Dec. 10/06

The art of the interview

A no-fail guide to conducting better interviews, no matter what the topic

This article of mine originally appeared in the November-December issue of Communication World, the magazine of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

You’re sitting in the company cafeteria, interviewing Jim from accounting. You desperately need some pithy comments from him to jazz up your story on changes to the company’s pension plan.

Trouble is, he persists in talking in 48-word sentences. He won’t give you any anecdotes. And he’s rambling on about vesting schedules, ERISA, accrued benefits and rollovers.

Five minutes in, you’re beginning to fantasize about rolling over into a coma yourself. Where did you go wrong? Could you have done anything differently? And most of all, can this interview be saved?

Interviewing – and doing it well – is harder than it looks. Professionals like Diane Sawyer and Charlie Rose make it look as easy as ordering a drink with their fries. But of course they have assistants to do the tough legwork for them. And the subjects they’re interviewing are often movie stars or famous authors (how fun is that?) who are wildly enthusiastic about the publicity they’re bound to get.

Fortunately, even as a corporate communicator, you can do a lot to improve your interviewing technique. And, if you do, the payoff will be enormous – both in terms of the stories you turn in and the speed with which you’ll be able to write them. So here’s a no-fail guide to better interviewing:

The first thing to remember is that it’s often wise to invest some time in selecting your interview subject. True, sometimes your boss, or the nature of the story, will force you to speak with a specific person, no matter how un-charming he or she may be. But if you have options, use them wisely.

I frequently phone supervisors and say, "I need to interview someone on XYZ topic. Who’s your best talker?" or even, "Who’s the most opinionated person on your floor?" Some people are born with the gift of the gab -– it’s just common sense to interview Chatty Cathy over Gus Grumpypants.

When you have your subject identified, then it’s time to do a little research. Yes, of course  you’re pressed for time. But how long does it take to Google a few key phrases? (If you’re interviewing someone about power boilers, for example, it helps to have a vague idea what one looks like!)

Writers often ask me if I recommend using a prepared list of questions. The answer is a qualified yes. You want a natural ebb and flow to your conversation. Slavishly following a pre-packaged list of questions will make you feel like a prosecuting attorney – and could put your subject in the unfortunate role of hostile witness. So, sure, prepare your list of questions, but refer to it only when there’s a lull (or at the end of the interview – to make sure you’ve covered everything.)

When making your initial contact with the subject, be certain to describe the nature of your story. Don’t just give the topic – explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish. If the interviewee understands your purpose, he or she will be better able to help you.

When you launch the actual interview, you probably know that it’s wise to start with a few pleasantries to relax both of you. But after that, be sure your first questions are factual and easy-to-answer ones. This is time for warming-up – and just as a runner doesn’t start to sprint without some stretching and a few laps around the track, you shouldn’t launch into the important questions until you – and your subject – have warmed up your “talking muscles.”

Once you’re underway, there are three keys to a successful conversation:

Ask open-ended rather than “closed” questions

You’ve almost certainly been told this before. (Closed questions can be answered with a yes or no. Open-ended ones can’t.) But there’s more to it than that. Be sure to go for the deepest level of open-ended questions – that is, questions about feelings, opinions and values. “How does the power boiler work?” is open-ended, sure, but it’s pure fact. “How tough was it to get the new power boiler up and running in time?” or “How did you cope when you didn’t think you were going to meet your deadline?” will get you much more interesting answers. During  the interview, look for every chance to probe into feelings, opinions and values.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to look for sensory detail. Ask about what your subject has seen, touched, heard, tasted or smelled.

It often even pays to ask outright for metaphors. A writer I was working with once needed to describe a hard-to-understand piece of industrial equipment. She asked her source to compare it to something else and he said it was “like a hospital bed because it was flat and it tilted.” Perfect!

Give your subject lots of feedback

Your interview subject – no matter how sophisticated, technically-savvy or aloof – is a human being. And he or she will respond to being treated like one. When someone tells you something interesting, don’t just say “uh huh.”  Say: “Wow! That must have been fascinating/tough/frustrating. How did you feel about that?” 

Another essential feedback tool is paraphrasing. When the VP tells you about production stats, respond by putting her comments in your own words. You might say, for example, “Interesting….so you’re saying that if the company doesn’t dramatically improve its production then a number of jobs are at risk?”

Paraphrasing not only “primes the pump” for the interview, it also allows you to prove your understanding to the subject. Then, he or she has the opportunity to correct you if you’ve misunderstood.

In response to your paraphrase, the VP might reply: “Yes. We’re like a car that’s in the wrong gear going up hill and we’re starting to stall.” OR she might say: “No, I don’t want to panic anyone. We don’t need to rebuild or re-engineer anything; we just need to do a little tweaking.”  Bingo, you now have clarification (and, either way, a better quote.)

When you’re at a loss about how to paraphrase, you can also simply repeat the last comment made by your subject, but put a question mark in your voice: “We’re like a car that’s in the wrong gear going up hill??”

And be sure to remember that silence can be a tool. Western society hates it when people don’t talk. So steel yourself to the discomfort, and use it to your advantage. More than likely, you’ll find that even reluctant interview subjects will rush to break the silence.

Avoid “superlatives”

How often have you asked any of the following questions: What was the worst buying decision you ever made? What was the hardest part of the product launch? What was the best career advice anyone ever gave you?

All of these questions are based on superlatives – best, worst, funniest, most embarrassing etc. And they are almost always a mistake.

The questions sound awfully good on paper but they put incredible stress on the interview subject. Thoughts race through the subject’s mind as he tries to answer your question about the best career advice. “Hmm,” he thinks. “That was good advice, but was it the best?” Before you know it, you have a tongue-tied subject.

Instead, ask simply, “What’s a piece of good career advice you’ve found especially useful?

Or tap into the power of the human brain and ask a “when” question. “When you were in your very first job, what’s a good piece of career advice you received?” Somehow the word “when” transports us into previous circumstances and dramatically heightens our memories.

How to deal with problem interviews:

Of course, not all interviews will go smoothly. But often the problems are predictable and you can prepare for them. One of the most common is the person who talks in jargon. This can often be solved with a little bit of flattery: “You understand this subject at a much greater depth than I do. But I have to write this article at a really basic level. Could you pretend I’m a grade 6 student as you explain?” A bit of humour can also help. I sometimes say: “Just pretend I’m really, really dense – you won’t have to pretend very hard!”

If the problem is rambling, gently steer the subject back to the topic at hand. You might say: “We’ve been talking about (topic) and now I need to move on to (another topic.)” If you’re really tight for time, you could mention deadline pressures as a way of speeding up the conversation, but do try to be kind and patient.

Of course it’s much harder to handle the opposite problem – the person who answers your questions only in monosyllables or who says “I dunno” or “Yeah, I guess.” This is most often a sign that you’re either not providing enough feedback or you’re not asking the right questions. Go back to the basics: be enthusiastic, make sure you’re paraphrasing, ask for metaphors, and try “when” questions.

Use all of these strategies and you might even get a quote like this one from the Toronto Globe and Mail. It was from a playwright who received a kidney transplant and was describing his first post-surgery meeting with his donor (another playwright):

“We were like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their last movie, doddering down the street.”

When I read a quote like that, I credit not just the speaker for his cleverness, but also the interviewer for a job well done.