Team Collaboration - the Key Skill for a Successful Internal Audit

When an audit entity has many team members and is assessing a bigger risk theme, then there is a challenge in bringing all the pieces together to see the bigger picture. The key to the success of such an audit entity is to share knowledge and experiences within the team, through coaching and informally discussing as a team - potential issues they’ve uncovered and what impact it might have on other team members’ work areas.

Knowledge and experience dissemination and on-the-job coaching are the best forms of learning for an auditor. Theory is mixed with practise. If done in the right way, all the pieces of the puzzle are brought together to see the bigger picture which allows to see common themes, root causes, culture and potential strategic opportunities for the company. 

Mastering this skill allows for greater personal development in the team, boost morale and motivation and a sustainable talent model that is able to tackle key concerns that senior stakeholders have and emerging risks within the company and the environment it operates within.

One of the key factors one decides to have a career in internal audit is the enormous amount of learning – such as what are the key success factors why the company is so profitable in its market. Team collaboration skills provide ample opportunities to obtain this knowledge.

An audit team can be devised with individuals that may have technical knowledge on certain aspects and internal audit experience in a respectable firm. Having these are a good thing. But in my experience, there are more important skills that an auditor should have in order to tackle the most challenging audit subjects and for the long-term sustainability of the audit team.

An individual that has experience and knowledge should look to act as a role model within the team for the other team members. The role model should provoke knowledge sharing on the audit subject by leading from the front. What prior experiences they have including insights, they should apply to the company and brainstorm with the rest of the team where risks are more prevalent, what best practises are in certain processes and controls and how the company should best balance innovation, risk management and operational efficiency. 

A role model should have the determination to lead by example even in tough environments and make sure the positive skills outshine and remind the team members the unique benefits and skills internal audit has to offer. This is best achieved when the team gets to see someone display the skills and output.

Effective team collaboration boosts other skills such as technical knowledge, communication, risk identification, ability to coach others, leadership, to name a few.

From my internal audit experience, I have seen the best audits in terms of findings and recommendations, overall learning experience and best team morale when team collaboration is at its heights. I have heard the same from the industry. 

Having a bright individual with technical knowledge and experience can be a short term solution for tackling challenging audits, but if the individual does not share this knowledge and experience with the rest of the team in a conducive way, they will remain as a silo and will hinder the long term team sustainability.