How to use humor skills by internal auditors

Laymen do not always welcome internal auditors, but auditors' sense of humor and initiative benefit a lot from their work.

We can watch a dialogue first:

"What do you do?"

"I am a nurse in children's hospital, engaged in the care of children with tumors and comforting their extremely sad parents."

"What do you do?"

"I am a middle school counselor, helping young people to plan their future, so that they can learn work skills and live happily."

"What about you? Sir! "

"I am a lawyer." Frown. "I serve the lower classes to ensure that they are treated fairly in society." Eyebrows immediately spread out and put on a smiling face.

They turned to look at me, and I glanced at my cup at once. I really hope it is empty, so that I can have a good excuse to leave the table, because they asked this question that I don't want to answer.

"Bill, where do you work?"

Although I am proud of my career, I have encountered similar situations before, so I try to avoid answering directly.

"I work at Boston College."

"oh! Do you teach? " They always like to ask this question because educators are highly respected.

"No, I work in the administrative department."

"Really? What administrative work do you do? "

I am an accountant.

I know they are getting impatient, and they are beginning to take this as a personal problem. They think that my work must be unhappy, and there will be a smug smile on my lips, which often means that I am in trouble.

I can't avoid it any longer. I tried my best to hide myself and whispered awkwardly with my head down: "I am an internal auditor."

Suddenly, they looked at me with surprise, contempt and dissatisfaction. "Hey, I didn't say I was a parolee. The internal auditors are all people with high moral character. " I argued.

The gang immediately turned and walked to the other guests at the party. I knew this would happen. I stood there alone, scanning the room to see if anyone else was as embarrassed as me. I noticed a man standing alone in the corner and I walked up to him.

"ah! What a great party. What do you do? " I tried to control the atmosphere and my anxiety.

"Am I from the funeral home or am I alone?" He said, looking at me with puzzled eyes.

Does that sound familiar? Frankly speaking, no matter at the reception or at work, people outside the auditing industry don't think the internal auditor is amiable. When I told a friend that I was writing an article entitled "Auditors and Humor", they said, "Great! That will be a small paragraph where everyone can become a comedy character. "

Every auditor knows that internal audit mainly promotes and improves the performance of the organization by providing business management and financial practice. However, it is not easy to make others realize the auditor's achievements. Due to the nature of the work, internal audit work is often in a situation of making enemies on all sides.

The communication between auditors and operators is sometimes unnatural. The recommendations of audit reports often make audit clients feel uneasy. They are worried that the audit report will embarrass them and even risk being sued. In addition, customers often think that auditing brings extra pressure to their work from time, which leads to confusion. Because internal audit often brings this negative effect, auditors need to have a high degree of professional sensitivity in their work. If auditors can talk with people in a humorous way and remain cheerful and optimistic, they can make customers feel comfortable and reduce unnecessary doubts and anxieties.

First, highlight the positive aspects.

If the audit report verifies the report from the opposite side, it may cause communication obstacles, and customers will also have considerable resistance to the audit recommendations in their willingness to cooperate. On the contrary, if the audit report emphasizes the positive aspects of the work from the beginning, it will help to improve the relationship between auditors and customers.

If most of the work that the customer is doing is correct, but we still need to make some suggestions on its operation, then the beginning of the audit report may be written as follows: "We are glad to see …" In addition, the auditor lists some correct work that the customer is doing before asking audit questions and relevant suggestions. Good reporting methods, such as: (1) at the beginning of the exchange of views, lay more positive things, thus laying a positive tone. (2) Try to make operators feel fair. (3) The purpose of strengthening cooperation should be achieved.

In addition, confrontation may occur at the communication meeting of audit results. Communicating with auditors who effectively use humor skills is not easy to make angry and uncooperative customers. At this point, auditors can use humorous skills to strengthen communication with customers, eliminate hostility and win the support of participants. If someone verbally attacks the auditor at the meeting to convey the audit results, most other participants will think it is a provocation, and they will in turn support the auditor with a sense of humor.

However, it should be noted that humor may not produce humorous effect in this case. Self-deprecating humor is particularly effective. No matter which form of humor auditors choose, they should not pay too much attention to the sensitive issues of participants.

Second, surprise customers.

Facts have proved that the combination of humor and whimsy is very effective in obtaining customer support and cooperation. For example, last winter, a heavy snow in New England became a topic of concern to all of us in the university, and even the roofs of many families were overturned. I used this topic to send an email to a picky customer, and the title bar said, "The roof collapsed!" " To get his attention, and then I wrote, "If your roof didn't collapse under the heavy snow, you should reply to the audit report." In fact, even if your roof has collapsed, you will receive the signature certificate from the residential inspector on Monday. Please stop shoveling and finish your feedback on the audit report! "

The client replied that she had been depressed until she received this email, which changed her mood. Customers don't expect to receive humorous emails, especially from auditors. So the next day, after receiving the feedback from this customer, she readily agreed to our audit suggestion.

On another occasion, I sent two emails to a client asking for feedback on an audit report, but he ignored them. Then, I called him again, and he verbally said that he would send feedback on the audit report, but I still didn't receive it afterwards. So I sent him the following email, and this kind of academic humor is also particularly effective. The following is what I wrote:

According to our conversation last week, I think your feedback on the audit report should be on my desk. Unfortunately, I still can't find it. Please explain which of the following happened:

1. My dog ate the feedback from the audit report.

2. I had a menstrual accident, and I'm going to fly to Omaha to deal with related matters.

My roommate suddenly felt seriously unwell, so I had to nurse him to recover.

I have retired from Boston College. If you can find someone else, please tell the current person in charge of your requirements.

I apologize for my delay and send my feedback on the audit report.

The title of my email is-"My dog ate the feedback from my audit report!" " This customer chose item 5, and we formed a good partner.

Third, show that you are different.

Another way to improve people's acceptance of internal audit is to exchange views with colleagues in a non-audit environment. There are many ways to achieve this goal, including joining a special Committee or a sports team sponsored by the company. The internal audit department of Boston College held a barbecue competition, and internal auditors became challengers facing risks.

The barbecue competition is arranged at the luncheon on Thanksgiving weekend, which is the peak season to start the holiday. We decorated the room and dressed it up as a real holiday carnival. There is a competition between departments for "cooking creativity" and "performance". The "performance" award has become the object of fierce competition. People wear costumes decorated with the auspicious eagle logo of Boston College and huge chicken-shaped props. I think this is the happiest thing the internal audit has ever done. The barbecue was published in the university newspaper, and the magazine highly praised the internal audit department.

We also bought me a cookbook and sold it to people on campus, which contained photos of the "barbecue contest". The income from this book was donated to the children's hospital. You might say that this is something the company has never done before.

Participating in sports activities organized by the company is a good way to actively improve employee relations. At Boston College, internal auditors use lunch time to form a team of about 25 to 30 people and play basketball with sports teams composed of non-auditors three times a week.