Outside the box: See the wood for the trees – How can I create more time to think?

Q: How can I create more time to think?

A: At times of high stress, stretched resources and a talent shortage, getting things done becomes an overriding priority. However, there is a risk that many of these actions may not add any real value. Ticking tasks off a long to-do list, however satisfying, gives an illusion of control and achievement, but unless that to-do list includes “make time to think about
what we are doing, how we are doing it and whether we could do it better” you may be
creating sound and fury that signifies nothing.

This is easier said than done. Pressures at work tend to come from the actions we are committed to doing, or are being asked to do. Few managers or boards will directly ask internal auditors whether they think enough. However, they will make assumptions that internal audit managers are up to date with the organisation’s strategy, performance and current challenges, professional changes and regulatory developments. Thinking and spending time looking at what others are doing is an important part of this.

Doing and not thinking (or not thinking enough) may win an internal audit leader plaudits initially if they are seen to be shifting a mountain of work with minimal resources – and no major mistakes happen. But it is a short-term strategy that will leave the manager and their team overworked, overstressed and performing below their true capabilities in the longer term.

We are living through a period of turmoil that has created fundamental questions about what individuals and their organisations expect and need in their working lives. Things are in flux and we face massive global uncertainty and a range of challenges that many internal audit leaders (and boards) are unfamiliar with – from war to energy costs to soaring inflation and interest rates. It would be astonishing if internal audit functions could continue as they have in the past and still perform competently.

Moreover, the Chartered IIA’s Risk in Focus 2023 highlights many areas where internal audit leaders admit they are spending more time on risks that are seen as less important, at the expense of the key risks rising rapidly up the top ten list (such as geopolitical risk).

Where to start

How to change is a big question. There are no simple answers – which is precisely why making time to think and explore the options is vital. What makes it more difficult is that thinking or reading about alternative ways of working and unfamiliar technology is not something that can be done well when you’re tired or short of time.

This is why many people have their best ideas on holiday or in the bath – times when they allow their minds to wander. In fact, there is evidence that unstructured thought is essential to creativity as well as to the assimilation of new ideas and mental resilience. However, to have valuable creative ideas about how to take internal audit work forward, you also need time to research what others are thinking and doing and this may require a more structured approach – for example, marking off time in your calendar to read or to attend a webinar and deciding where to start.

Making time to think and explore ideas should be a regular commitment, not a one-off event – and it should be as sacrosanct as an important meeting. It’s human nature to think that time spent alone reading or watching an online presentation is more “indulgent” than meeting other people. It’s seen as a “luxury” or “optional” and is too often pushed back to be done on a train or aeroplane, or after supper.

However, thinking is an energy-intensive activity and, unless you are a night owl who regularly schedules important meetings in late evening and enjoys working with people in other time zones, you are unlikely to get the best results when you are tired and distracted.

It also doesn’t have to be done alone. One way to put pressure on yourself to explore options, generate ideas and research what others are doing is to ask others in the team to do the same thing. Arrange a workshop to discuss what everyone comes up with. If there is extensive literature on a topic, you could allocate one document to each person and ask them to summarise it to everyone else. This puts pressure on everyone to bring something constructive with them. Making time becomes a necessity, not a luxury.

It’s also important to overcome common psychological barriers. Recognising that you are not spending enough time thinking and that you have not changed the way the function works sufficiently is a good start. Putting it on the to-do list immediately gives it a status that can be prioritised.

Whatever you do, thinking has to be put on a par with (or made a higher priority than) actions. If you can’t see beyond what you’ve done in the past, you will be doomed to do more of it, whether it is productive or not. Worse still, you will get into a vicious circle in which inefficiencies increase the workload leaving you even less time to think of alternatives. Something to think about. 

This article was published in November 2022.