After almost a decade at the helm, today Intersol CEO, Ian Hynes, hands over strategic leadership of the company to Mick Confrey. Founding the company as a sole trader in 2013, Ian Hynes today takes a ‘step back’ as part of broader succession and continuity planning, enabling Mick to ‘pilot’ the company to the next level. Ian isn’t leaving the business but is assuming more of a part-time role to support business development and relationship management, promoting the core standards, principles, and mission statement of the company. “Reinforcing the (forensic) investigative interview meeting as the ‘golden thread’ of investigation case management [...]

Responding to demand as people return to some normality, Intersol has scheduled a series of 'in-person' training throughout 2022 at their training academy based. Delivering Units 1 and 2 of their unique Level 3 OFQUAL accredited investigative interview training delegates can now choose and ‘mix and match’ blended online learning with classroom delivery to secure the only vocational qualification in the world to conduct and manage difficult workplace meetings and investigative interviews. What’s different about our training? Externally validated qualification, not a ‘homemade’ certificate of attendance Training at a Skillsfirst Awards recognised learning centre (number 205.001) CPD points as well if [...]

Join us on 27th January 2022 as our Ops Director Mick Confrey & Head of Learning John Crook host a free virtual workshop, discussing common investigation pitfalls & the importance of training. The workshop begins at 10am - 11.30am on the 27th November, to join, please sign-up for a free ticket by clicking here.

Confirmation bias is perhaps the greatest nemesis of an investigator. It is a form of cognitive bias that involves favouring information that confirms previously existing beliefs. They not only impact how information is gathered but also influence how we interpret and recall information. For example, people who support or oppose a particular issue will not only seek information to support it they will also interpret news stories in a way that upholds their existing ideas. In an investigation, this can manifest itself in poor investigative interview questioning, and ‘edited’ notetaking.   In contemporary society many will only follow people on social [...]

"Cardiac Unit Nearing Collapse". The part (not) played by fact-finding interviews. (Unreserved acknowledgement to The Times). Intersol are passionate about the critical part played by fact-finding meetings to inform reliable decision-making and inquiry outputs, a discipline professionally known as investigative interviewing. In statements reinforcing that message, London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox was critical of a review into mortality rates at a leading cardiac surgery hospital, a review that has cost our NHS £millions let alone lives, careers, and reputations. As reported here by The Times, Dr Wilcox labelled the process “less than perfect”. She criticised the review team “throughout this case [...]

The grievance process begins with first establishing if the grievance can be resolved informally. In many cases, line managers shy away from trying to resolve examples of reported poor staff behaviour at the time they are reported or in some instances witnessed by the line manager themselves. The line manager sometimes takes the easier option of moving straight to advising the member of staff reporting the issue to submit a formal written grievance, therefore handing the responsibility of dealing with the issue to HR, who in turn then may have to seek out another manager to act as the investigator into [...]

“Every Picture Tells a Story…. or does it? Forensic Investigative Interviews Deliver Justice, NOT Pictures” (Ian Hynes CEO Intersol Global).  In the month that the International Investigative Interviewing Group (iiirg) hosted its annual conference virtually for the first time, we thought the time was right to remind readers of the critical part forensic investigative interviewing plays in delivering safe and reliable outcomes that ensure justice for all. For a host of reasons, the role of CCTV, DNA, trace evidence, and digital records have come to play a major part in investigations, almost to the point that unless any of that evidence exists, there [...]

"Why am I asked such intrusive and personal questions when I’ve been raped or seriously sexually abused at work?"  "Why is it essential that those interviewing victims of rape and sexual misconduct in the workplace are specialist investigators?" In this month’s Investigation Insights, our CEO, Ian Hynes, seeks to answer both those questions in the context of a criminal and civil (discipline) investigation. First, let’s set some context: ·      1 in 6 women will be raped or sexually assaulted as adults ·      Only half of adult victims of rape will ever tell someone ·      Only 5% of victims will report to the authorities at the time [...]