Aim to be busy-good rather than busy-bad.
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
What makes a good or bad manager?
Busy season stories often include memorable experiences with the audit manager as the central character. You might have heard people saying, “I’ve had this manager who…” Then, they mention an endless list of things the audit manager did.
Whenever I ask this question too, people give me mostly serious responses, often influenced by the working style of their managers. The answers are enlightening to hear.
In the past, I categorized the characteristics I’ve heard as good or bad. But later, when I had more time to reflect and sift through the answers, I realized that most audit managers are neither good nor bad. An audit manager is simply…busy. If there’s a spectrum to being an audit manager, it will look like the one below.
Image by Accountinsolutions
One of the good things about being an auditor is that you get exposed to different spectrums and management styles at any time during the busy season. Work with different styles, and you’ll come to know both the good and the bad ones.
When it’s your turn to take up a managerial role, most likely you’ll begin with a positive goal. Become a good manager. But along the way, you’ll encounter obstacles that make you a busy manager. If you fail to overcome busyness, you’ll slide to the far end of the “bad manager” spectrum. Then, cynicism, stagnation, boredom, and other negative feelings will sink in. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one who will feel this way.
As a young manager, you must recognize which spectrum you are in right now. It’s essential for you to avoid getting stuck in the busyness trap with the risk of sliding toward the bad end. In this article, you’ll learn one skill that will help you move forward, whether you’re new or inexperienced, to becoming a good audit manager. Read on to find out.
The Bad Audit Manager
Managers who suck the motivation out of you. Managers who fail to give you a clear sense of direction, who criticize without acknowledging your accomplishments, and who blame you for mistakes. Managers who drive you to exhaustion and reject overtime and vacation leaves. Managers who don’t care at all.
The list is endless on what makes a bad manager. You might also have your running list of bad manager characteristics. Before you add to the list, pause here and acknowledge that bad managers exist. Some managers did not start that way; their experiences influenced their management style.
You can’t change them, and you’re not supposed to do so. Instead, imagine yourself as the opposite of what you don’t want to become. What will make you a good manager?
The Good Audit Manager
In my early years, I was lucky to work with managers whose styles fell on the good spectrum. They set the bar. My expectations changed as I gained more experience and I kept a running list inside my head. Based on previous conversations and observations, here are the top characteristics of a good audit manager:
- A good manager sets a positive and safe environment. In an audit team, every person is responsible for a positive and safe environment, but, more often than not, the team members look up to the manager to set an example. The manager sets the tone with words, actions, or direction. You’ll often see teams work very long hours because their managers work the same long hours, or you see the same people adopting a toxic treatment against each other because they saw their managers doing the same. A good manager prevents that.
- A good manager provides specific, timely feedback. Negative feedback is better than no feedback at all. At least, with negative feedback, you’ll know that things are not working well. You’ll be aware of what to change. Imagine working for a week or an entire month with a manager and not hearing any input on your performance. It’s not too encouraging, right?
- A good manager knows the strengths and gaps of their team members. Imagine getting assigned to a team where you’re seen only as an audit resource. You get in. You do the work. No drama. No questions. Not even a conversation on whether the work that you’re doing leads to long-term growth. Perhaps, some people like this clinical efficiency, but many don’t want to be treated like run-of-the-mill robots with generic traits. You have unique characteristics, strengths, and even gaps. You work to enhance those strengths and to fill the gaps where possible. A good manager knows that.
- A good manager trains and teaches the team to do the challenging aspects of the job. Good managers produce similarly good managers. It does not happen by accident. It happens because good managers also train their team members to become good, if not better than them. Training people means understanding the person’s strengths and gaps. Good managers don’t train someone in an area where the person already excels. That would be a waste of time for both. A good manager exists to fill the knowledge gaps and identify the soft skills that work best with existing or newly-acquired knowledge.
- A good manager does not take all credit for the team’s hard work. Finally, a good manager exists to empower and uplift their team members. It means not taking credit for all of the hard work. Instead, a good manager recognizes the team as the primary achievers. A good manager knows to recognize and celebrate the team’s accomplishments. A good manager gives credit when credit is due.
Photo by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
The Busy Audit Manager
Now that you know what makes a bad and a good manager, you seem to have a lot to think of. Here’s more. Who is a busy manager? As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a busy manager is neither good nor bad. Remember our spectrum?
A busy manager has the potential to fall at either end of the spectrum. It comes with the understanding that no one wants to become bad initially, but due to certain factors, some managers move to the spectrum’s bad end while others move toward the good end. Here’s how it can happen.
A Busy Audit Manager Becomes Bad
Let’s recall one of the earlier definitions of management. According to George R. Terry, management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling; utilising in each both science and art, and followed to accomplish pre-determined objectives. I interpreted this as managing processes, people, and resources to achieve desired outcomes.
In an audit, it’s easy to become burdened by assignments that do not fulfill your role expectations or do not fall within your capabilities.
Remember that you’re not just a general manager but someone who manages an audit. Thus, aside from soft skills, first and foremost, you must have the technical knowledge to do so. Imagine if that technical knowledge is non-existent and you’re unfamiliar with the process flow.
Some managers try to do the audit themselves to acquire knowledge while performing the job. It causes problems because the manager assumes a task that could have been delegated. The manager does a senior’s job, the senior does an assistant’s job, and the assistant is sometimes left with not much meaningful stuff to do because more experienced team members did much of the heavy lifting instead of training the assistant.
Imagine also a technically competent manager who lacks the softer elements of managing people. These managers achieve efficient output but lose their teams.
And lastly, managers use resources to achieve outcomes. The resources might be in the form of people or materials that support audit execution. If these resources are not readily available, managers spend time and effort finding people or creating materials. In the face of scarcity, hoarding begins. Managers end up competing with each other, instead of collaborating.
A Busy Audit Manager Becomes Good
On one side, if the processes, people, and resources are well and enough, managers would simply execute based on their team goals. Managers are busy with the right priorities and areas of attention. Managers find time to enhance existing processes instead of trying to create new workflows. Managers focus on training and developing people instead of trying to keep them.
Overall, managers collaborate to do well. Team members do not worry about being placed with certain managers for extended periods because they’ll know every manager has something good to offer. Team members look forward to working with every manager who leads them to an equally satisfying and fulfilling work experience.
An Audit Manager's Journey to Self-awareness
To move forward in the spectrum’s good end, you need self-awareness. According to research, as mentioned in this HBR article What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It), there are two types of self-awareness:
- Internal self-awareness represents how clearly we see our own values, passions, aspirations, fit with our environment, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and impact on others.
- External self-awareness means understanding how other people view us, in terms of those same factors listed above.
The researchers identified four self-awareness archetypes, which you can see on the chart below.
Photo taken from Harvard Business Review
If you can’t view the chart, below is a summary of these four archetypes:
- Seekers (Low internal awareness, low external awareness) – don’t know yet who they are, what they stand for and how their teams see them. Thus, they feel stuck or frustrated with their relationships.
- Pleasers (low internal awareness, high external awareness) – focused on appearing a certain way to others that they can be overlooking what matters to them; they tend to make choices that are not in service of their success or fulfillment.
- Introspectors (High internal awareness, low external awareness) – clear on who they are but don’t challenge their views or search for blind spots by getting feedback from others; this harms their relationships and limits success.
- Aware (High internal awareness, high external awareness) – know who they are, what they want to accomplish, and seek out and value others’ opinions; this is where leaders truly begin to realize the benefits of self-awareness.
Which one are you right now?
If you’re a young auditor taking up a managerial role this year, use the opportunity to practice self-awareness. In my journey, I found that new beginnings offer room for introspection. As you gain experience, you become open to hearing and accepting feedback that leads to both internal and external awareness.
If you’re a current audit manager, as I am, it’s not too late to undertake a similar journey of self-awareness. You can begin by asking yourself these questions:
- What are your core values and priorities?
- Which of the things you are doing now do not help achieve outcomes?
- How do you want your teams to describe you as a manager?
Final Thoughts
Self-awareness will help you identify what you want and what you’re willing to give up. You can use that self-awareness to role model positive behaviors. Positive behaviors lead to your happiness and your team’s happiness.
As a young manager, speak up too and raise awareness. Your journey to becoming a good audit manager begins here and now.
Enjoyed the article?
Feel free to leave a comment.
Whether you’re a new audit manager or an experienced one, help yourself build new mindsets around time by reading our newsletter Less Than 60 Hours.
