The 19 ready-made activities in this pack make a big difference to people's interviewing abilities. Covering everything from personnel selection to performance reviews, it provides a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to improving this critical area of business performance. Being in a managerial or supervisory role means having responsibility for others. It demands a high level of interpersonal skill. But although most managers are aware of their responsibilities towards their staff, many lack any formal development of the necessary skills. The ideas in this pack will help you bring about continuous improvement in getting the best out of people.

Use the activities in workshops on:

• performance appraisals
• coaching
• objective setting
• grievance handling
• problem solving
• counselling
• recruitment and selection
• disciplinary interviews

List of Activities:

1. The essential ingredients for effective interviews:
To introduce participants to the essential ingredients of effective interviews and to show how they are interrelated. At the end of the session participants will have a check-list which they will be able to apply to all interviews they conduct.

2. The preparation - setting yourself up to succeed
To stress the vital importance of good preparation to the success of any interview.

3. Opening the interview - how to kick off on the right foot
To introduce participants to the skills required to open an interview effectively and to make them aware of the importance of planning the opening stage.

4. The skill of asking questions:
To introduce participants to effective questioning techniques and how they are used in an interview.

5. Are you really listening?
To help participants recognise the importance of effective listening skills in interviews. To enable participants to review and develop their skills as active listeners.

6. Body language - interpreting what the interviewee is really saying
To introduce participants to the importance of understanding the body language of the interviewee as a means of interpreting what they are really thinking and feeling about what they are saying.

7. Taking notes:
To provide an opportunity to acquire and practise the skills of note-taking.

8. Giving and receiving feedback:
To introduce participants to the skills required to give and receive effective feedback.

9. Talking about feelings:
To explain and demonstrate the skills of expression and reflection required to facilitate greater understanding of the interviewee.

10. Handling difficult reactions :
To explore how to handle difficult reactions from interviewees in a variety of interviewing settings and to provide an opportunity to practise the skills involved.

11. Solving problems together:
To introduce participants to using the joint problem-solving approach in interviews and to enable them to identify and develop the skills required.

12. Generating options - moving the interviewee forward
To introduce participants to the skills of creative thinking and brainstorming and give them an opportunity to practise and develop these skills in an interview.

13. Goal-setting: To introduce the techniques of setting effective goals and to demonstrate their importance in a variety of interviewing settings.

14. Action planning:
To introduce the participants to skills and techniques for developing plans for action which are based on a realistic assessment of the opportunities and difficulties which may occur in implementation.

15. Selecting the right person:
To demonstrate that effective selection relies on using a full and careful specification for the job to assess possible candidates. To provide clear guidelines which will enable the participants to produce effective specifications for any post.

16. The panel interview:
To enable the participants to identify the advantages and disadvantages of the panel interview and to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct a co-ordinated panel interview.

17. Is that a fair question?
To introduce participants to the basics of equal opportunities legislation and enable them to ask questions and make judgements without discriminatory assumptions.

18. The early stages of discipline - grasping the nettle
To introduce participants to the structure and skills required to carry out an interview at the early stages of a disciplinary process.

19. An introduction to counselling skills:
To enable the participants to define counselling and recognise a manager's counselling role. To examine the difficulties they may face when counselling in a work setting and to give them an opportunity to practise and develop the skills involved.