Many organisations go through audits: for example, a client satisfaction audit, the organisational audit of the law department of a company, a partnership audit where each partner is invited to share his or her perceptions about all the dimensions of the partnership from governance to finance to team spirit, an audit of associates' satisfaction, etc.
These audits always have a certain cost, and that has of course on impact on the decision to launch an audit or not, and to hire one or another provider to do it. But assessing cost only is not sufficient. It's the value/cost ratio that matters, not just the cost. But then, how to assess the value of an audit? And what can you do, as the buyer or the provider of an audit, to improve the value/cost ratio by increasing the value?
Three parameters can have value for the client: the audit process itself, the conclusions, and the changes that follow the audit.
The process. Some audits can, just by taking place, have a positive impact on the organisation. For example, partners and associates invited to speak up in an organisational audit may feel relieved to have at least an opportunity to explore and express their concerns and ideas. The audit process, irrespective of its results, can energise an organisation, boost team dynamics, relieve tensions, create a new climate of trust and openness, enhance internal communication, strengthen relationships, inspire people to think in a more thorough, structured and creative way about the organisation and their job, etc.
This does not happen by magic, of course. It requires the audit to be conducted in a certain way. Sometimes, an audit can be perceived as inquisitorial, useless, boring, irrelevant, disruptive, rigid or stupid. In that case, the process as such is not creating any value. On the contrary; it undermines the motivation of the personnel, damages the reputation and credibility of the audit's sponsors, feeds cynicism and distrust, or simply irritates people and makes them waste their time.
So, the first thing to do to increase the value of an audit is to ensure it will be perceived as a positive experience. The process itself, irrespective of the conclusions or follow up, must have a positive, energising impact on the people and on the organisation, instead of a destructive one.
The conclusions. Depending on the content and on the way they are formulated, conclusions can have a high or a low value. High-value conclusions are reliable and simple, clear and concise. They are complete but highlight priorities. They combine in a transparent way data reporting and intelligent analysis and interpretation. And most importantly, they are delivered to and discussed with the right people, in a way that positively engage these people.
On the contrary, conclusions that are too long, too detailed, or too complex to make sense, reports that focus on ancillary points and fail to highlight the big ones, reports that are either too soft or too hard, or reports that are never heard or never read; all of this reduces or annihilates the value of an audit.
So, improving the quality of the conclusions, of the report that contains them, and of the delivery and presentation of these conclusions is another way to improve the value of an audit.
The changes. Finally, and to a very large extent, the value of an audit depends on the action that will flow from it. Sometimes, the audit can be a perfect process, the conclusions may be clear, important and well communicated, but for some reasons, no decisions are made and nothing is done. Nothing changes. In that case, the overall value of the audit, despite the quality of the process and of the conclusions, can be negative. People will feel, afterwards, that it was a useless exercise and a waste of their time, if not a manoeuvre to manipulate them. The whole thing can blow back and actually destroy value and increase negativity.
So, the third way to improve the value of an audit is to ensure that change actually follows, and the sooner the better.
Antoine Henry de Frahan
Important because in this way, the corrupt will be afraid to get money form the government.
Posted by: freelance writing jobs | February 01, 2012 at 06:23 PM