This annual gathering combines training of new trainers ("TNT" - 3 days) and the re-gathering of older members in a MINT Forum (following 3 days).
There are also pre-Forum workshops for existing members, and yesterday Bill Miller and I ran one designed to update and discuss new ideas we were are coming up with for the third edition of our text on MI. Some really special things about the MINT network shone out of this: international exchange was one. It sometimes seems as if this network has plucked out in the most discerning and talented people from different countries. One member, an English women, who works in the US and is fluent in Mandarin, came to me afterwards to discuss how some questions translate into that language when training people in MI! I didnt count, but there must have been 12-15 countries represented across the 54 people present.
It was quite a special experience having the privilege of presenting a new framework to colleagues in an atmosphere like that - there was no abrasive competitiveness. Bill and I took a few risks with new training exercises, and one that Bill demonstrated, which participants then practiced, had a deceptively elegant simplicity to it. A wonderful training too, but it did leave me feeling worried. I think this is what disturbed me: practitioners learning MI in small or large groups, like clients or anyone for that matter, are vulnerable to exposure when their skills are "on display". Bill's exercise, perhaps like none other I know, took very good care to nurture the good work of practitioners showing their skills in front of others. It had the very restrained and gentle quality that one sees in a good MI conversation about change. The exercise had a structure and procedure that controlled very tightly precisely how feedback was presented to the demonstrating "practitioner", so as to maximize learning and minimize unnecessary criticism.
What worries me is this: I am not sure we trainers design exercises that pay enough attention to nurturing skill improvement and avoid people feeling threatened or undermined when in practice. For example, trainers often simply ask observers in small group exercises "to give feedback". Actually, this is a delicate and skillful activity, beautifully demonstrated by BIll. It made me shudder to think of my past failures to get this feedback process right.
We trainers should be invited to monitor and improve our skills as the years unfold......
Maybe I'll be brave enough to say this later today when Bill & I meet each of the three large groups of people in the Training for New Trainers workshops.
Steve
What a timely blog (although I'm reading it a couple of weeks later)! After reading these posts, I feel compelled to seek guidance. I work in juvenile justice with a group of MI trainers. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing in my small training group is a competitve nature. Rather than creating an atmosphere amongst ourselves where we feel safe to practice and grow as trainers, give and receive feedback, and try new things, there is, instead, a strong resistance to this and there has been a dynamic that has grown that "my training will be better than yours". Despite efforts to create a safe atmosphere, it has continued to be conflictual. We will all, soon, get together to discuss this dymanic. What I am seeking is guidance about how to have this discussion and how can I create a safe atmosphere and guide other training teams to do the same?
I agree entirely. I find this mirrored in the work I do with groups on the ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training). As part of the training we ask participants to "roleplay" in front of their peers. To help maintain safety and promote learning we ask that ONLY positive feedback is given. The person has often received little if any formal training in communication, and in a number of instances has also been touched by suicide in some way. They have also just begun to get a feel for the work of suicide first aid, so they are showing a great deal of courage to expose themselves in this way.
People will usually pick up themselves on areas of the conversation which they would do differently next time, so we encourage peers to focus on what has been done well. Even if the conversation has not gone to plan in any shape or form, the very fact that the person has attempted it is highlighted and applauded.
Apologies if I haven't articulated this very clearly, but I am trying to highlight the spirit of how we support learners rather than the technicalities!
Thank you Steve and others,
A reminder to us all that when we are truly embracing the spirit of MI as a compassionate and strengths based way of being, it manifests as such in our interactions with each other, no matter the setting or situation - with colleagues, trainees, patients and clients alike.
It is indeed a real skill to be able to offer feedback that is both honest and sensitive, and which has the clear purpose of enhancing the positive growth of the recipient. I have stumbled over my own verbal clumsiness in this area many times, but I do know that on those occassions when I have been more consciously rooted in the Spirit of MI, I have been more able to do this well.
I was personally so delighted to hear that Bill and Steve's definition of compassion (for MI3) is in alignment with that of the Dalai Lama, so as I understand it, we are not talking about something sentimental or 'sticky' here, but a practitioner (human) quality or attribute which can be cultivated, and which always has the well-being and potential of the other human being at its heart.
This MI world just keeps on getting better
With Gratitude
Mo
I appreciate Steve bringing up this topic. I was working with a group of trainers today and had decided to focus the meeting on how to provide feedback in training. I chose to do this after observing at least one of them being far too critical with a trainee.
It was a conversation well worth having, as we discussed the types of feedback and the process of providing it. Demonstrating feedback was also well received (and apparently needed). I encourage others to have specific training on providing feedback; poor feedback can be a major obstacle in practicing the new learning.
Thanks, Steve, for this timely post.
I often avoid "jumping" into participating from the opposit reson - not to be too salient ....and at that curcumstances felt sorry/shamed with myself to be driven by this mechanism...
Moria