Strategically Communicating

For the past two years I have been doing research for my job through interviews on a daily basis. The topics of our interviews are incredibly specialized and at times very technical. This is challenge when someone like me, who is not a very technical person, is the one asking the questions. I have found that it is not so much about being an expert of the topic, as it is about being able to discover the nuggets of valuable information that are being said and knowing how to ask the right follow up questions.

When reading the excerpt from Terry Gross’s book, I was surprised when she mentioned that she was more comfortable doing the interviews via telephone. Each interview I conduct is by phone and it is something that I continually struggle with. I find that it is harder to establish a relationship by phone than it is in person. I also find that interviews are the most successful when the conversations seem natural and easy, which can be a challenge when people are talking over one another, unfamiliar with one another and unable to gauge one another’s actions of the phone. There is truly an art to interviewing, and even though it is something I do everyday, I am not even close to mastering it.