Successful masterclasses ‘From resistance to motivation’

In June, the coaches gathered in Amersfoort. They learned to recognise different forms of resistance, gained insight into the purpose of resistance and learned how to turn the arguments and objections of childcare professionals and management around. They also extensively practised conversation techniques for turning resistance around. Afterwards, the participants received a certificate in Motivational Interviewing from Huis voor Beweging.

The gezondekinderopvang.nl website provides tips on informing and engaging people, and on involving them in thinking and participation.

Informing and engaging

Tell stakeholders about Healthy Childcare and get them interested in your ideas:

Provide a concise and concrete description.

• Pay attention to the benefits for each partner. Look for a win-win situation.
• Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Which arguments appeal to them?
• What points of contact are there with existing activities or objectives?
• Describe compelling examples.

Start with one-to-one conversations and ask for feedback on your ideas.

• Find out what arguments the other person might have for getting involved. Sometimes these are business-related, but often they are personal (enjoyment of the collaboration, new expertise, an interesting network, etc.).
• Negative reactions can be used to improve the plans.
• Think in terms of interests rather than positions.

Talk about the plans in a team meeting, a meeting of the parent committee or a board meeting, and ask participants for their response.

• Clearly state the added value for all parties involved.
• Make connections with what is already happening in the organisation and how it fits within the policy.
• Illustrate your story with examples that you can find on this website. Or ask someone with experience of the approach to talk about it.
• Gather the responses and report back on what is being done with them.

Thinking along and participating

The Healthy Childcare approach only really works when the team, the parents, the board and parties in the surrounding area think along and cooperate. Involve the people you have informed and engaged in the process:

• Let others think along about objectives, implementation and solutions. Do not finalise the plan in advance.
• Offer the opportunity to join in later; not everyone can or wants to participate immediately.
• Do not do all the work alone, but form a group and divide up the tasks. This gives others a sense of ownership.