These are the necessary steps to take:
- Arrange an appointment convenient for both of you, when you will have time to spend with the interviewee. If it is an emergency however, you should try to deal with it then and there - or at least establish the nature of the problem at the first interview and arrange a further interview after you have had time to prepare yourself properly.
If you are initiating the interview, arrange it for an early date. The interviewee may have some idea of what you are going to talk about and any delay will make him or her more anxious and less able to discuss the problem with you.
2. Prepare your ground. This may not be possible to do thoroughly if the initiator is the interviewee, because you will not really know what the interview is going to be about until it starts, but you should not be caught completely off-guard. Therefore, make a practice of keeping, or having access to, up-to-date records of your team so that you can refer to them whenever necessary.
You are in a far better position to control the course of the interview if you have planned it in advance, particularly where emotions are involved. You should also keep a list of names and telephone numbers of professional advisers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and the like, whom you can recommend as and when appropriate.
It is important, however, that you do not give the names of any of your own advisers, as they may bring you into too close a contact with the person who has the problem. If your adviser and his or her adviser are one and the same, there is a danger that the work problem can slip over into your personal life, which should always be guarded against.
If the interview is in two parts, the first to find out what the problem is and the second to find the solution, you should use the period between the two to ascertain as many relevant facts as possible. This does not mean prying into matters that do not concern you; it means learning enough about the interviewee to help you make a positive contribution to the solution.
3. Satisfy yourself on two important points: one, do you have the authority, and two, do you have the ability, to solve the problem? If the answer is 'No' to the first, you must resist any temptation to become involved but explain the position and pass the employee on to the appropriate authority. If the answer is 'No' to the second, be honest, tell the employee, and suggest who can help. This is where the list referred to above will come in handy.
4. Define the purpose of the interview. Whoever initiates it, it is always your responsibility as the interviewer to establish its purpose. Until you know what the problem is, you have to spend time at the beginning determining what you want to achieve from the interview. If you are not clear in your mind, you cannot help the interviewee. Make sure the interviewee agrees to the purpose.
The purpose of problem-solving interviews is to help the interviewee understand the problem so that he or she can either resolve it in some way or, if this is not possible, come to terms with it. To do this you also have to clarify the facts so that the interviewee can see exactly what the problem is, because this in itself will help.
Remember that, for the interview to succeed, do not:
- try to act the psychiatrist. This is not your role and you have neither the qualifications nor the experience
- meddle in private matters that do not concern you
- use the interview as an opportunity to moralize
- give advice that you are not qualified to give
Listening
This is at once the simplest and the most difficult of skills. If it were easier more people would be good at it. A man was an inept manager, who was frequently called upon to solve problems caused by his own deficiencies. His method was to give employees a few minutes to have their say, then proceed to lecture and harangue them at great length. If he heard anything at all, it was what he wanted to hear, what fitted into his own view of the problem - and he could never understand why he could not keep his staff.
At problem-solving interviews, the more you listen, the more confident interviewees feel about talking to you and the better your chances of helping them find a solution. It is all a matter of perception. If you look at them when they talk to you, and if they can see from the expression on your face that you are paying attention to everything they say, they will be encouraged to give full replies to your questions. If, on the other hand, you look away, or if they see boredom, lack of interest or disapproval in your expression, they will withdraw into themselves.
Good listening is more than just registering words like a tape recorder. It means:
- being patient and letting interviewees talk without interruption
- hearing the feelings (of hurt, anger, frustration) that he behind the words
- studying their body language for revealing expressions and gestures
- hearing what they actually say, not what your bias or prejudice wants you to hear
- being tolerant and unshakable even if you have strong moral objections to their (private) behavior.
