The usual response when you mention an audit or auditor is fear. Most people in the USA think of the IRS and a tax audit. Or, like me, if you are in any sort of financial field, or involved in the management of any organization public or private, you think of the annual financial audit. Both, usually have people thinking of someone involved in catching you in a mistake or wrongdoing.
Now, that may be true of the IRS, but the financial audits for companies and non-profits should actually be a positive thing. It certifies that everything is in place, that people can trust the numbers you are giving them. That it is safe to invest, or give you money to the cause.
But prior to taking the course I am, on Organizational Communication, I had never heard of something called a communication audit. The second textbook for my course, Assessing Organizational Communication: Strategic Communication Audits by Cal W. Downs and Allyson D. Adrian, is specifically about how to “audit” communications in an organization.
In chapter one the authors describe the communication audit as a dynamic process with three key features:
- Many pieces working together
- Outcomes determined by unspecified events
- No finite beginning or end.
In its simplest definition, an audit is the “process of exploring examining, monitoring and evaluating something.” When doing a communication audit, you need to pay attention to the below six characteristics:
- Independence
- professionalism
- diagnostic thoroughness
- skilled evaluation
- tailored design
- current time frame
You also need to be aware of the six phases of the audit:
- initiation
- planning
- diagnosis or fact-finding
- analysis
- evaluation
- feedback
Unlike financial audits, communication audits aren’t required by law, so any organization goes through one because management thinks they will gain something from it, that it will benefit them. Downs and Adrian suggest several types of benefits that could motivate managers.
One of those benefits is strategic planning. Communication audits provide insight into how employees view the organization, and how management relates goals and strategic vision to employees.
Another benefit is called Verification benefit. Everyone has their perceptions of how things work in the organization, employees, supervisors, senior management. The audit can help verify how close people’s perceptions are to the realities within the organization. For example, how close to the organizational chart does the actual flow of communication come?
Audits also fill a data-generating function, giving management and the organization new information that it can use to highlight the strengths and weaknesses within the system. This can create a feedback benefit.
Audits can also provide a benchmark benefit. A before-and-after view to know what progress is being made on a particular front.
The knowledge of the audit alone brings a communication benefit. Employees see commitment by management by bettering communication.
The training benefit provided is learning what works in one area that could be shared with others, or what needs to be fixed in another area, and what training could be offered to make up that difference.
The audit can also increase employee participation, where they will say and share things they wouldn’t normally share in regular channels.
As Down and Adrian note: “Managing an assessment process from start to finish is a growth experience that is also fun, invigorating and creative.”
At The Rainbow 