An Interview Survey Has Many Uses

The lifeblood of a team is information. When team members -- whether it be an Executive/Management Team, a Multi-Agency Team, or any other professional team of people --- lack information that others have, they are essentially operating "blind." In some cases team members assume that everyone already has and that everyone understands the information (not always true). In some cases team members are uncomfortable sharing certain information openly for a variety of reasons. And in some cases the information just needs to be gathered and organized so that a team can work with it.

An interview survey is an effective means to get information out into the open so that people can use it to formulate plans and make decisions. An interview survey, conducted either in person or via a phone conference, is distinct from an on-line survey in that it allows for interaction between those being surveyed and the person (a neutral third party) conducting the survey. Such a forum allows for a more extensive survey to be conducted. Conducted this way, the interviewer can ask clarifying or follow-up questions to flesh out responses. This provides for a much "fuller" comprehension and documentation of the interviewees' perspective.

Such an approach is useful in a variety of applications, for example:

To gather the information needed to customize a workshop, corporate retreat, or a similar professional activity,
To gather information that reveals or clarifies the various positions of different parties involved in a conflict, and
To gather information for an Executive/Management Team to work with to address employee concerns.

Benefits

An interview survey has several benefits:

It allows for people to share, in their own words, information to a third party in an atmosphere of confidentiality.

It allows for the gathering of specific rather than general information. For example, if existing data in an employee survey indicates that employees do not feel empowered, an interview survey can elicit specific the specific behaviors or conditions that result in employees feeling this way.

It can be useful to engage those being interviewed to propose suggestions and solutions.

It results in a "report" which can be used by a team to focus discussions and joint problem-solving.

Having this information gathered before a Partnering Workshop, a training session, a corporate retreat, or similar professional activity means less time needs to be spent during the workshop/training/activity to get information gathered and out into the open.