Good investigators understand what their biases are and work to control them while in investigation mode. Adopt the persona of a sports referee—the neutral arbitrator, without a stake in the outcome. This is easer said than done. You work in organizations and your leadership will have their own set of biases and perhaps even taboo topics. Yet a good investigator must adopt and maintain that open and neutral stance.
How to defend your findings and recommendations? Have an impeccable foundation to base your conclusions, rooted in a carefully constructed set of building blocks of evidence, each of which you can demonstrate is true. Avoid single-source information that cannot be collaborated by a second source. Remember the derivation of the word ‘‘witness” (to see, hear or know by personal presence and perception). I’m very interested when a witness says “I saw” or ‘”heard” as opposed to “I think.”