How to Conduct a Great Interview
Posted by Heidi Wurpel
As consultants we often have "executive interviews" as part of our methodology. Interviews can help you extract valuable qualitative data and give you a better sense of the importance of or passion behind an idea. However, there are also pitfalls to avoid with interviews. For example, many interviewees try and give you the answers that they think you want or will be wary of airing "dirty laundry." To avoid pitfalls and collect the most objective data as possible try the following:
Be on their turf, in a private room. Going to the interviewee can make them feel more comfortable. It is important that their workspace provides someplace where they can be sure no one can hear their responses to increase honesty.
Let them know the purpose of your interview on a macro-level without any subjectivity. Telling them "We are looking to discover information to help further shape our efficiency project" is much better than stating, "We want to know if you are doing too much or too little work and if someone else can do the work faster and for less money."
Start with a question you know they will ace. Asking a broad question that everyone in their field would have an answer to helps create a sense that this isn't a test, they can do this, and we will not make this painful or hard.
Ask extremely open-ended questions, without pre-cursor statements. An example of a good open-ended question is this, "Does work ever get slowed down for any reason? If so, why?" vs. a pre-cursor statement question such as: "The company has many levels of management. Have you noticed work slowing down and why?" While both will get you open-ended responses (not just "yes" or "no"), the first one will typically garner a wider variety of answers, while the second has planted an answer. This becomes harder to do as you start hearing the same answer from a couple of the initial interviews. It is easy to accidentally make an assumption that the first people you talked with were right, that everyone agrees with them, and thus to start verifying the early responses by using indicating statements.
Watch for subtle physical and auditory cues. Pay particular attention to identify when people are carefully picking their words (typically indicates that there is a problem or challenge they are trying to avoid sharing) or getting louder and faster (typically means they feel passionately and comfortable). The best thing you can do when you hear either of these cues is pause and say, "Why" or "Can you tell me more about X?"
Control your body-signals. A well-timed laugh or smile or just quickening your own breath while making eye-contact when they are getting more excited about an idea can also make people feel like you are on their team and in agreement with them, which makes them open-up faster.