Page 23 - Internal Auditor M.E. - June 2019

TO cOMMenT on the article, leadership
eMail the author at Kashif.Husein@dulsco.com

that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change”.
In an era dominated by manual ledgers and manual way of
working, concept of Risk Management and Risk Assessment
was alien. But nowadays with GRC (Governance, Risk and
Compliance) concept in prevalence, Internal Audit Heads
must be more perceptive of change. Process automation and
Robotics is going to be the in-thing and the one that is going
to drive the business. It is imperative that the Compliance
Heads are in the forefront to provide the right governance
directions. In the Katzenbach Center survey, 84 percent said
that the organization’s culture was critical to the success of
change management, and 64 percent saw it as more critical
than strategy or operating model. Yet change leaders often fail
to address culture—in terms of either overcoming cultural
resistance or making the most of cultural support.
D. Communicator – Leaders are expected to be at the
forefront of communication channel. In today’s world when
news travels faster than speed and gossip mongering at the
corporate level, effective communication is the key. Getting the
right message to the right people at the right time makes all
the difference. A leader may have the right message and may
communicate to the right people but at the wrong time will What went wrong? Interviews conducted with employees
dilute his credibility. suggested two unintended side effects of the new process. First,
transparency invited a critical and transactional evaluation,
So as an example Internal Audit Department may be aware rather than the bonus being seen as an unexpected gift.
of a fraud happening in a department and have all the Second, transparency highlighted those who received larger
evidence in place. However if it is not communicated to bonuses, inviting envy on the part of those who fared less well.
the Audit Committee/reporting Authority in time, then the (source – McKinsey)
Department’s role becomes diluted. F. Learn from Failures – A critical piece in being a leader
is learning from one’s failures. More often than not, Internal
E. Transparent – Transparency ranks as an important Audit department is blamed for a major control lapse/fraud in
element in a leadership. It speaks a lot about the leader if the the Company. However rather than indulging in blame game,
team does not perceive him/her to be transparent. It shows there needs to be a proper soul searching to ensure that the
that the leader lacks confidence to handle the outbreak of source of failure is understood and necessary actions taken
thereupon.
the news. And then how to handle the consequences. Leader
has to be transparent in his way of working, in the words he In the case of Wells Fargo when staff opened 2 million deposit
communicates so that his word do not appear to be different accounts and applied for approximately 500,000 plus credit
cards, then question arose as to what was the role of Internal
from what his actions are. Employees have the right to know Audit and Risk Management.
the correct picture. Nobody likes surprises in workplace.
Learning from failures and taking the necessary steps is key to
By being transparent, the leader is also giving an opportunity ensure the achievement of long-term goals.
and empowering his/her employees to come up with solutions. NEW ENVIRONMENT
There is a possibility that a leader may not have the solutions
for all the work problems but then when it is shared with his/ In the new environment wherein 5th Industrial Revolution is
being discussed, Governance, risk and compliance will have
her team, the solutions can always be worked on.
a major role to play. Internal Audit will have to step up. The
However excessive transparency may sometime be an Chief Audit Executive will need to possess the necessary skills
impediment to fair perception. A judgement call is required by and capabilities to provide the right guidance to his team so the
Internal Audit Department as a whole is effective and considered
the leader of what details need to be shared and what not. As as a serious business partner.
illustrated below in a McKinsey article, employee’s perception
changed when the bonus plan in a company was published. Kashif Husein , T

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