Consultants – if you want to sell a solution to internal auditors, don’t couch it as ‘best practices’.
Serious and respected internal auditors deal in well-grounded recommendations. Their recommendations address a deficiency or opportunity that actually matters to management. And their proposed solutions are usually simple, practical, complete, and sustainable so that management can take action.
On the other hand, auditors are never taken seriously if they consistently propose operational changes or additional controls because they are ‘best practices’. For me and most executives, ‘best practices’ are code words for “We really can’t justify it, but everyone else is doing it … so you should too.” In my experience, ‘best practices’ have caused far more harm than good. I don’t need to look any further than laughably wasteful SOX and ERM implementations that followed ‘best practices’ from consulting organizations. If your only justification is ‘best practices’, go back to the drawing board.
And yet consultants continue to propose ‘best practices’ solutions. And some are actually aimed at internal auditors. That’s a seriously bad approach. Look up the phrase “You can’t kid a kidder.”
I’m not going to point out anyone in particular because it’s a common practice. But, please. Don’t propose ‘best practices’ to internal auditors. No internal auditor with the least bit of analytical thinking skills will be swayed but such an approach. You need to do better.
I know a lot of people on LinkedIn who provide training and other solutions to internal auditors. They don’t use ‘best practices’ to support their offerings. They lay out clear pathways that help internal auditors provide a greater impact. They demonstrate how they can add value.
If you’re a consultant and want to convince internal auditors of a new and beneficial approach to documentation, risk management, communication, or anything else here’s an idea. Actually have an idea that’s new and beneficial. Or maybe it’s just a simpler way of looking at the problem. That’s fine, too.
But, (I’m making up an example) don’t try to convince me to use your data coordination solution because ‘coordination between audit teams’ is a best practice. Wow – I wish I had thought of that! How about, instead, telling me why your particular solution will actually help me solve a real-world problem. I’ll then judge if I actually have that particular problem. If I do, I’ll certainly be in touch. But, to be clear, you’re not going to sway me with some veiled reference to best practices.
And that includes self-serving survey results that purport to illustrate that all the smartest and best organizations are in agreement – solutions (like yours) are definitely the way to go. Surveys are especially suspect. They are often full of leading questions that yield weak conclusions and correlations. We’re not stupid. Auditors, better than most, know how to convince people that they should listen to us. We know the difference between recommendations that are supported by objective evidence and recommendations that are not.
Here’s how to convince internal auditors.
Tell us exactly what problem you’re trying to solve. If it’s a unique insight, convince us the problem is real and exists for some people. Maybe it’s real for me. Maybe not. I’ll judge.
If the problem is one that we all know about already, don’t blow smoke and try to convince us that you, alone, have identified this problem. We all know about it. Just tell us why your approach is distinctly different or better or easier than the thousand other ways that we might solve this well-understood problem.
And, please, don’t try to convince me to use your solution because your survey says that it’s a ‘best practice’.
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