Market research and interrogation have a great deal in common.
Consider this: an interrogation or "interview" is really very like a one-on-one focus group. The objective is to obtain (or confirm) information or intelligence which you either a) didn't have before, or wish to b) confirm from a predetermined reliable source in a reliable manner.
The key to the questioning process is to avoid posing questions which are leading, or which are framed in such a manner as to force pressured, inaccurate answers from the interviewee (being polite, or trying to provide you with the answers that he or she believes will best satisfy or palliate you). The idea is to get the interviewee to speak with as little prompting as possible.
Assuming that physical torture is not an option (which it really shouldn't be, as the results obtained are, arguably, inaccurate in too many cases -- this is putting aside the obvious humanitarian issues as well -- from waterboarding to listening to an endless tape loop of Barry Manilow albums, these methods tend to stimulate the creative survival instinct in your interviewee, and produce specious albeit occasionally convincing responses).
Two things are common to most inexperienced and not profoundly emotionally-disturbed interviewees - a) they feel compelled to fill the uncomfortable silence in a one-on-one conversation with their own talking, and; b) if falsehoods or misstatements are hurled rapidly at them, they become triggered into "correcting" the "wrong story" and replace the suppositions with facts - they often reveal much more information than they had expected to offer, and more than you, as the interviewer, ever expected to receive.
Utilizing the tidbits of Human behavioral psychology cited in the prior paragraph,two techniques are most effective in order to draw an individual out of himself or herself of his or her own initiative so that you obtain the most complete and accurate intelligence. Here they are:
1) Prolonged silence - ask a very straightforward, question, and then remain silent. In the void of uncomfortable silence, most interviewees will begin to talk in order to quell the discomfort of the awkward quiet. If the answers seem to be merely "small talk" or temporizing, remain silent and continue to look at the interviewee. The question will eventually be answered if you don't re-engage in any casual banter and maintain the intensity of your demeanor as well as your silence. Don't converse. Listen.
2) Shoot out a high-speed stacatto recitation of absolutely, patently false statements. In defense, or in correcting what is perceived to be a misperception on your part, the interviewee, will interrupt you (at which point you must maintain a skeptical expression, as well as silence, as in persistent doubt) in order to "correct you." Invariably, the proferred correction will yield more information than would be required in response to your obvious (and frequently obnoxious) ploy.
Apply what you have learned above to either situation -- either when being questioned or when asking the questions. Understanding impulsive responses is important in every aspect of information-gathering and in such mundane, but daunting challenges as managing employees, operatives or teammates.
In retrospect, I might have titled this post "Management By Manipulation." But then, the term manipulation has acquired a perjorative connotation. The irony here, Commanders, is that all Human interaction requiring communication involves some element of what could be easily termed manipulation. Oh well.
Faithfully,
Douglas E Castle
http://takingcommand.blogspot.com/
http://braintenance.blogspot.com/
Remember: Leadership requires an understanding of Human behavioral psychology and a masterful application of that knowledge. You must understand how others think and act -- but it is every bit as important to know about your own triggers, buttons, self-limiting beliefs, insecurities, bravado and propensities to sabotage yourself.
Note: I often write about management, leadership and team-building issues in such TNNWC publications as The National Networker (TNNWC) Weekly Newsletter, The Blue Tuesday Report, and Expert Advice And Insights From TNNWC.
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