It's all in the Delivery
Sharing difficult messages is an unavoidable part of the job for internal auditors.
If there is anything worse than getting bad news, it may be delivering it. No one relishes the awkward, difficult, anxiety-producing exercise of relaying messages that may hurt, humiliate, or upset someone with whom the deliverer has a relationship. And it is often a thankless task. This was recognized at least as far back as Sophocles, who wrote in the tragic play Antigone almost 2,500 years ago, “Nobody loves the messenger who brings bad news.”
Physicians — who are sometimes required to deliver worse news than most professionals ever will — often engage in many hours of classwork and practical experience studying and role-playing how to have diffi cult conversations with patients and their families. They know that the message, itself, may be devastating, but how they deliver it can help the patient and his or her family begin to process it.
Internal auditors are in the fortunate position of not having to deliver news that is quite so shattering. Nevertheless, there is no question that certain audit observations can be diffi cult to convey and to receive. Learning how to prepare for and deliver such messages can create a better internal auditor.