Discovery interview guide

Semi-structured behavioral interviews. The rule for every question: ask about what people actually did the last time, not what they think or would do. Hypotheticals (“what would you do if…”) get polite, rehearsed answers; past behavior gets specifics.

Used for the simulated interviews in this case; written to be reusable. 30–40 minutes each, remote or on site, recorded with consent (see the consent text in evaluation/human-protocol/consent-text.md for the pattern).

For people managers (10 questions)

  1. Tell me about the last time you gave one of your direct reports feedback that you felt went well. What did you say? What happened after?
  2. Now the opposite: the last feedback conversation that went badly. What happened?
  3. Walk me through last week: which of your direct reports did you meet one-on-one with? (Then: how often does that happen, honestly?)
  4. What do you talk about in those one-on-ones?
  5. When someone on your team does something you’re not happy with, what usually happens? Take me through the most recent example.
  6. How was your last annual review conversation, from your side? What did you discuss besides the ratings?
  7. What does your own manager measure you on? What’s on your scorecard or goals right now?
  8. When you were promoted, what training or support did you get for the people-management side?
  9. What’s the hardest part of your week that has nothing to do with clinical work?
  10. If you had one extra hour a week, what would you spend it on?

Probes: “What did they say back?” / “What did you do next?” / “Show me, if you can” (template, calendar, form).

For staff / direct reports (9 questions)

  1. Tell me about the last time you got feedback from your manager that was actually useful. What made it useful?
  2. When was the last time your manager told you something you were doing wasn’t good enough? How did that go?
  3. How often do you sit down with your manager one-on-one? What happens in those meetings?
  4. If you made a mistake yesterday, when would you hear about it, and from whom?
  5. Think about your last annual review. What did you walk away knowing that you didn’t know before?
  6. What would have to change for you to stay here long-term? (For newer staff: what almost made you leave?)
  7. What’s your manager busy with? What fills their day, as far as you can tell?
  8. Do new people on your team get told clearly what good work looks like? How?
  9. If you could change one thing about how communication works here, what would it be?

For HR (business partner / director) (8 questions)

  1. Take me through the engagement survey results on feedback. Which items, which clinics, which roles? What did you see that we haven’t discussed?
  2. What does the exit interview data say about new hires who leave in the first 90 days? Can you show me the coding?
  3. Is there a policy or expectation about one-on-one meetings? Who owns it? Is compliance tracked anywhere?
  4. Tell me about the last manager you supported with a feedback problem. What did you do together?
  5. What’s on the annual review form, and when was it last revised? Who would need to approve a change?
  6. How are clinic managers’ goals set? Who writes the scorecard items?
  7. What happened with the feedback email series in 2024? What did you measure?
  8. If HR had budget and authority to fix one thing about manager support, what would you pick — and what’s stopping you?

Analysis method

  • Transcribe, then code against the four causal buckets used in the root-cause analysis: environment, process, skill, motivation/consequences — plus an “other / doesn’t fit” bucket (something that doesn’t fit is a useful signal, see the survey analysis).
  • Note contradictions between interviewees and against the survey data explicitly; they sharpen the finding, they don’t ruin it.
  • Count behaviors, not adjectives: “3 of 3 managers said they meet one-on-one monthly” is evidence; “managers feel unsupported” is not.