Investigative Interviewing: Are you on Santa’s “Naughty” or “Nice” List
Disappointed in the quantity and quality of information you are getting from your incident investigation interviews? Just a few changes in your investigative interviewing process can make all the difference. In the spirit of the season, I want to share some interviewing tips to keep you on Santa’s “nice” list!
| Santa’s Nice List | Santa’s Naughty List |
|---|---|
| Explain to the worker that you want to interview him/her to find the root causes of the problem so you can fix them.
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Explain to the worker that you want to interview him/her to find out who is responsible for the mistake because they deserve to be fired.
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| Ask the worker open-ended questions. “Tell me about… ” and then listen to the reply without interruption.
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Interrupt the worker whenever you think of a question or comment he or she may find accusatory, like, “Mark, isn’t it true that you disregarded company procedure? WHY did you do that?” That will pressure him/her to spill the beans!
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| Tell the worker that you will only share information with those who need to know.
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Promise total and complete confidentiality. You know you can’t, but they’ll tell you more if you do.
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| Let the worker know you’ll take notes during the interview, and you will review them together upon the conclusion of the interview to make sure you understood everything correctly.
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Don’t take any notes. You already know what happened – you’ve seen it a million times.
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What do you think? What best practices do you use for investigative interviewing?
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