Managing Internal Audit Teams Through

1

• Managing Internal Audit Teams Through
• Change Adversity

Gordon Levy, VP, Audit Leader Inna Obolesheva,
VP, Audit Leader
2
Agenda

• Recognizing Adversity Change
• Approaching Layoffs Reengineering
• Developing Plans to Address Difficult Situations
• Keys to Success
• Questions / Answers

3
Recognizing Adversity Change

• Be mindful of events that could negatively impact
  the internal auditor including macro economics,
  company earnings and internal announcements
• Recognize that less experienced employees may
  underreact / overreact to events
• Negative reactions could lead to reduced
  production, poor quality deliverables and lack of
  team cohesiveness
• Individuals may choose not to engage in healthy
  dialogue with leaders and other informed
  individuals from fear of negative consequences
• Rumor mills, grapevines, institutional gossip and
  other forms of internal communication may lead to
  misrepresentation of facts and circumstances
• Individuals are often inundated with information
  from virtually every aspects of their daily
  lives, without the ability to properly filter
  this information, which could lead to unnecessary
  fears of job loss and other negative results

4
Approaching Layoffs Reengineering

• Layoffs and reengineering present unique
  challenges for individuals impacted directly,
  individuals who remain employed and the leaders
  of these groups
• In many cases, plans to reduce headcount are
  announced by companies months before those being
  impacted are informed
• The interim between these events can be difficult
  and have a negative impact on a team strong yet
  sensitive leadership are essential in this
  environment
• Candid and realistic dialogue delivered on a
  frequent and consistent basis works to limit
  controllable uncertainty
• Some employees may require individual discussions
  to address specific concerns as always,
  consistency and candidness are best practices
• Intentionally communicating misleading or
  confidential information should not occur under
  any circumstances

5
Developing Plans to Address Difficult Situations

• Without question, layoffs and reengineering
  impact leaders in a variety of ways that could
  add to the demands of effectively leading a team.
• Delivering difficult messages to individuals that
  you may have worked with for many years and have
  professional respect for can be a traumatic
  experience for the leader as well as the employee
• As with all others aspects of dealing with
  adversity, clear and concise communication is
  essential in general, individuals want facts
  rather than facts disguised as compliments
• Ensuring that those impacted by layoffs are given
  as much useful information relative to severance
  and other benefits
• In many cases, decisions are not related to poor
  performance, they are an unfortunate but
  necessary corporate reality communicate this
  clearly
• Leverage support network to deal with stress
  caused by delivering difficult messages in pre
  and post message delivery

6
Keys to Success

• Confidence to continue to seek to inspire and
  motivate during difficult events and
  circumstances
• Recognition and awareness of stress that
  situation may cause all those involved
• Leverage professional and personal network to
  seek advice and voice concerns
• Clear and concise communication to all members of
  team
• Knowledge of root cause of events and ability to
  discuss with individual or teams

7
Questions Answers