INTERVIEWS
Change whose perspective?
Psychology suggests that when an individual says something out loud, they are more likely to defend or commit to it. For this reason, the change of perspective becomes an important element to truth verification during the subject interview.
When you change your subject’s perspective, you place them into the role of the decision maker. You present the subject two individuals doing something they should not be doing. When talking to each, one lies and denies doing anything wrong. The second person is honest about the situation. You then ask, “Of the two, which do you feel better about?” When your subject chooses the second, honest person, you support their decision and encourage honesty from them as well. Their verbalization gets them one step closer to the truth.
Your subject has now verbalized their perspective, revealing they feel better about the honest individual. The conclusion they arrive at is that perhaps you, or your organisation, would feel better about them if they too were honest. The changing of your subject’s perspective can also be used later in the conversation. If the guilty subject denies wrongdoing, you can remind them that they themselves wanted to talk to someone who was willing to be honest.
by Chris Norris, CFI
Wicklander-Zulawski Europe
