Third Edition
This edition first published 2019
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Edition History
Wiley‐Blackwell (2e 2008)
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9781118510292 (paperback), 9781118510230 (ePDF), 9781118510254 (ePub)
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Courtesy of David Thompson
Catherine Fuller MA, BSc (Hons) CQSW, PGCertEd is a former senior manager, staff developer and practitioner within the National Probation Service of England and Wales. She now runs an international training consultancy. She helps practitioners, their managers and employers in a variety of settings, develop skills, understanding, and confidence to facilitate change in others.
Catherine and Phil were at the forefront of developing motivational work with offenders in England and Wales and Catherine has since helped to establish motivational approaches within the staff training curriculum of new prison and probation services of Turkey, Serbia, Albania, Georgia, Kazakstan, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania.
Information about training packages based on this book is available from:
Phil Taylor, BA (Hons), originally trained as a professional engineer, then made a career in the probation service as probation office manager and trainer. Later Phil had his own training business working in the criminal justice sector across England and Wales. On retirement he completed a Creative Writing and Art degree. Phil has a concern to describe complex ideas in ways that can be easily understood by practitioners.
Kath Wilson, M.A, B.A (Hons), CQSW, PGDipEd, is a Senior Lecturer in Community Justice and leads the probation programme at De Montfort University. Previously a probation officer, she teaches mainly around issues of values, diversity, and change within the Criminal Justice System, particularly in relation to probation and policing. Kath has helped develop the professional and practice development curriculum at De Montford University as well as materials for distance learners and has worked towards widening participation for probation programmes. She has carried out research within both Children's Care Homes and the Police Service including evaluating the use of restorative approaches to reduce escalation of risk.
It has been 10 years since the second edition of ‘A Toolkit of Motivational Skills’ was published and it feels like a timely point to develop this third edition.
The book reflects development in the authors' thinking as well as responding to the constructive feedback we have received on the second edition from individuals, trainers, and mentors, for which we are grateful.
The use of a motivational approach has undoubtedly grown over this period with a wider audience than originally envisaged in the second edition. Both organisations and individual practitioners have developed their skill base to address many different concerns. Motivational skills are now widely used in health, education, social work, probation, and work with alcohol and substance use. They are also increasingly used in a range of other settings, such as the business world. We know for example that parents and guardians have found the book useful in the approaches they use with children and to reduce conflict in the household.
The focus remains on a user friendly and accessible toolkit where people can follow through the motivational sequence by chapter or dip in and out as they wish. We have retained the key aspects of the book in terms of advice, guidance, and practical exercises to help in the development of skills for motivational work.
We have developed new on‐line resources and the website now contains easily printable exercises that trainers and mentors can access. Those who are developing these skills independently will find them user friendly. There are also several video clips that show readers how some of the skills might look in practice. There are examples of interviews both with and without motivational skills to generate ideas about how to integrate these techniques into practice.
Readers may just want to view the clips in their own time or use the accompanying analysis and teacher’s notes as an aid to learning, either individually or in group work. The website contains trainer's guidance on how some of the video clips and exercises might be used. The trainer guidance is designed so that those using the book as a teach‐yourself resource will find them helpful.
Feedback from the first two editions encouraged us to broaden the user examples and discussion of research as the book reaches a wider audience. We have invited Kath Wilson, who is a Senior Community Justice Lecturer and Course Leader at De Montfort University, onto the writing team in response to reader requests that we explore how some of the approaches and skills identified emerged, and how they can become part of their toolkit.
Readers said their skills were enhanced when they had more understanding of the theories and research from which motivational skills evolved. We have therefore included a discussion about the theories, such as the work of Carl Rogers, as well as the evidence for the ‘effectiveness’ of a motivational approach. As this is a toolkit for motivational work we have also identified some of the other approaches that work well alongside motivational skills.
Important additions are the new sections in Chapters 2 and 3 about diversity and power, to help practitioners respond to discrimination that can affect both the life of clients and organisations.
We hope you will find it a valuable resource as you encourage and support change in the people you work with.
Catherine Fuller
Phil Taylor
Kath Wilson
April 2019
In the production of this third edition of A Toolkit of Motivational Skills we owe a debt of thanks to a vast number of people including course participants, colleague trainers and academics both nationally and internationally, practitioners and managers in a variety of settings, and friends and family. Of particular note we would like to thank:
For illustrations:
David Thompson
For participation in the on‐line videos:
Vicky Idusohan, Jacqueline O’Sullivan, Sandra Sutton, Guy Wiseman, Donna Smedley
For assistance with creating the videos:
Michael Shaw
For layout, illustrations and proofreading:
Linda Taylor
For proofreading:
Madeline Bullock
For examples of practical applications:
Bill Say, Nigel Hosking, John Yianni
The third edition of A Toolkit of Motivational Skills is accompanied by a companion website:
www.wiley.com/go/fuller/motivational‐skills
The website includes:
Set 1. Cathy and Dee talk about Smoking: A motivational interview in five parts.
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(5 mins. 18 secs.) |
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(3 mins. 40 secs.) |
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(3 mins. 04 secs.) |
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(3 mins. 44 secs.) |
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(4 mins. 24 secs.) |
Set 2. ‘Motivational Skills in Management’ – Three management scenarios each with three takes. In the first take motivational skills are limited, in the second motivational skills are demonstrated, the third take reviews the different approaches.
Scenario One. ‘Motivational Skills in Supervision’
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‘Has she heard me?’ | (3 mins. 17 secs.) |
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‘Listening to Rob’s concerns’. | (5 mins. 0 secs.) |
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‘Review of the interviews’ | (2 mins. 20 secs.) |
Scenario Two. ‘Managing a Complaint’
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‘Keep them Guessing’ | (3 mins. 24 secs.) |
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‘What’s it all about’ | (3 mins. 40 secs.) |
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‘Review of the interviews’ | (1 min. 45 secs.) |
Scenario Three. ‘An Unhappy Client’
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‘Argue your case’ | (4 mins. 0 secs.) |
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‘Listen and reflect’ | (7 mins. 15 secs.) |
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‘Review of the interviews’ | (1 min. 32 secs.) |
This book is for you if you are struggling with any of the following questions:
The Toolkit explores all these questions and more. It won't provide you with a magic wand to change others, but it can help you to change your approach, and in turn have a positive impact, not only on your own life, but everyone you communicate with.
The third edition of A Toolkit of Motivational Skills has been written for, and with reference to, experiences shared by professionals, front line workers, staff developers, managers, carers, and parents in a variety of settings including criminal justice, social care, health, welfare, citizens advice, veterinary science, education, benefit and employment agencies, ‘Samaritans’, drug and alcohol services, security services, public transport, and youth services. Indeed, it is relevant to anyone who is helping someone struggling with change.
In updating the Toolkit from earlier editions, we have responded to feedback to retain clear and simple every‐day explanations and exercises for both practitioners and for those undertaking change. These include trigger videos on the web‐site “www.wiley.com/go/fuller/motivational‐skills” so you can see and hear how a motivational approach is put into practice, together with training materials and more in‐depth updated research and theory sections.
People who help others to change are often passionate about wanting to make a difference to others' lives. You may be one of these people and under pressure to solve problems instantly. Many of the public service workers we have worked with mention that they only have 10 minutes to change lives and question what can be achieved in this time.
It is very easy in such circumstances to slip into a ‘fix‐it now, righting reflex’. However, such an approach rarely works. We have found that the reaction to someone trying to ‘fix’ lives is often:
Time and time again the more people are warned, argued with, criticised, or threatened the more they resist, challenge, and continue to stay the same. Self‐motivation is not a thing which can be given to someone: it needs to grow within each individual.
What you can do is plant the seeds from which self‐motivation can grow and nourish the environment. ‘A Toolkit of Motivational Skills’ explores how the way you communicate can create that environment.
Try testing out the impact of different interactions by listening to the responses you get in everyday life.
Listen out for someone replying to you repeatedly with
‘Ah but …’.
What did you say beforehand? What happens if you continue with the same approach?
If the other person voices reasons to stay the same is this ‘resistance’ or a normal response to your behaviour?
The more someone says they don't want to, can't or won't change the more likely they are to stay the same.
Now listen out for someone saying ‘I want to … I can or I will’.
The more you hear someone talk of change in this way the more likely they are to change.
What is it about your level of interest, compassion, and approach which enables these expressions of motivation in others?
How can you build on your own strengths and style to be more effective at helping others to change?
You cannot force someone to change, but you can change your own behaviour to get a different response. Small changes can make a big difference. If you are not getting the response you want, change what you are doing.
The motivational approach outlined in the Toolkit is based on ‘Motivational Interviewing’ described by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick (2002, 2013). It is a ‘collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person's own motivation and commitment to change’.
The Toolkit offers you a simple user‐friendly approach to help others REACH for change in any interaction, not just formal interviews. You do not need to be a therapist, academic or a professional to use the model, although you will notice that increasingly the approach is being used by a range of professionals. The principles apply equally to conversations undertaken by front‐line practitioners, volunteers, peer mentors, carers, and parents. Indeed, any communication where you are helping others REACH for change.
REACH themes throughout the Toolkit include:
The Toolkit will help you:
Without rapport, communication is at best clumsy, and at worst there is conflict, tension, discord, argument, and resistance.
Rapport is a partnership. It has a clear shared remit, joint responsibilities and involvement. Unlike a confrontational or directive approach you, as the worker, are not the expert: the person undergoing change is the expert on what will help them to change.
High level rapport is only gained by a genuine interest and concern for the other person. The other person's interests are put before your own. Without this compassion for the other person you may use the skills, but the approach will not feel or be genuine. We all know what it feels like when someone tries to sell us something we don't want. Some of the skills identified in the Toolkit may be used in such a situation, but without this genuine desire to put the interest of the other person first there is still resistance.
A motivational approach accepts and values the person as they are. There may be aspects of the other person's behaviour which are harmful to them or others, but the behaviour is never the person. The person is fully accepted.
The absolute worth of each person undergoing change is recognised and valued.
Rather than focusing on negatives and areas to fix; positives are actively sought and highlighted. The emphasis is on affirmation and helping the other person build confidence and self‐belief.
Empowerment is neither collusive (rapport without direction) nor controlling (your agenda without rapport). When you empower you:
A good starting point is for both the practitioner and the person under‐taking change to ask:
To fully answer this question requires you to have a clear understanding of the working relationship between yourself and the other person. This will vary widely depending on your circumstances and the goals of any agency you work for. The words you use to describe the person you work with will reflect this relationship, for example, ‘patient’; ‘friend’; ‘service user’; ‘offender’; ‘student’; ‘client; ‘colleague’. Each of these implies different expectations and boundaries. A motivational approach avoids labelling others negatively which may reinforce rather than change problematic behaviour.
Each person you work with is unique and you need to respond to that difference, to be effective. One size does not fit all. Gaining accurate empathy includes understanding and responding to diversity and genuinely seeking to understand and respond to the other person's perspective and experiences.
People are more likely to be empowered to change if they identify their own reasons to. The Toolkit will in turn empower you to help others recognise where their behaviour conflicts with their own values and beliefs.
It is the difference between ‘intrinsic’ motivation which comes from within and ‘extrinsic’ motivation which needs external rewards, sanctions, or threats.
If you think about your own interactions, there may well be some situations where you seem to be doing all the work; where you are constantly presenting arguments and reasons to change, and the other person is constantly arguing back all the reasons to stay the same. In such situations it can be easy to label such people ‘resistant’, ‘in denial’, or ‘difficult’. A motivational approach sees such ‘sustain talk’ as a normal part of the change process and is linked with feeling uncertain or ‘ambivalent’ about change. If talk of staying the same starts to increase during an interaction, this is a sign to change your style of communication; to stop, to listen, reflect understanding and explore. Once all the reasons not to change have been explored, reasons to change can be explored and inconsistencies gently highlighted. In this way you ‘roll with resistance’ (Gordon 1970).
The person considering change is encouraged to believe in the possibility of change and to take self‐responsibility for change.
This principle of self‐efficacy is supported by the cognitive behavioural work of Bandura (1977) and client‐centred work of Rogers (1959), which found that the more you believe you can achieve something, the more likely you are to take on higher level tasks and the more likely you are to achieve them. There is evidence that the facilitator's belief in the possibility of change is also a contributing factor (Leake and King 1977), whether this is labelling someone negatively as a ‘failure’, an ‘alcoholic’ or an ‘addict’ or positively as capable of achieving change. Rosenthal and Jacobson (1992) have referred to this as the ‘Pygmalion’ effect.
We learn what we believe when we hear ourselves say it.
Most people are ambivalent or in two minds about change. The Toolkit explores the nature of ambivalence and core skills to empower others to grow from it.
The ‘A LOSS’ spiral introduced in the Toolkit will help you to
None of the skills are miracle techniques to ‘use on people’ to produce change. Without the spirit of motivational work, they may indeed produce the opposite effect. Of all the skills the most important is listening. Without listening, the others will not amount to a motivational approach. The acronym for recalling the skills ‘A LOSS’ serves as a reminder that all change involves a loss and the stages associated with grief and loss (Kubler‐Ross 1969), such as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance may be experienced by the person undertaking change and need to be recognised, listened to and worked with by the facilitator.
How the skills and principles are used varies according to how ready someone is to change. Prochaska and Di Clemente’s (1982) research into behaviour change within the field of ‘addictive’ behaviours provides a useful model for a cycle of change.
Any individual you are working with could be at one stage for one sort of behaviour, another for other behaviour or be moving between stages.
At pre‐contemplation, change is not being considered. Other people may think someone has a problem, but s/he does not.
Seeds of doubt have been sown. There is awareness of some of the advantages of change and the disadvantages of present behaviour. However, a clear decision to change has not been made. It is almost as if there are four voices in the head constantly arguing for and against change. The ambivalence this produces can lead to confusion and inactivity or continuation with the problematic behaviour as the easiest option.
A motivational approach at this stage aims to help the individual explore and resolve ambivalence without trying to impose change.
When there is a clear decision to change you will hear increased self‐motivating language and reduced resistance talk. The art of the motivation approach is to assess whether someone is ready for change now, and to nurture his or her early intimations of change.
When someone is at action stage he or she has started to take small steps towards change.
At the action stage, actively helping someone to overcome barriers can be very effective.
At the maintenance stage change has occurred over a period of time. This is usually considered to be over six months or more. Cognitive behaviourist methods also work well at this stage and can be used in conjunction with motivational skills.
Prochaska and Di Clemente (1982) found that smokers tended to go around the cycle on average seven times before change occurred. Lapse is a normal part of the change cycle. People react to lapse in different ways. Disappointment, anger, guilt, and loss of hope can lead to a more long‐term relapse. A motivational worker affirms the person who has lapsed and returns with them to contemplation to re‐establish optimism.
The last part of the REACH model explores how to help people effectively once commitment to change is established. It explores modelling and teaching new behaviours and establishes support structures for a new lifestyle. It explores how you can help yourself develop your own skills and develop a motivational culture within the team you work in, your organisation, even your family.
Most of the chapters include step‐by‐step practical exercises for you to develop your own skills and for you to use with the people you are helping to change. We have laid exercises out to be visually attractive and to appeal to all age groups. An electronic colour version of these exercises and trigger videos of applications are provided on www.wiley.com/go/fuller/motivational‐skills which can be adapted to suit your requirements. Throughout we have avoided labelling the people you are helping to change as there is evidence that such labels can be counter‐productive. In response to feedback since the second edition we have retitled exercises you use with others as ‘Self‐Help’ worksheets recognising that not everyone you work with will be a ‘service‐user’ or ‘client’ and that even this label can be unhelpful. We have on occasions referred to ‘clients’, ‘service users’, ‘interviewees’ or simply ‘the person you are helping to change’.
We are indebted to Kath Wilson from De Montfort University for the next chapter which provides an analysis of the theoretical and evidence base of the Motivational REACH approach of the Toolkit.
Finally, Chapter 17 and the website include training materials which can be used by staff developers.
