View from the top:  Could you be a great chief executive?

Many internal auditors aspire to be heads of internal audit, but not all realise that their skills are a good foundation for crossing the divide to become a chief executive. Based on my own experience, I suggest that those interested in doing this first ask themselves some important questions – and answer them honestly.

For a start, are you prepared to step outside your comfort zone? For me, a major step was speaking at the 75th Global IIA Conference in New York. It was nerve-wracking, but it’s important to know you can do things that are intimidating and are prepared to state your views to a large audience of senior professionals.

Do you challenge the status quo? This is something that internal auditors are supposed to be good at, but in practice many tend to rely on what the audit committee wants and expects of them. If you want to become a CEO (or a better internal auditor), you need to question the party line and make sure that you don’t become set in your ways or wedded to outmoded processes.

Are you good at forging relationships? When I recently had my COVID-19 vaccination, I found myself thinking that this was what I want my organisation to be like – everyone cheerfully working together towards a common goal that they all saw as important and customers queuing up for a product that they wanted and appreciated. The key issue for CEOs is how to get this. What does it take to get people to work constructively together? This is also a core skill for internal auditors, who need to work with their own team and their partners in the business and collaborate to reach agreeable management actions.

Can you act decisively? I will have been CEO at SWAP Internal Audit Services for two years in June and in some ways I find it easier than being a director. For one thing, I can make decisions faster – and there are times when a quick decision is essential. When the pandemic began, I had to make decisions fast without knowing how things would pan out. This is not a comfortable place for internal auditors, but if the CEO doesn’t make decisions in time it delays vital action. You can put the best team in place and have all the available information, but you sometimes have to rely on judgment and instinct.

Can you communicate effectively and are you happy in the limelight? CEOs need to be visible, both to people in their own organisations and externally. I now do a blog once a month and a stand-up meeting once a month. This isn’t something that I excel at, but I believe they are well received and useful. Internal auditors have to be good at communicating, but they aren’t always so happy to take the stage.

Are you adaptable and open to different ideas? Flexibility is another attribute that both roles require. Too many people in internal audit still think in terms of numbers of days – audit management systems and planning are usually set out in days and customers often ask how many days an audit will take. It’s far better to think in terms of output. What will you achieve? How will you measure success? CEOs and heads of internal audit gain far more from enabling their staff to make decisions that will achieve useful outputs, than from working to score specific metrics that could divert attention from more important matters.

Can you think strategically? A good CEO looks for the bigger picture, taking into account the whole organisation and the wider environment. It is important that CEOs make time to think about what’s really going on, what it means for the business and what it says about the organisation. A calm temperament also helps. Internal auditors should have a good overview of the organisation and are used to juggling multiple tasks, so this is a good springboard role.

Are you a good publicist? You need to put yourself and your organisation forward. However, this is about networking and collaboration, not self-publicity. CEOs must be open to new ideas and know what other organisations and people are doing. Last year, for example, I posted on LinkedIn a one-page report that we had developed and this generated lots of positive publicity for SWAP. It’s also good to volunteer to sit on professional and sectoral committees and on projects.

Internal auditors should think this way if they want promotion – you need to prove what you’re capable of. If you are not visible then you cannot blame people for not knowing who you are.

And you need to read. There is so much information available and so many good blogs and articles. I try to find time every day to read and stay up to date with developments.

Last, but not least, can you delegate? CEOs need to build teams and trust and enable staff. When the pandemic started, we found that helping staff to work flexibly increased motivation. We cut our staff policies from 109 to two because they got in the way of individual empowerment (and I suspect most people didn’t know them anyway). If you create a culture of trust you make your life as a CEO (or as a manager) much easier. 

This article was published in May 2021.