Our Approach: Holistic Investigations
At RSI, our holistic investigations model is premised on the belief that each investigation – whether it is prompted by a specific complaint or is a more general check on a team, department, or organizational culture – can serve as a platform for learning, healing, institutional growth, and lasting change. We believe workplace investigations can be an extension of an organization's values and mission, and all stakeholders can and should experience more effective, human, and fair investigations.
Most workplace investigation approaches are built on a corporate defense model, where the primary goal is insulating from liability a company whose core goal is maximizing profits. Because this traditional approach grows from the adversarial system – where for the employer to win, the employee must lose – principles like fairness, equity, and inclusion can get pushed to the side. As a result, morale and trust in leadership often decrease in the wake of a workplace investigation, with accompanying issues around retention and employee engagement. At the same time, the traditional investigation model is concerned with short-term, individualized solutions, meaning that many organizations deal with similar problems over and over and over again.
There is a better way, one that incorporates long-standing best practices with the latest research and deep industry experience. Holistic investigations help cultivate workplaces that are truly safe, just, equitable, and inclusive by refusing to pit the interests of the organization against the interest of employees. At RSI, we work closely with leaders and stakeholders to ensure that the implementation of the investigation builds trust for all involved and models leadership’s commitment to values and mission. Holistic Investigations are grounded in a recognition that most situations are nuanced, that multiple and conflicting truths can exist at the same time, and that every person should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their relationship to an investigation. Finally, holistic investigations are designed to provide decision-makers with the information to both respond to inappropriate behavior but also prevent that inappropriate behavior from reoccurring in the future.
Understanding
Traditional vs. Holistic Investigations
At Ramona Strategies Investigations, we approach workplace investigations differently than most traditional investigators. We utilize a holistic investigations approach that conforms to best practices and encompasses an expansive vision of what investigations can and should mean within mission-driven organizations.
Communications
Traditional Defense Model
Leadership and Boards are expected to develop their internal communication strategy independent of investigators. Investigators, when communicating with participants, often use brief, boilerplate script and may rely on policy to coerce participation.
Holistic Model
Investigators work with leadership to develop a tailored communication strategy, including when and how to inform relevant individuals of the investigations and set expectations regarding the investigation based on the organization’s values and mission. When contacting participants, investigators work to build trust through transparency and humility and may offer multiple conversations with participants to increase trust, comfort, and accessibility.
Questioning
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators have a specific set of questions they will move through and may not deviate from that set of questions regardless of what the person says. Questions are designed to pin down what details individuals specifically saw or heard themselves and establishing what things individuals don’t recall or know.
Holistic Model
Investigators use participant-led questioning and have detailed outlines of topics to explore. Questioning is adjusted based on responses. Using this participant-led model allows people to share their experiences and perspectives in full and to the leave the interaction having shared the necessary information without having the process feel extractive, judgmental, or dehumanizing.
Confidentiality
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators may explicitly identify the complainant and subject of the investigation to witnesses. Questions include reference to people, statements, and events at a high level of specificity, including what other witnesses may have shared, which can open participants to potential retaliation.
Holistic Model
Investigators take exacting care to never identify the complainant, subject, or witnesses directly or indirectly. Instead, all communications and questions will be designed to shield participants’ identities and stories so that everyone, especially those with less positional power and identity-based privilege, feel comfortable speaking openly and honestly.
Equity & Inclusion
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators are trained to focus specifically on evidence of intentional discrimination and the exacting levels of proof required under law. They may not have training or experience with subtle manifestations of bias or how the experiences of marginalized populations can vary dramatically from those with power and privilege. Typically, focus is on the acts of the individual, not policies or procedures that many contribute to problems. It is common for evidence on this front to be missed or misunderstood/mischaracterized.
Holistic Model
Investigators are trained on unconscious bias, understand how trauma can influence perceptions and memories, and have a deep understanding of the ways that positional power and societal privilege impact every interaction in a workplace. Careful attention is paid to the ways in which both systems and individual interactions are shaped by bias, including unintentionally. Extra care is taken to check for subtle manifestations of harm and for system or policy factors that may be exacerbating tensions or yielding unfair outcomes.
Reporting
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators follow standard templates that rely heavily on documenting specific claims articulated at the outset of the investigation and measuring evidence against a strict proof standard. Additional claims may be side-stepped, especially if there is not an indication of intentional discrimination. In many cases, evidence is be presented in the most favorable light for the employer, which can lead to an incomplete picture of how information might be shared in grievance, mediation, court, or the media.
Holistic Model
Based on a careful understanding of which individual(s) will receive the report and will make decisions on next steps, investigators tailor the report approach accordingly. Investigators are careful to cover the full range of concerns articulated by impacted parties, rather than limiting the report to only those specific claims identified at the outset. As part of holistic investigations, reports include analysis of corroboration, admissions, and consensus amongst testimonial and documentary evidence, but also of larger context, policies, procedures, and and systems implicated in the situation.
Expectation Setting
Traditional Defense Model
During the course of the investigation, investigators may solicit participant perspectives on what discipline or other next steps are appropriate and relay those. If suggestions along those lines are volunteered, investigators will typically not engage with what is proposed one way or the other. Investigators will provide little to no information regarding timeline, next steps, or what participants will be told about outcomes.
Holistic Model
Investigators will not solicit participant suggestions on next steps unless explicitly agreed upon in advance so as to avoid setting expectations that might be impossible to meet. Investigators take great care to caution participants against assuming they know or understand the entire picture. Investigators will align with leadership in advance so they can communicate clear expectations for timeline, next steps, and what – if anything – participants will be told about outcomes.
Resolutions & Interventions
Traditional Defense Model
The focus is on identifying what individualized discipline should be assigned. Investigators may provide analysis on whether there is evidence sufficient to support individualized, disciplinary interventions such as termination, demotion, or other formal employment action.
Holistic Model
The focus is on identifying what interventions and supports will address prior harm and prevent it moving forward. In addition to traditional discipline, Investigators can suggest generative interventions designed to help individuals and teams grow and improve and will work closely with leadership to understand what is possible.
Implementation
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators are not involved in an ongoing way with the organization.
Holistic Model
For many leaders and Board members in mission-driven spaces, figuring out how to implement any discipline or interventions and how to communicate out the decisions and next steps is, itself, an enormous challenge. Getting this right is critical to perceptions of the legitimacy and justness of the investigation and its outcomes. Investigators, who often have built relationships with participants and who have a better idea of what reactions might be, can partner closely with leadership to help draft internal records, written communications, and talking points.
Ongoing Support
Traditional Defense Model
Investigators are not involved in the implementation of any decisions related to the investigation.
Holistic Model
Having learned, in the course of the investigation, the culture and people thoroughly, Investigators can then partner with other experts on staff to use that knowledge to design trainings, policy additions, or other supports that will bring the organization to a healthier, more productive, more inclusive place.
Pricing Model
Traditional Defense Model
Employers typically agree to an hourly rate model where investigators bill based on the number of hours they use. This renders the cost of an investigation difficult to predict and may result in exponentially higher costs than anticipated.
Holistic Model
Recognizing the financial realities of mission-driven employers, we provide projections for the entirety of a holistic investigation, with flat rates for different stages and approaches. If information suggests expanded scope, additional costs are pre-approved.