Meric Craig Bloch (mbloch@shrinenet.org) is Corporate Director, Investigations for Shriners Hospitals for Children. He has conducted over 400 workplace investigations of fraud and serious workplace misconduct, and is an author and a frequent public speaker on the workplace investigations process.
Lying is not a natural human behavior. It must be learned. Liars lie for many reasons. Some know that lying works and doing so absolves them of the consequences of their misconduct. Other people lie because of fear. But admitting misconduct involves significant embarrassment. Consequently, there are enormous pressures to hide the truth, minimize the wrongdoing, and lie.
So now we know that witnesses do not lie because they dislike you. But the lie does not get you any closer to understanding what happened and what didn’t, even if the lie itself can get the witness fired.
When you detect in an interview what you believe is a lie, the more effective strategy is to use the lie as an indicator of where to dig. The witness is not likely to lie about an unimportant issue, of course, so focus on that area.
To know where to dig, you have to understand the different types of lies, because although you have a clue as to the subject matter, you don’t yet know how the implicated person factors into it. Lies generally break down into these types:
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The simple denial. This is the lie where the witness denies doing something the facts are showing you he/she likely did.
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The lie of omission. This is the lie where the witness leaves out embarrassing or incriminating information.
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The lie of fabrication. This is the lie where the witness invents the story. This lie requires the witness to use imagination and consistency in the attempt to persuade you it is the truth.
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The lie of minimization. This is the lie where the witness wants to downplay culpability. A good example is a lie where the witness admits to stealing, but only a small amount rather than the large amount you think he/she took.
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The lie of exaggeration. This is the lie where the witness stretches a true fact to the point where it is a lie. A good example is a lie where the witness exaggerates about his/her former salary.
Finally, the detection of a lie is not the time for a “gotcha” moment. When it happens, first confirm that you understood the witness clearly and that this was what they intended to say. Second, don’t dwell on the topic; move to another one temporarily. (This may lead him to relax, believing that he has fooled you.) Eventually come back to the point and confront them with the details you know. Remember that a lie also leaves you with a factual contradiction the investigation must resolve.
Use the lie to find the truth.