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The Deep Dive!

As many of you read in my recent press release, my company has become a licensed Private Investigative Agency and I am a licensed Private Investigator. This announcement prompted many questions so I decided in this post to explain how being licensed will benefit my clients.

There will be no change to the many training, coaching, consulting and sales strategy services I have been providing for 15 years! This new capability is merely an enhancement of the services I currently provide.

So why the PI license?

One colleague suspected it was so I can buy a red Ferrari and move to Hawaii! Another suggested I want to sit in a tree for hours with a camera and catch someone committing a crime! Neither of these is the reason; although Hawaii in January does have great appeal so I need to work on this.

There are certain corporate situations that require an expert in putting meaning to human behavior. I am highly experienced and trained in this area and have helped many clients understand and address human behavior in a variety of circumstances.

Having an objective third party in many situations results in finding out information that often cannot be gained with internal resources. There are times that this is very successful at the level of a coach or consultant and there are some circumstances that can be enhanced by additional training and credentials such as being a Private Investigator.

Let’s take a look at a few areas of focus for my work and explain how my current approach may be enhanced by the private investigator credential and education.

WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS

Uncovering information in an informal way about workplace behavior has always been a part of my approach. Whether I am wearing my coach or consultant hat, I have had great success getting people to share positive and troubling information about themselves and their co-workers. This is often part of the development process and I create specific actions to address any needed areas of improvement.

There are situations that fall outside of coaching or consulting because of the nature of the behavior. This often results in the internal human resources department, leaders or even outside counsel to prefer to have a licensed investigator perform interviews and gather information.

As a licensed Private Investigator I can provide this valuable “deep dive” and gather this information.

BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING AND BACKGROUND CHECKS

I have been assisting clients by training them to utilize behavioral interviewing techniques for many years. There have also been many times that I participated in the interviews. This allowed the employer to focus on many of the questions about credentials, job skills and other items specific to the role. My participation was largely focused on body language, facial expressions and other behavior. My role was to watch for any positive or negative impressions that can be uncovered through careful observation because of my training in human behavior. Continuing my education in this area can be enhanced by much of the training I can participate in as a Private Investigator.

In addition to enhancing the interviewing with my current process, there can be a key hire that is so important that the traditional background checks do not provide enough information.

As a licensed Private Investigator I can now do the “deep dive” background check and provide crucial information related to important hiring decisions.

NAVIGATING SENSITIVE SITUATIONS

My first experience hiring a Private Investigator was a sensitive corporate situation where we needed to know if the employee’s suspected activities were actually occurring before ever speaking with them. This helped me avoid making an unfounded accusation and protected us in many ways by having a third party handle the situation.

I already help individuals and organizations with highly sensitive situations and have a track record of resolving them with discretion. In situations where clients already work with me and we have established trust, they will no longer need to involve another party if a Private Investigator is needed.

As a licensed Private Investigator I can now do the “deep dive” fact-gathering and other activities to help resolve the sensitive situation.

So instead of driving a Ferrari or sitting in a tree looking for crimes, I am looking forward to helping current and future clients with their corporate investigation needs.

I am definitely open to other opportunities that require a licensed Private Investigator and look forward to where this new credential will lead me!

Please feel free to share this blog with colleagues.

For more details about this post or how I can help your team, please contact me at eric@myersbds.com or 563-340-7600.

Eric Myers

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