Financial changes can be stressful, especially when you’re nervous about a pay cut or job loss. You know you need to do something to make yourself happier, but execution isn’t always there. You might want a career change altogether with your current employer. Or, maybe you want to start your own business and are feeling confined in your current industry. New Year’s resolutions are a common time when people reflect on both. No one wants to start the year with an employer that they don’t like or at a job where they feel unfulfilled. Could asking motivational interviewing questions be what you need to figure out your career long-term?
What Are The 6 A’s Of Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational interviewing questions started off with a connection in the health care industry. In the clinical trial report Do the five A’s work when physicians counsel about weight loss? from 2011, physicians would often participate in the Ask and the Advise but rarely continue on with the Assess, Assist and Arrange. (For example, they might ask about what a patient ate for breakfast and advise them to lose a few pounds, but they wouldn’t always follow up with a dietary plan to make sure this happened.) This left too much wiggle room for patients to go back to their old habits and the same weight gain during the next doctor visit.
For job seekers and entrepreneurs, the same results can happen. They’re unhappy in their current field but not learning skills to advance, and then finding themselves in the same rut a year later. If both groups follow through with the six motivational interviewing questions (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange and Applaud), this could be all the initiative they need to have a real plan for change. Here’s how these questions can work within the job industry.
1. Ask: This is when someone asks for information about a specific topic.
Example (for entrepreneurs): What software do I need to learn in order to start this business on my own?
Example (for job seekers): In the marketing and advertising industry, rejection can be common. How do you handle rejection?
2. Advise: This is when someone gives concise, firm advice.
Example (for entrepreneurs): Because I don’t know much about HTML coding or CSS coding to start a website, I need to hire a web programmer who can help me learn the basics.
Example (for job seekers): In order to become a member of our Realtor firm, please provide first-hand examples in which you gave real estate investment advice.
3. Assess: This is when someone evaluates your readiness for change.
Example (for entrepreneurs): In my old state, property managers didn’t need to have Community Association Management licenses. I need to research other real state laws here versus there to see what else is different.
Example (for job seekers): Your functional resume has a background in Customer Service, but our company requires using AI-powered customer relationship management. How comfortable are you with using artificial intelligence?
4. Assist: This is when someone provides (limited) counseling or self-help documents.
Example (for entrepreneurs): I received LinkedIn invites from a few publicists who may be able to help with spreading the word about my business. I’ll send a few Connect invites to see if they’re still interested.
Example (for job seekers): There are a few webinars coming up to discuss some of the topics we focus on regarding LLCs and corporations. Would you be interested in attending one of our webinars if I invited you as a guest?
5. Arrange: This is when someone schedules a follow-up to make sure these goals are met.
Example (for entrepreneurs): After meeting and interviewing a few web programmers and publicists over the next 30 days, I’ll narrow down my search and hire one of each.
Example (for job seekers): Let’s schedule a virtual meeting after you’ve attended one of our webinars, so we can get a better idea of whether you think you’re a good fit for our company.
6. Applaud: This is when someone acknowledges your hard work.
Example (for entrepreneurs): My web programmer has completed the template for my website, and it’s ready to go live so my publicist can share the link on social media.
Example (for job advice): We really enjoyed how you interacted at the webinar and the questions that you asked our team. We’d like to move forward with hiring you. Now let’s discuss your salary expectations.
Why Do The 6 A’s Of Motivational Interviewing Work?
Too often, people will submit their resume for a job, attend a business conference or interact in a business networking event. Then, job seekers won’t follow up to confirm that they’re still interested in the position. Or, people leave a networking meeting with email addresses, phone numbers, website links or (in-person) business cards, and that pile gets ignored almost immediately. LinkedIn Connects give each other the silent treatment and just rack up followers. Motivational interviewing questions force job seekers and entrepreneurs to stop depending on empty questions and promises, and actually talk to each other. The entire goal is to follow up.
How Does A Worry Journal Help With The 6 A’s For Motivational Interviewing Questions?
While there’s not a whole lot of control in applying to work for someone else, entrepreneurs have a lot more power. But if a business partner or sponsor never panned out, now the aspiring business owner is stuck trying to get this business off the ground alone. It’s too easy to give up altogether and just try to work for another company (again).
For entrepreneurs, motivational interviewing questions can be used on a solo basis by treating them like a worry journal. With a worry journal (or stress journal), the journal writer writes down six to 10 worries they’re having right now. Then, they close the book, wait six months without looking at those pages again and then re-read the list. These journal writers often find that very few of their worries actually happened, and sometimes they’ve all but forgotten about the concern that was a humongous deal at the time.
Aspiring entrepreneurs can use this worry journal in a similar way. However, instead of personal worries, focus on the first five of the motivational interviewing questions: Ask, Advise, Asses, Assist and Arrange about financial worries instead. Flag those journal entries with page markers, and do not revisit them until July (or six months from whenever the goals or resolutions are written down). Set up a calendar reminder to go back to those marked pages, re-read them and see what progress has been made. If progress has been made, Applaud.
Why Would A Worry Journal Work For Motivational Interviewing Questions?
It may sound like a worry journal is no different than rambling about financial goals on January 1. But just like the clinical study mentioned above, those who just Ask and Advise are usually the same people who give up on a New Year’s resolution (ex. I need to pay off my credit card bill). But if there’s a concrete plan to complete the resolution (ex. I’ll set up autopay to deduct $10 every Friday) within six months, the Applaud is all but certain to work. Having written down these worries makes them real. And knowing you’ll have to return to read them, and you don’t want to see the same exact worries with no results can be all the initiative to really get this business off the ground. With a worry journal and these six questions, you can make the progress you always wanted.
