Objectivity, context, resilience and fun – my inspiration from the Internal Audit Conference and the ideas I took back to the office, writes Arleen McGichen, President of the Chartered IIA 

How do we filter out the “noise” to remain objective and focus on what matters most to our organisations – while also caring for our own mental health and maximising personal productivity? These interconnected questions were widely discussed at the Internal Audit Conference last month, by speakers and by delegates.

Spending two days surrounded by internal auditors from every sector made me think again about what we do and how we do it. How can we support each other to increase our impact?

It also made me think more about how we identify what matters. With so much change and disruption in the world, and so much data at our fingertips, we have endless options. Judgment and context matter more than ever.

Lord Gavin Barwell, former MP and chief of Staff to Theresa May, opened the conference with a phenomenal keynote speech about geopolitical risks. Everything we do comes down to corporate strategy, he reminded us. How well do we understand our organisation’s fundamental purpose, and can we (and our teams) articulate it clearly?

Once we understand this, we can proceed to use our interpersonal skills and our understanding of people to identify what is relevant and important. Our ability to contextualise depends on human skills. It can’t be done by AI.

Humans are also unlike machines in other ways. We cannot work constantly at peak productivity and we must manage our personal resources wisely. Dr Jon Finn, psychologist and author of The Habit Mechanic, told conference delegates how our own brains work and how our actions affect our capacity.

If we wish to maximise our productive time and stay healthy, we must learn good habits (and unlearn others). It’s not easy, but if we can help ourselves and support our teams to do this, we could all become better at being productive resilient humans.

Well informed, well-balanced humans also need inspiration and contacts. This is another element of the conference that I found exciting. People learn from each other. I challenge anyone who is surrounded by peers with a common purpose working in all sectors not to leave with at least two or three ideas they can take back to their office.

Tapping into numerous diverse viewpoints also helps us make sense of the world around us, noise and all. We need to talk to internal audit peers, but we must also listen to those with different skills – people like Barwell and Finn.

Diverse views and knowledge feed our judgment, which in turn forms the opinions we give the board. We may collate findings from multiple audits and dozens of conversations.  But if we have five minutes of the CEO’s time, what do we choose to say?

Vishal Arora, CAE and Head of Global Assurance at steel and mining conglomerate Arcelor Mittal, focused on how we contribute to the success of the organisation. Which brings us full circle back to strategy.

The board doesn’t need to know what we know. They need confidence that we understand their goals, that our judgment is sound, and that we will tell them what they need to know to achieve these.

We must also provide balance. There is an old-fashioned view that still exists in some pockets that internal auditors tend to focus on the bad stuff. In the past, we were encouraged to do so, and it’s hard to avoid – there is a lot of bad stuff out there to think about.

But, while we need to know which risks are material, and where they fall within our organisation’s risk appetite, we must not be prophets of doom. We must highlight where action will make most difference and how we can build resilience to things we cannot change.

A balanced picture of reality includes good things as well as bad. What is going well? What is best practice? We must not sensationalise, because this will distort our messages even if it pushes management to act.

And while we’re learning from collaboration and diversity, people also need to have fun, which is why it was refreshing to see queues for the quirkier exhibition stands at this year’s conference. Outside, delegates were taking selfies to record the fabulous venue.

I left with two handmade friendship bracelets and some pick ‘n’ mix as well as a host of contacts, a brain full of conversations and a notepad of ideas. Since then, I have started a habit journal to help me change my brain habits. My two days out of the office will – I hope – have long-lasting effects.