How are your interviewing skills? Those of us in media often find ourselves asking questions, either for an on-air program or for a prospective team member for our organization. Most of us have discovered there is an art to the process and a skill that can be learned.

Someone asked me how many interviews I have done in my media career which spans over fifty-five years. I haven’t kept count. But I did estimate it one time. I have done over twenty thousand interviews for radio and television. Some were brief 5-minute ones. Some were an hour or more. Most were live on the air, and others were recorded for editing. While that does make me experienced, it doesn’t necessarily make me an expert. But I have learned some things I can pass on. Here are a few tips for broadcast or podcast interviews:

  • Know your subject, both the topic to be discussed and the person you are interviewing.
  • Have a specific angle you want to pursue.
  • Don’t offer the questions ahead of time. You want the interview to be spontaneous.
  • If there are some sensitive areas, you can alert the interviewee about the topic and area of discussion.
  • Put your interviewee at ease. Visit casually prior to the interview.
  • Be kind. Ambush interview questions rarely get good answers. And you stand a chance of the interview being tense and not productive.
  • Don’t answer the question as you ask it. “Isn’t it true your organization went bankrupt last year?” The answer you will get is probably “Yes.”
  • Listen to the answer from your guest. It may lead to a better question than you had planned.
  • Stay in control of the interview. Don’t let the interviewee hijack the time. It is your job to steer them back on the topic and to keep them on track.
  • Have a good closing question.
  • Smile. It actually helps the interviewee feel more comfortable.

Asking questions in job interviews and general conversation is also an art form. Yet we can learn a lot from those who use this technique often. My friend Bob Tiede has built a ministry around asking questions (Leading with Questions). Bob says anyone can learn to lead with questions in about 30 seconds. He has four questions a person can ask staff or friends to get started. You can memorize these easily.

  1. What do you think?
  2. What else?
  3. What else?
  4. What else?

The idea, of course, is to get the other person talking, hear their views, and probe deeper into what they think and why.

I recall the questions Jesus posed during his ministry. To His disciples, Jesus asked, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” After their responses, the Lord asked, “But who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13,15 NLT) Questions. Did Jesus not know? Of course, the omniscient God knew. But it started His disciples thinking, and allowed Simon Peter to make that amazing confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16 NLT)

The art of asking questions can be an amazing process and can yield amazing responses when used properly.

So, what do you think about that?

God’s best,