Interviewing

A structured way to find out as much as possible about someone in a short time.

Interviews are a structured way to find out as much as possible about someone in a short time. Sorting out the objectives for the interview, how best to structure it and the questions to ask is always a fascinating business from which there is much to learn. Of course, interviews are conducted for a variety of purposes, not least as a notoriously unreliable selection technique, but here we are solely concerned with interviews as learning devices.

You can easily create opportunities for you and other people to conduct interviews. Here are some possibilities:

• interview your colleagues to find out about interests, skills, what makes them tick, opinions about recent events, etc.
• interview your manager to discover his/her management 'philosophy', values and standards and where the organisation is going, visions for the future, etc
• interview people in other parts of your organisation to find out what they do
• interview customers to find out their perceptions of the service you provide and what their expectations are
• interview competitors to compare and contrast best practices
• interview outside 'speakers' to find out about a variety of topics (the speakers are invited to subject themselves to the scrutiny of the interviewers rather than to come with a prepared spiel).

Always ensure that the interviews are organised and purposeful with nothing left to chance. As much of the learning flows from the preparatory activities as from the conduct of the interview itself. Also have a time slot into which the interview must fit; forty-five minutes is about right unless it is going to go into extraordinary depths, in which case an hour should be sufficient. Finally, after the interview ensure that the interviewer(s) review what they learned from the experience of planning and conducting an interview and from the topics explored.

Likely lessons include:

• how to set realistic objectives
• how to phrase initial and supplementary questions to find out what you want to know
• how to listen and understand
• how much can be discovered in a short time
• how willing, forthcoming and expansive most people are if you put them at their ease
• how much more can be learned by being proactive and taking charge of the process rather than passively waiting to be spoon-fed what someone else decides you should know.

And, in addition to these lessons learned, add the information gained from the contents of the interview.