Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

92 Improve your Communication Skills
This chapter will look at the following four types of interview: 
• appraisal; 
• delegation; 
• coaching; 
• counselling. 
Each type of interview will demand a range of skills from you, the 
interviewer. All of the skills of enquiry and persuasion that have 
been explored so far in this book will come into play at some 
point. 
Preparing for the interview 
Prepare for the interview by considering three questions: 
• 
What’s my objective? 
• 
What do I need? 
• 
When and where? 
What’s my objective? 
What do you want to achieve in the interview? You must decide, 
for you are calling the interview. Do you want to discipline a 
member of staff for risking an accident, or influence their 
attitude to safety? Are you trying to offload a boring routine task 
or seeking to delegate as a way of developing a member of your 
team? Are you counselling or coaching? 
Setting a clear objective is the only way you will be able to 
measure the interview’s success. And it is essential if you want to 
be able to decide on the style and structure of the interview. 
What do I need? 
Think about the information you will need before and during the 
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

---

93 Interviews: Holding a Formal Conversation
interview. Think also about what information the interviewee 
will need. What are the key areas you need to cover? In what 
order? What questions do you need to ask? 
You may also need other kinds of equipment to help you: 
notepads, flip charts, files, samples of material or machinery. You 
may even need a witness to ensure that the interview is seen to 
be conducted professionally and fairly.