ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some of the fundamentals of how to become an effective interviewer. Interviewing skills are used at all stages of a consulting project: from the first meeting with a prospective client, through diagnosis of the problem and action, to successful completion of the project. Consultants frequently ask to have an empty office or room reserved exclusively for them to conduct their interviews. Open-ended questions give interviewees the chance to express their opinions. However, this doesn’t mean that their responses are always clear or helpful. The interviewer should not attempt to interpret the vague responses of interviewees and assume that the interpretation is correct. To be a good interviewer, one has to remain not only free of bias but also politically neutral, and independent of the client. The person conducting the interview should talk only about 10% of the time; that is, the interviewee should be talking about 90%.
