activity has displayed that Affiliation is my first motivational style, both the Affiliation and Achievement styles are present when making my decisions for change in my personal and professional life. This activity was eye opening, and I enjoyed the self reflection that occurred due to this assignment.

  5. I found it challenging to attempt some of the questions because I find that there are grey areas that the assessment does not explore. I tend to respond to situations having considered all the contributing factors and this is something that an assessment such as this does not take into consideration.

    Also, there were some questions that two or even all three of the options provided equally applied to me. So I was not able to score myself in those questions.

    With that being said, based on the 5 questions that I was able to give a definite response to, my motivational style breakdown is:

    Power/Influencer - 3
    Achievement - 1
    Affiliation - 1

  6. Achievement - 4
    Affiliation - 4
    Power - 2

    My dominant social motivators are achievement and affiliation. I like having a sense of accomplishment and desire feedback. I also enjoy interacting with others and working in team environments. I appreciate checking tasks off lists (because it gives me momentum to continue pushing forward) and seeking input from colleagues (to strengthen ideas and fill any gaps I may have missed).

    I find using achievement as a motivator can be challenging at times because in the instances where I am working on a larger project, I may not be able to receive the instant gratification of checking off tasks as quickly, which causes me to lose focus or drive. Being socially motivated can also be difficult because I sometimes I find myself starting to rely on other people to hold me accountable instead of doing so myself. Being aware of what motivates me and acknowledging how to confront any challenges will be helpful in learning how to adjust my actions to work in my advantage.

  7. My predominant motivation style is Achiever (5), Affiliator (3) and Power/Influence (2)

    In working towards change in my life, my motivational style works for me because I am able to plan thoroughly, set clear goals and I work towards achieving those goals. I approach my goals with a clear understanding of what is required to achieve them and I am clearly able to communicate my goals to others. My strong sense of personal responsibility is an effective driving force to the achievement of my objectives.

    My tendency to perfectionism, my impatience in the process of the change as well as my focus on doing well are some of my greatest challenges in changing something in my life.

  8. My predominant motivational style is:

    5 – Power/Influencer, then
    4 – Achiever, then
    1 – Affiliate

    Well, according to my motivational style, it is imperative to have influence over my desires and goals to initiate the change and to ensure its occurrence. This aligns perfectly with me whenever I decide to lose weight. I do exercise a sort of power over my desires to reduce and gradually stop eating certain types of food to maintain the loss weight process until I reach to the weekly goal. When I do this, I don’t get negative feelings or reactions associated to the process of “imposing power over my desires”. It is rather a very comfortable transitional stage for me that I accept everything in it and enjoy every single aspect of this process. Moreover, I leverage the "strategic thinker" element of my strengths to strategize my position during the change thus embracing the importance of change and activating the change factors. This would make me stay focused, determined, and even inspiring others to take an action and start planning to lose weight as well, which aligns with “At Their Best” aspect. As for the “At Their Worst” aspect of my motivational style, I may observe exercising Autocratic authority on myself in terms of blocking all back doors that would intervene with my change and would expose me to attractions which would delay the goal achievement process.

    Facing challenges in any change process is a definite fact. Challenges varies to be either; emotional, physical, financial…etc. Starting with the emotional challenge, it relates to my strategic thinker, hence I don’t suffer a lot with such sort of challenges. On the other side, the physical and financial challenges are the most challenges that would impact the change process. For instance, if I don’t have a proper budget that is appropriate to fund my change goal, then I would defer the change process. The same applies for the physical because it is the engine that will push the change forward. Practically, I will not be able to buy the resources I need to continue in my weight loss plan, assuming this is the change to be happening. Other challenges such as environmental and political are very minor, hence less relevant to be considered in the loss weight process.

    Thanks for reading,
    Hadeel

  9. Achievement- 4
    Power- 4
    Affiliation-2

    My dominant motivational styles are achievement and power. I am surprised with the power aspect but I believe it may also be an influence of how much I enjoy taking to people and sharing my ideas and thoughts with them. I can equally respect and accepts others ideas, thoughts , perspectives and step into their shoes to better understand them. I do make an effort to be an active listener- with my clients or others- and use techniques to reinforce that idea to make people feel more comfortable and confident. I don't believe I seek my own personal benefit, I am often a people pleaser- actively working on changing that so I don't always put aside my priorities after others.

  10. Affiliator (4), Achiever (3), Influencer - also (3).
    When I am looking to make a change in my life, I generally seek out the perspectives of others because I find a lot of value in hearing other peoples' experiences, thought processes, and influences on their choices. This approach has been beneficial because it often leads me to consider things that might not have been immediately apparent. The challenge with this approach is that I can spend a lot of time listening and contemplating which delays action.

  11. I'm mostly an affiliator (5), with power/influence coming in second (4). I appreciate assisting clients in accomplishing their objectives because I am always focused on putting others first. I also think of myself as someone who takes charge by setting objectives for myself and ensuring that I complete my tasks as it makes me feel satisfied. I am a good listener who is sensitive to others, yet I sometimes struggle with conflict because I attempt to sacrifice my own objectives and outcomes to keep other people happy. I would prefer to have a balance between affiliator, power/influence and an achiever.

  12. My predominant motivation style is Power/Influence with 5 points and Affiliation with 4 points. I’m not too surprised at these results although I find them to be somewhat polar opposites. Both professionally and personally, I’ve always took the time to listen to and sympathize with people. I’m sensitive enough to recognize people’s feelings and not pass judgment even if I don’t agree with their points of view. However, I do tend to try to persuade, influence and see to it that an individual understands and considers my point of view. Based on my motivation style, when I attempt to make a change in my life, it tends to be a clear and mostly successful process because I look for tangible results which encourages me when I see it. The challenge is, sometimes the results are there but they are abstract and intangible which can feel discouraging to me at times and thus can make change harder.

  13. Score:
    Achievement: 1
    Power/Influencer: 2
    Affiliation: 7

    While it's clear that my highest score was Affiliation and this is not surprising to me at all, I am quite surprised at how low my score was for Achievement. I would consider myself to be a high personal achiever, often putting more pressure on myself than the situation deems necessary. Prior to taking the quiz, I expected a more balanced score between Achievement and Affiliation.

    When it comes to making personal changes in relation to my dominant style of Affiliation, I am one to often reach out to those closest to me to talk perspectives through before making decisions and to consider how my decision will impact others. This style can be problematic in that time becomes secondary to relationships or achieving the ultimate goal, however it is great when trying to foster a strong team, who feel connected and valued. I would consider myself to be 'emotionally tuned-in' when attending most social events, often seeking ways of ensuring everyone feels included or part of the group. Unfortunately, the down-side to this style is that I am one to often over-think about how others may be impacted by decisions or comments said, sometimes at the risk of loosing my personal sense of direction. Similar to Lauren and David's comment, I tend to be conflict-avoidant as well, with the (hopeless) goal of aiming towards making everyone involved happy.

  14. I am primarily an Affiliator (7), then far behind Achievement (2) and Power/Influence (1). I do enjoy working in a team and helping other build themselves up. I do often focus on relationships and hope that my opinion is valued. I feel like this hinders my organization and can easily get off track. I have developed good coping strategies to be able to stay organized as a professional. I do consider myself a people pleaser but, never at the cost of my own happiness and goals. I would like to acquire more balance between the three.

  15. My motivational style is Acheivement-4 and Power/Influence-4 with Affiliation-2. I enjoy inspiring, empowering and coaching clients and team members to achieve their goals as well as building positive relationships amongst the team I lead. I know I can tend to be a perfectionist and can sometimes believe my ideas are the best but am learning to learn from the team. I can also like to have things done my way but am realizing that as long as the goals are met, it doesn't matter which way it was done. I was surprised that Affiliator was not higher.

  16. My predominant motivation style is Affiliator (6), followed by Achiever (4). I enjoy helping others and being a team-player, but can find it difficult to stay focused on achieving my personal goals as a result of prioritizing the needs of others. I tend to be conflict-avoidant, and would like to build more skills for self-advocacy. I would ideally like to be evenly balanced between Affiliator, Achiever, and Influencer.

  17. Affiliator [5] closely followed by Influencer [4]. I am sometimes too agreeable. I agree to things I'm not really committed to and then don't see them through to completion. I have always seen personal goals as negotiable, this can lead to feelings of disempowerment. We have an anti-vaxer in our extended family. My wife would like us to cut off all relations - shun them into submission. I don't want to rock the boat. I feel silenced. Achiever [2] seems low to me. I think Influencer & Achiever should be more evenly matched.

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