Interviewing Is a Human Skill

Since I teach interviewing skills, I like asking incident investigators where their challenges lie. Most of the time, they tell me, “ask the right questions.” When people think about interviewing, they don’t think about it as a human skill; they think about it as simply a set of questions and answers:

• What should I ask?
• What’s the right sequence?
• How do I get better answers?

And yes, questions are important. But you can’t just generate them from AI because it’s also about successfully interacting with another human being. The human skill is the ability to gather information through interaction. It requires awareness of how people respond, how they interpret the situation, and how the work environment affects what they are willing to share.

It’s Possible to Ask All the Right Questions, And Still Miss What Matters

Your checklist of questions can look great and be sequenced well, but the interview may still fall flat because the interaction isn’t working. Human beings have emotions, and interviewees can feel rushed, judged, defensive, unsure, and everything in between. When that happens, the quality of information you get won’t be as good.

It’s not as good because interviewees don’t feel comfortable sharing what they know. So, you need more than technique. You need to build your emotional intelligence, including social awareness skills and listening skills, and recognize that you are collecting information by observing how someone responds, noticing hesitation, uncertainty, and tone. Plus, you learn to adjust in real-time.

In addition to building a great script or checklist, you focus on human interaction.

Tips for Improving Emotional Intelligence

Instead of just moving through your checklist of questions, focus on creating conditions where a witness can think, reflect, and respond honestly.

• notice when body language indicates discomfort
• give space to answer instead of rushing
• improve listening skills instead of jumping in
• ask follow-up questions based on what you heard
• allow pauses instead of trying to fill them

Be aware of how your presence in that room affects the conversation. The best interviews are not run like police interrogations. They feel like conversations where people can think out loud and recall events. So, next time, don’t put all your time into thinking of a great list of questions. Instead, ask:

How is this person experiencing this conversation?

That will move you from focusing on getting information to understanding the information you are getting. There’s a big difference, and it’s how you gather quality information.

Change the Way You Think About Interviewing.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re asking the right questions but still not getting the information you need, it may be time to focus on the human side of interviewing.

In our 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training, we go beyond questions. You’ll learn the TapRooT® 12-Step Interview Process and build the skills needed to gather meaningful, accurate information. Join us for a course.