Course Information

From having to tell clients about a fraud, to hearing them disagree about an issue, to apologizing because we were wrong; as auditors, we often find ourselves in unpleasant conversations.

But it is not always the client's fault.

Knowing how to handle difficult conversations such as:

• Giving feedback on processes and controls

• Delivering bad news when are broken

• Apologizing when we make mistakes is critical in developing and maintaining relationships with audit clients.

In this session, we’ll discuss how to

• Control the flow of a potentially difficult conversation

• Analyze behaviors to better understand why we react the way we do

• Appreciate the power of emotions and use them to your advantage

• Prepare for and deliver bad news using a systematic technique

• Apologize to show your sincerity

Objectives

• Discover the power of emotions in conversations

• Identify strategies that help with difficult conversations

• Explore how to deliver bad news to audit clients

• Recognize when to apologize and how to do it

• Develop a process to have difficult conversations

Outline

How to handle conversations

• The importance of understanding other people's needs

• Gaining and showing respect

• Go for win/win

• Get a good strategy

The power of emotions

• Analyze your behavior as well as those of others and better understand what makes people take a particular action

Understanding emotions

• Improving self awareness and negative self talk

• 6 steps to change the way you feel

Delivering bad news

• Handling conversations when you know the other person may become very emotional

• 7-Step technique to deliver bad news

• The types of responses you can anticipate

Apologizing when necessary

• The benefits of apologizing

• The risks in not apologizing

• 6-steps technique to apologize like you mean it

None