A child will drop a "sippy" cup more times than you can count.

With time, discipline, and commitment, they will finally trust their grip, hold on and take a sip. When did we lose the sight of the idea that it takes time, discipline, and commitment to build rapport and trust? 

What is rapport?

“: a friendly, harmonious relationship

especially: a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy.”

Rapport is an essential element to building and maintaining trust with the person(s) you are engaged with. During any interaction, especially an investigative interview, rapport is one of many very important building blocks to a reliable, successful discussion. Building rapport takes time, discipline, and commitment. So take the time to listen to understand - not to respond. The biggest mistake one can make is making up their minds or leading with their biases before they’ve had a meaningful conversation. 

We have 86400 seconds in a day, that’s 1440 minutes in 24 hours, and we’re going to use just a bit of that time in the investigative interview. So we should make sure we start our rapport building far before the interview stage. In the private sector (I’ve never been in law enforcement so I cannot speak to the process in that capacity), we often organize and plan the interview with the subject ourselves. This is one of the many opportunities to begin the rapport-building phase that will carry over into the interview room. But, before we even start the rapport-building phase, we need to measure our capabilities, do some background research and be sure we have the logistics and resources to move forward with the interview. This will pay dividends to both of you in the end. 

After the meeting is scheduled, be reliable and arrive before the set start time to give time for extras. Time for things like you know, when “Murphy” knocks on the door, rings the doorbell or slides right on in like Kramer from Seinfeld. 

We will always have time to explain why we will be late, but, we might not ever get the time to explain why we never made it. Similarly, we will always have the time to be up-front, honest, and forthcoming with the subject of an investigation/interview when we plan a meeting. But, we might not ever get the time to explain ourselves or get the facts if we’re untruthful, deceptive, duplicitous, and unreliable. There may be times the subject of the interview will have to interact with the investigator more than once so being honest, acting with integrity, and humility is very important if we want our interactions to be meaningful. 

Mr. Poirier is the founder and director of Argus Research Group, ARG, a licensed private investigation agency in the Province of Ontario. He is a Certified PEACE Investigative Interviewer, CPII, and a licensed private investigator, who continues to work with clients that include corporate executives, lawyers, paralegals, and small business owners. 

At ARG, we may not always be able to provide you with the information you expected. Sometimes it isn’t that simple, but we will produce a reliable product and get you results. 

Strategies | Solutions | Results  

Oncques Ne Fauldray