Over the last couple of days, I’ve made the case that an overly direct and aggressive approach to recruiting may not produce the best results.
What’s the alternative? According to Adam Grant, a methodology that psychologists discovered several decades ago called motivational interviewing may be helpful.
In controlled trials, motivational interviewing has helped people to stop smoking, abusing drugs and alcohol, and gambling; to improve their diets and exercise; to overcome eating disorders; and to lose weight.
The approach has also motivated students to get a good night’s sleep; voters to reconsider their prejudices; and divorcing parents to reach settlements.
I’m not suggesting you attempt to enter into a therapeutic relationship with your recruiting prospects, but you can learn and apply some of the basic concepts that make motivational interviewing so effective.
Adam Grant suggests starting this way:
Instead of trying to force other people to change, you’re better off helping them find their own intrinsic motivation to change.
You do that by interviewing them — asking open-ended questions and listening carefully — and holding up a mirror so they can see their own thoughts more clearly.
If they express a desire to change, you guide them toward a plan.
If you’d like to learn more about these techniques, here is a training video (15 minutes) describing the basic concepts of motivational interviewing.
The more you can understand the nature of change, the better you’ll be at recruiting.