{"id":637,"date":"2025-03-24T20:33:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T20:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/?p=637"},"modified":"2025-04-05T13:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T13:39:12","slug":"level-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/level-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Influence is Level 3 in adding value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you’re an internal auditor, hoping to make your mark in the world, then the word you need to focus on is — influence<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Influence is when people listen to you and value your insights. If you have influence and suggest that they do something, they\u2019ll probably do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s Level 3 in adding value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a quick recap, Level 1<\/a><\/strong> means that you\u2019re meeting your job description. That\u2019s a good starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 2<\/a><\/strong> means that you have skills, experience, and a deeper understanding of the big picture. You\u2019re operating beyond the basic job description and you know what needs to get done. Net effect \u2013 you\u2019re able to provide more complete and nuanced work to help your boss (and others) meet their objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud835\udddf\ud835\uddf2\ud835\ude03\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddf9 \ud835\udfef is, obviously, one more step up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Level 2, you are a resource for others. The boss has something they need done. And they come to you to take ownership and solve it. Make no mistake, that\u2019s very helpful. But the focus is still top-down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, at Level 3 you are coming to others with your own ideas. You are the initiator. You are showing up, on your own, with useful recommendations to help them achieve some meaningful goal or solve some material problem. You\u2019re coming to them, person-to-person. And, whenever possible, you\u2019re doing it behind closed doors. It reflects your personal agenda. You really are trying to make their lives easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, almost always, they will appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you\u2019ve done that a few times, you\u2019ll develop a reputation as someone who \u2018gets it\u2019. Others will start listening to whatever you have to say. And, very quickly, they\u2019ll give you the benefit of the doubt and simply take your advice. Plus, they\u2019ll advise their friends to listen to you when you have an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, of course, is the sweet spot for good internal auditors. You get to invest your energy in finding ways to help. And almost no energy getting others to listen to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, even after you help others you still have to write an audit report. But when you’re influential, the report is almost an afterthought. You don\u2019t need to take credit for anything because you\u2019re helping by building people up, not pulling them down. That\u2019s what the execs and your audit committee want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s Level 3. Influence. And, trust me, your career will be taking a step forward. Those in the know will recognize your role in quietly making things happen. Because that’s what all good leaders do. And they recognize it in others. Which, not ironically, creates even greater influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re an internal auditor, hoping to make your mark in the world, then the word you need to focus on is — influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essential","tag-4levels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":697,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdschrock.com\/home1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}