Am I feeling emotional?

Incidents are traumatic events which can stimulate emotions. For example, it would be very understandable to be upset if you knew the work crew involved, or even the injured party personally. We all also have personal lives, which can at times become emotional for very normal reasons.

If we’re not at our best as investigators, we may miss things or fail to collect valid data. Being emotional makes us much more susceptible to bias – our brains are distracted and so start to take shortcuts and rely more on heuristics, which adds more bias into the mix.

Other emotions can also emerge. For example, anger can also negatively impact our thinking. Again, it is totally understandable to be angry at a situation we feel could have been avoided, particularly where someone has been hurt, but this can cloud judgements and make us more susceptible to bias.

Suggested actions:

For Interviewers

  • Acknowledge that you are emotional and be mindful that it matters and can make you more vulnerable to bias.
  • Ask a colleague to take over the interview for you if possible.
  • If not, be mindful that you are emotional, and so go slowly and methodically, or if you feel it’s the right thing to do, step away from the interview completely.
  • Have a checklist available to back yourself up, to make sure you don’t miss any interview question topics and keep the interview on course.
  • Go for a walk outside to clear your head and decompress, if you have time exercise can help soothe high emotions.
  • Take regular breaks throughout the process.

For Managers

  • Make sure your interviewing team are not overworked or fatigued by normal day to day operations.
  • Be flexible in your resourcing and ensure enough headroom in scheduling to allow colleagues to support each other as necessary.
  • Allow for flexibility in the process, and for people to take time out as needed.
  • For SIFs, depending on the situation, it may be appropriate to outsource the investigation.

Find out more about the different biases that can affect you when you’re feeling emotional here.