Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counselling approach developed in part by clinical psychologists William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick. It is a directive, client-centred counselling style for eliciting behaviour change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence. The method has grown in popularity during the last years and has spread outside the therapy room and into new fields where it is being applied such as healthcare, social service and the police. The usage of MI in therapeutic and healthcare settings is well researched but MI has recently emerged in a new field where the research is scarce: leadership. In this study we are exploring the experiences of Swedish social workers that are trained in MI which has a manager that is also trained in the method and applies MI in leadership. Our results show that the social workers are generally positive to their managers using the method; MI is seen as a factor that influences the manager to listen and be more empathetic. Our study also shows that MI has become a general tool for interactions; the social workers are using the method outside client meetings and in interactions with colleagues and managers to facilitate a good relationship. However, there are also concerns among some of the respondents that MI could be used by their manager to manipulate and create behaviour changes that only benefits the organisation. This explorative study shows that MI has the potential to impact management and leadership approaches and warrants further investigation to develop this growing field of interest.