Honestly,
There are employee relations situations where the outcome is coaching.
There are situations where the answer is clearer expectations, a difficult conversation, or a reset.
And then there are investigations where you know the answer could change someone’s career.
I’ve worked those, too.
I’ve investigated allegations where the facts ultimately supported serious consequences, including termination.
Those are the cases that remind you very quickly:
The more serious the possible consequence, the less room there is for sloppy thinking.
When you know someone could lose their job, it would be easy to think the investigator’s job is to become more certain.
I think the opposite is true.
You have to become more curious.
More disciplined.
More willing to challenge your own assumptions.
Because by the time something becomes a formal investigation, people often already have theories.
The employee who raised the concern has one.
The manager probably has one.
Coworkers may have several.
And HR can develop one pretty quickly, too.
That’s dangerous.
Because an investigation isn’t supposed to prove the most compelling story.
It’s supposed to determine what the evidence supports.
That means asking uncomfortable questions in every direction.
What supports the allegation?
What contradicts it?
Is the account consistent?
Is there documentation?
Are there witnesses?
Could there be another explanation?
Am I giving one person’s information more weight because they are more confident, more articulate, more senior, or simply easier to believe?
And the question I think investigators should ask themselves more often:
What evidence would change my mind?
If the answer is nothing, you probably aren’t investigating anymore.
You’re confirming.
There’s another piece of this work that doesn’t get talked about enough.
The people involved are still people while you’re figuring all of this out.
The person raising a concern deserves to be heard without being promised an outcome.
The person accused deserves an opportunity to respond without being treated as though the allegation itself is proof.
Witnesses deserve questions that seek information rather than recruit them to one side.
And everyone deserves as much dignity and confidentiality as the process allows.
Neutrality doesn’t mean being cold.
You can take an allegation seriously without deciding it is true before you've investigated it.
And you can treat someone accused of serious misconduct with dignity without minimizing the allegation.
Both things can be true.
That balance matters because sometimes the evidence does lead somewhere serious.
Sometimes what you substantiate means coaching isn’t enough.
Sometimes the appropriate recommendation may affect someone’s employment.
When that happens, I want to know I can answer a very simple question:
How did you get here?
Not:
I had a feeling.
Not:
Everybody seemed to agree.
Not:
That was the story that made the most sense.
But:
Here is what was alleged.
Here is what we examined.
Here is what we could corroborate.
Here is what we could not.
Here is the information that contradicted other information.
Here is how we resolved those differences.
And here is what the evidence ultimately supported.
Because when the stakes get higher, our thinking should get more careful.
Not more certain.
More careful.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Before closing a high-stakes employee relations matter, ask yourself:
What did I substantiate?
Not what do I suspect?
Not what seems likely?
What does the evidence support?
What did I not substantiate?
Say that just as clearly.
What evidence challenged my original thinking?
If nothing did, ask whether you genuinely looked for it.
Did the person accused have a meaningful opportunity to respond?
Not simply an interview.
An opportunity to respond to the substance of the concern.
Can I explain how I reached my conclusion without relying on instinct, popularity, hierarchy, or hindsight?
And finally:
Would I be comfortable explaining my process if someone carefully examined every decision I made?
Sometimes an investigation changes everything for someone.
That is exactly why the process leading to that decision matters so much.
Colleen ❤️
Colleen Honestly