As many have pointed out, May is Internal Audit Awareness Month. It is also Mental Health Awareness Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, ALS Awareness Month, Skin Cancer Awareness Month, National Barbecue Month, National Photography Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, National Pet Month, and much more (see here).
Why we pick one month to be aware of internal auditing (or any of the other topics) escapes me.
Internal Auditing provides (or at least should provide) huge value to every organization in every part of the world EVERY MONTH!
But only if management and the board listen…
And only if the internal audit team are saying something they need to hear!
If we are not saying something they believe is valuable to them, why should they listen?
Do you know what the barriers are to effective listening?
They include:
- A fear of criticism
- An inability to find the wisdom because it is buried in a mass of boring verbiage
- Time
- Past experiences
- Lack of respect for the person trying to communicate
Are you making it easy for your stakeholders to listen to you?
That first item, a fear of criticism, is something we should work to understand and empathetically address.
Our job is not to find fault!
Our job is to help the organization and its leaders succeed!!!!
This week, I commented on a LinkedIn…
