For years attendees have been trained in both the art of interviewing as well as the WZ Method of Interrogation. Around 2008, WZ removed the direct positive interrogation approach, noting the concerns the method would have in the private sector. As we continue to adapt to the changing environments, we have again made a proactive change to our seminars.
For more than 30 years, we have taught the Selective Interview Technique in our Basic Seminars. The Selective Interview can be a useful technique in handling multiple subjects, when evidence is minimal, in narrowing the scope of the investigation. After careful consideration and research, we have removed this technique from the Basic Seminars. While it is a wonderful technique, we looked at the attendees of the Basic Seminar when making this decision. An attendee attending the Basic Seminar would most often not be the person handling the type of case that the Selective Interview is most beneficial as mentioned above. We have found the majority of these investigations are typically conducted by a much more seasoned interviewer, due to the lack of clear evidence of actual wrongdoing.
We are excited to move the Selective Interview Technique into the Advanced Private Seminars, where the more seasoned interviewer in more likely to attend. For those of you that want to have your team learn the Selective Interview we will continue to provide more focused training on the Selective Interview through the WZ Webinar Series, on a monthly basis. If this is an area you really want your team to have prior to an Advanced Seminar, we can work on specialized training for your team as another option for this valuable technique.
In order to make the WZ Private Sector Basic Seminar more conducive to the skill level and case loads of those attending, we are adding the Participatory Approach into the seminar. The Participatory Approach is an impactful method in identifying areas of concern regarding policies or crimes that have occurred within an organization. This approach takes the time to interview an individual to identify areas that they might normally use as an excuse for violating the policy or committing a crime. For example, “I did not know the policy” or “My boss said I was allowed to do it” would be removed as excuses from those that truly did know the policy or that it was wrong. This is accomplished by interviewing the subject regarding areas of concern and locking them into knowing the policies or knowing what is right and wrong within the organization. The extra benefit of this technique is it provides operational guidance for future management and training. Should a person be identified as honestly not knowing the policy, the organization then has an opportunity to place an honest employee back to work with the goal of providing more training to help all individuals understand what is expected by the organization.
WZ has always been committed to providing the latest techniques to help our partners obtain and learn the latest methods that are useful to train their interviewers for a correct resolution of a situation. The latest changes in the 2016 seminars continues this practice and we believe you will see a great benefit to these changes. Should you have any questions regarding these changes, feel free to reach out to one of the Senior Partners here at WZ. Shane, Dave and I are always here to help our partners in achieving the best for you and the industry.