During the first year of my MSW program, I had to choose between two elective courses: Motivational Interviewing and Social Work and Criminal Justice.

Motivational Interviewing (or MI) is a goal-oriented counseling style that encourages people to explore resistance or ambivalence about behavioral change. MI sounded more interesting, but with the guidance of my field placement supervisor, I chose the social work and criminal justice course. Her rationale made sense at the time, and the criminal justice course ended up being useful in my case management role post-graduation. Some of my clients engaged with the criminal justice system, and it helped me view my work through a systems-change lens. Years later, I realize that I should’ve taken the MI course.

My client work revolves around acknowledging resistance, securing buy-in, and listening to the day-to-day of staff who, though they understand that a new concept or strategy is intended to show the impact of their work, are more concerned about how this new concept or strategy will get in the way of their day-to-day work.

But what if organizational leaders could learn to work alongside their staff, acknowledge their resistance or hesitancy to change (and where it’s coming from), prioritize their well-being and perspectives, and encourage them to voice their own reasons for change?