IRCA INform

How to improve audit

interviews

Interviews are a key element of an audit and need a number of soft skills to add value. Romayne Smith Fullerton and Natalia Scriabina explain how a new online tool can help improve your skills

Interviews are at the heart of every audit. They can provide key information to help understand the successes and challenges of systems, businesses and the clients they serve. In the current economic climate, the most successful auditors are the ones who develop and hone their soft skills to better assist companies trying to cut management-related costs. And the first step to building a successful relationship with an audit client is a solid interview that lays the foundation for understanding and trust.

Many management system auditors have a technical background and some have learned, through years of practical experience, a number of soft skills to encourage people to open up and to manage conversational flow. But clearly the traditional training focus for auditors has been on the technical rather than the communication side. As ISO 19011 suggests:‘Auditors of management systems should have knowledge and skills in the areas of processes and products to enable them to comprehend the technological context in which the audit is being conducted.’

Developing new skills

The challenge for most auditors is that while they acknowledge that the interview and its subtleties rely on a high level of communication skills, until now, there were few choices about how such skills could be acquired or developed. The best interviews do not just happen. They are the result of careful and conscientious preparation on the part of the interviewer and require the application of certain skills to understand the organization, the employees and the processes involved.

The craft of interviewing has been developed by experts from areas such as consulting, human resources and journalism. While the job of a journalist and that of an auditor is not identical, in essence both are trying to procure valuable information from sometimes reticent sources. Journalism is more than 300 years old and there is much for auditors to learn from those who have perfected this art.

The specific skill set required for conducting a successful interview, presenting the audit results and communicating in written form can be developed faster and more effectively through several stages of evaluation and training rather than relying on the experiential model that most have employed until now.

Test your skills

The idea of using journalists’ techniques, tactics and secrets of communication for audit interviews inspired a collaborative project between the auditors of management systems and communication experts. It has resulted in the development of a system that evaluates the current level of an auditor’s interviewing skills and provides recommendations to move skills to the next level.

The evaluation is conducted through a multiple choice questionnaire that covers five areas: organizational, listening, observational and conversational skills, as well as the ability to inspire confidence and trust. The learning system is based on the evaluation and development of a 'core skill set' that helps to differentiate among five levels of soft skills required for different jobs. The starting level of soft skills was identified for professionals who don’t require extensive communication at their workplace (software developers, for example), and the highest level for professionals who communicate almost all of their time at work (for example, journalists). The description of the different levels is presented in figure 1.

Figure 1: Levels of soft skills required for different professions

	Technicians possess the depth and breadth of technical knowledge. Customers tend to appreciate ideas of technicians
	Trainers can successfully convey benefits of his/her ideas and conclusions to the customers. Customers tend to believe that trainers’ ideas work
	Advisors can convey benefits and get buy-in to his/her ideas. Customers tend to believe that the ideas of advisors work for them
	Consultants can closely tie their ideas to their understanding of customers. Customers tend to believe that the ideas of consultants add value to their businesses
	An individual with this level of communication skills and profound technical knowledge can motivate, inspire, and drive organizational changes. Customers connect their successes to the ideas presented by communicators and look forward to continuous collaboration despite of external circumstances

 

Where on the scale are you?

Available free online you can complete the test from the Quality Professionals’ Resource Centre website to see where you fit in the scale above. It will show you any areas that you need to work on to ensure that your audit interviews truly add value.

About the authors

Dr Romayne Smith Fullerton is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Western Ontario (Canada). She is a frequent conference speaker and has authored numerous scholarly and professional publications.

Natalia Scriabina is a managing director of the Quality Professionals’ Resource Centre (Ontario, Canada). She is an IRCA-certified Lead Auditor with more than 12 years of experience in training, consulting and auditing across several industry sectors.

 

Have an issue to raise? A question to ask? Give us your opinions now in the Online Forums.