"Communication" skills during an audit
source:KF Quality author:KFQ 2021-01-13 12:52:58
Here I would like to share some good practices regarding communication:
1) Ask questions
- Try to ask open-ended questions, i.e. What, Where, When, Why, How, Who
- Try a hypothetical question: “What procedure would you use if there was a
non-conforming product or service?”
- Ask some dumb questions, such as “I don’t know anything about the process, could you tell me what happens?” (This makes the auditee the expert and more willing to talk. However do not ask too many of these type of questions as eventually
people may begin to believe it.)
- Silent questions: This is information volunteered due to silence. (This type of
question should be used sparingly)
Skills of asking a question:
- Initially introduce yourself and state what you are doing
- Be systematic and do not “jump around” too much
- Ask the person who does the job and not a supervisor
- Do not ‘talk down’
- Speak the person’s language; (there is a lot of buzz words in audit standards)
- Speak to the person, not them
- Rephrase the question if necessary. (The person may not have understood and it also gives them further time to think about the answer.)
- If the information is unavailable, agree a time that it will be given to you; (can go with them, the onus here should be on the auditee.)
- If at any stage during the above, the auditee feels threatened or anxious, back off, rephrase
the question, or ask a different question. If he/she appears angry, explain why you are there, the purpose of the audit (to help improve) or why something is a non-conformity.
2) Listening
Listening skills: (Message delivering: average words account for only 7% of the message, tone of voice accounts for about 13% and a mighty 80% of the message is conveyed though body language. Hearing is done with the ears and listening is done with the mind)
- Look interested: retain eye contact, in a friendly and non-threatening way
- Inquire with questions:
- Stay on track (according to the checklist)
- Test understanding: paraphrase what you hear to check understanding; ask more questions
- Evaluate the message: during an audit one is constantly relating what you hear back to the
relevant standard, procedures and other source documents
- Neutralize your
feelings: concentrate on the message, not on the person
3) Note taking
- Keep it short and simple (be brief and to the point)
- Discriminating (use notes only for important thing, so as an aid to memory)
4) Behavior
Auditor is providing a service. Therefore behavior should relate to a supplier-customer relationship.
- Be courteous
- Be composed
- Be punctual
- Have a good sense of humor (relax with them)
- Be resilient
- One-upmanship is not recommended
- Be professional (deal with issues and not personalities)
- Agree to disagree (Do not argue)
- Discuss problems as they arise (This may save time and avoids seeking clarification later)
- Be aware of time wasting by the auditee
5) Interim communication
- The audit team should confer periodically to exchange information, assess audit progress, and to reassign work between the audit team
members as needed.
www.kfquality.com