Nov 22, 2019
This is probably the most
overlooked area. We tend to think about interviews in terms of
getting a job. How about gathering information that really provides
great insights.
I used informational interviews
everywhere, not just in podcast recordings. I use this approach
everywhere. I use it to build new relationships, to ask for advice
& guidance, build networks and it truly helps one see different
dimensions and aspects about a particular topic.
It’s an approach that Management
consultants have perfected. How many times have you heard “We hired
consultants and they just validated everything that we knew.” The
difference is that the management consultants go in to chat with
people with the intent of gaining information & valuable insights
to a particular area and they compare it with other
companies/individuals that have faced similar situations/obstacles
and/or challenges.
Management consultants often
refer to this as discovery questions. There are no shortage of
reasons to use this approach.
Here are a few typical use cases:
- When
you start a new department or company, you want to meet some of the
key players (also known as stakeholders) to understand the current
challenges in the environment. It provides us insights of what
these individuals expect of us. Another ‘AHA’
moment
- When
you have a new business idea or potential concept, many of the
innovators on the CanInnovate podcast told us that one of the
greatest sources of information. They were able to test whether
their idea was a problem or opportunity that others would pay for.
Providing insights into their potential go to market, their target
market, their key messaging and so on. It provides them with such
valuable feedback that allows them to fine tune their business idea
and potentially gain a few early adopters.
- When
you’re looking into jobs and want to know about company culture.
What a great tool to use to dive in to understand more about the
company. People really enjoy talking about the pros and cons of
their company, as its an extension of their values.
- Inspiration & Curiosity. You meet someone that
is brilliant and would like to know more about them. They have
gotten your attention and you’re curious to know more about them
and their journey. Maybe it’s just because you are looking for a
little bit of ‘juice’ for inspiration.
All of these different uses,
give you an additional benefit. You will get collaboration and
actually develop relationships. People that you’ve engaged,
will want to be part of your journey. They are a little bit
invested in your success. In my book, Connect The Dots: Turn
Strangers into Meaningful Network
Relationships, I talk
about the study that confirms a positive link between asking for a
small favor. It’s called the Ben Franklin effect!
The reason why I wanted to talk
about the informational interview, was because this is also part of
the overall design thinking principles. Asking “What If’,
experimenting and testing early, hearing and understanding (Human
Empathy) gathering feedback early in the process, focusing on the
user experience mindset and most of all, collaboration. Information
Interviews really enables you to humanize the problem/situation and
possibly identify additional opportunities by TALKING!
There is no shortage of benefits of using information
interviews. But, you know me - I like to get tactical.
- Plan: What do you want to learn about or discover?
What is the context the purpose - put together 3-4 questions. Don’t
forget that you may need to break down questions into smaller
questions to re-frame questions. Think like a journalist. You’re
just getting information and looking for little clues. Don’t forget
to prepare a little mini-intro about you & what is the objective
for the meeting.
- Engage: Who are potentially some folks that could
give you some of these answers. Who in your network should you
engage. FREEBIE ALERT! Connect the Dots
Companion Workbook. To help put your networking and objectives into
perspective. This
workbook will help you identify who in your network to engage and
more importantly, how to engage and what are some topics that you
want to talk about. This will help provide you the basis, for your
informational interviews.
- Warm Up:
Meet the person and make sure that
you take a few minutes to do some warm up questions. Getting to
know them. People love talking about themselves. You can ask about
how did they get into this field, or what does a day typically look
like for them or talk about a hot industry topics. Just make sure
you take the time to warm up the conversation.
- Conduct:
Conducting the informational
interview. Be open to go off script. This is a big challenge for
people. The idea is to pick up clues, not to be perspective. You’re
trying to discover what you don’t know.
-
Reflections:
Every time, you do an informational interview - think about did you
get the information that you were looking for. You may need to
refine and re-frame the question. We need to remember that we just
need to get better at asking BETTER questions. By the way, you know
I absolutely think Michael
Bungay-Stainer’s Book - the Coaching Habit:Say Less, Ask More &
Change the Way Your Lead Forever is an essential must read. This book provides
such valuable ways to PHRASE questions to get information
out.
- Thank you:
I cannot express this enough. We
need to take a few minutes to say thank you and be grateful for the
time. I did an entire blog post about the value of gratitude. I’ll add it to the show notes. Send a
handwritten note or email. Just to thank them for their time and
the value that they provided. Do NOT ask for favors. You’re
just starting to build relationships. You can touch base with them,
throughout your journey and give them a little bit of an
update.
One thing that I’ve learned, is
that people want to genuinely help. However, they also want to know
specifically what it is that you want. We get so many requests for
our time, so we need to prioritize. Don’t ask for 4 hours of their
time, ask for 25-30 minutes over coffee and BE SPECIFIC. “I’d like
to learn from you, about what it’s like working as a Business
Analyst at Company XYZ” or “I’d like to get your advice and
perspective, of how to get more hands on experience with Blockchain
technology”.
Information Interviews is
another essential business life skill. I’ve got some freebies for
you.
I hope you found this helpful
and useful. I look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to share
the content with others and leave comments. I love
feedback.
Best Always,
Sapna
FREEBIE ALERT!
Connect the
Dots Companion Workbook. To help put your networking and
objectives into perspective. This workbook will help you identify who in
your network to engage and more importantly, how to engage and what
are some topics that you want to talk about. This will help
provide you the basis, for your informational
interviews.
Other links:
Importance of Gratitude
3
steps to a perfect informational interview
How
to get the most out of an informational interview