In this Q&A blog, we speak with Andrew Deller, an expert facilitator. Andrew has worked with internal audit teams within large financial organizations for several years and has designed and facilitated a number of successful Internal Audit Academies on behalf of PotentialSquared.
We look at why P2’s Leadership Development in the Audit space is different and what makes it a success.
Andrew, why is Leadership Development important within the Audit function?
“In this new, virtual world, an internal audit team needs to understand how to influence stakeholders, build strong and open internal cultures, and present clear and sufficient oversight over the risk agenda.
It is more important than ever before that audit teams can sensitively probe and assess openly (especially in the new hybrid environment) and understand how to navigate difficult conversations without being in the same room or possibly country!”
Can you briefly explain PotentialSquared’s Audit Academy?
“It is a bespoke Leadership Academy aimed at the internal audit function of a financial services organization. The Academy has been developed to help technical audit experts become more skilled at influencing key stakeholders and better equipped to drive positive organizational change.
I have been working in this space for 13 years and have first-hand experience of the positive results. This style of leadership academy can be delivered virtually or face to face over 3 to 5 days. We work in close collaboration with each organization to tailor an academy that authentically reflects their business, hence why we use immersive roleplay to bring our case studies to life.”
What is an immersive case study and what makes this style of learning succeed?
“We tailor to the clients’ need on most occasions, but we do like to use the highly engaging template of ‘The day from hell’. This is a day-long ‘in-tray’ exercise developed with the client, and bringing in senior leaders within the organization, to help build a participant’s ‘day from hell’. The demands of the day challenge participants to prioritize, work collectively, handle personal challenges, and refine their communication skills to improve influence and communication. In this way, participants begin to understand their own behaviors and responses under intense pressure and so building the skills, confidence, and capability to take on a real-life ‘day from hell’.”
What organizational challenges will this type of academy resolve?
It will allow participants to execute their audit roles more effectively and ensure oversight is being demonstrated to key stakeholders within the business.
Participants will leave with practical skills on how:
- To lead or understand how to lead with greater confidence and conviction
- To be sure that work and behavior is appropriate
- To sell difficult messages
- To improve and build better internal relationships
- To increase influence and be more skilled at conducting difficult conversations.
This Internal Audit Academy is part of our Capability Academy Suite. The Capability Academies have been designed to specifically cater to the Audit, Risk, and Compliance functions of large organizations. If you would like to find out more about our Capability Academies or the Internal Audit Academy, speak to the team.
See one of our Internal Audit case studies with a large global bank.
