Fair treatment of employees is a vital concern for all companies. Maintaining a fair and safe environment requires supervisors to be involved in Investigations at some point during their career. When allegations are made, supervisors are often expected to conduct the initial Investigations to determine if further action is required.
Avoid Leading Questions
One of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced supervisors is revealing the details of the alleged concern during their interview process. Included in this article are key tips and techniques to aid in training supervisors or front line managers to conduct an Effective Investigation.
The most common mistake in an interview process is asking Leading Questions. A Leading question is one that is posed in a way that guides the respondent to an answer. An example of a Leading question (that should be avoided in the interview process) is “Didn’t Johnny leave early last night?” A neutral way to ask the question is “Do you know what time Johnny left last night?”
In a workplace Investigation, the purpose of the interviews is to collect the facts. Regardless if the allegation is one of harassment, theft, fraud, or other type of inappropriate behavior, the primary purpose of questioning the parties involved or in the surrounding area is to collect as many facts as possible.
If Leading Questions are asked, the responses are automatically tarnished and difficult to use in the remainder of the Investigation. The primary purpose of these Investigations is to ensure that employees are in a safe and comfortable work environment and that all employees, regardless of race, religion, gender are treated fairly.
Six Tips for Investigative Interviewing
There are companies that conduct training sessions on performing Effective Investigations but for the average supervisor, these will be an occasional occurrence. Below is a summary of quick tips that can improve the quality of workplace Investigations by avoiding Leading Questions during the interviews.
- Ask Short, Direct Questions – use simple, straight-forward language that cannot be misinterpreted. Avoid using introductory phrases or trying to ‘set the stage’. Unnecessary conversation during the Investigation confuses the issue and leaves room for error – with both the interviewer and interviewee.
- Avoid Yes / No Questions – this limits the amount of information that you will collect and leaves no room the respondent to elaborate on key points
- Ask for Source Validation – once the person responds to the question, ask how they became aware of the facts that they shared – this helps reduce third party hearsay
- Focus on the Answers – listen intently to the respondent’s answer; if there is anything unclear or misleading about the answer, immediately seek clarification before moving to the next question
- Rehearse – if possible, rehearse with another colleague before conducting the Investigation; request your colleague to be difficult and provide misleading answers. This exercise aids in preparing for the unknown and being able to quickly react when presented with answers that were unexpected. If there is not time to rehearse, take time to write each question on a separate index card before conducting the interview. This will ensure that you ask all necessary questions, leaving room for responses on the cards. This makes the collection process easy after all Investigations have been conducted. Most importantly, writing the questions down eliminates the worry of forgetting a question and allows the investigator to focus on the answers of the respondents.
- Answer basic questions – Who?What? Where? When? Why? How?This sounds over-simplified but during an Investigation, it is easy to lose sight of the purpose. Focus on answering the six basic questions during each interview and you will gain the key information needed to make an informed decision on a workplace allegation.
In companies or positions that require extensive Investigation skills, there are many consulting companies who specialize in this and provide training. For the average supervisor with only the occasional need to conduct Investigations, these interviewing tips will ensure complete and thorough results.
 |
