What Psychology of Auditing?
by
Bill Hackett, ICF Consulting LLC
Picture this: You’re sitting in an auditing course that you or your company paid
good money for you to attend. You may be going through the ISO 9001:2000 requirements,
learning how to spot nonconformities, how to define scope and purpose, writing
executive summaries, and of course…the psychology of auditing? In most courses you
either read or hear about how “everyone is different” or “there are different perspectives
and attitudes” and much of the actual psychology of auditing is embedded in interviewing techniques.
All too often the “psychology” is merely a checklist of questions and things the auditor
should and should not do when interviewing the auditee (i.e. be patient, hold your temper,
put the auditee at ease) without providing the tools required to do what has to be done.
For an actual psychology of audit subject to be valued, internal auditors have to borrow
techniques from the source: psychology. Whether the audit is internal or second party,
auditees always perceive the audit as a checkup on their work and job competencies.
So, right from the start there is a confrontational environment. It is important to
remember that anxiety levels are high and that includes the auditee AND the auditor.
All too often, training course for internal auditors neglect the fact that an audit is also
stressful on the individuals conducting the audit. When stress becomes a factor for the auditor,
the audit itself becomes inefficient.
There is no doubt that interviewing techniques are vital to both a successful audit and to comfortable
and confident auditees at the audits end. To do this, internal auditors have to have the skill of empathy.
Empathy is more than putting oneself in someone else’s place. Empathy also perceives the world through
the auditee’s mind-set. Being adept at empathetic interviewing is something that cannot be adequately taught
during a 3-5 day training session but comes from interviewing experience in which reality constructs play just
as significant a role as objective evidence.
Reflection, or mirroring, is a technique used by psychologist when interviewing clients guaranteeing that both
parties know exactly what is being discussed. Reflection can be time consuming but the benefits ensure that there is
no miscommunication and that a natural “calming” transition is available from one question to the next.
Unconditional regard or respect allows the internal auditor to accomplish two things. First, it removes auditor bias
by “assuming” that the auditee is the subject matter expert and, second, it allows the scope of the audit to be more focused.
Auditee’s usually provide more objective evidence and information if they are treated as experts.
The course subject “psychology of auditing” is important to be aware of as a novice internal auditor. It is important to know
that “everyone is different” and that different auditees or circumstances required different questioning techniques.
However, knowing tried-and-true psychological interviewing skills and the need for those skills is something that takes time
and requires experience. Internal auditors have to be aware of such subjective and ambiguous traits as auditee emotion, mood,
and temperament and feelings of anxiety, stress, and even paranoia. Methods such as reflection and unconditional regard
allow questions to be answered in the least stressful and harming way to the auditee.
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