Creative thinking helps auditors uncover deeper insights, ask better questions, and develop stronger recommendations. It also helps audit teams break out of rigid patterns, overcome cultural barriers, and support meaningful organizational change.
This lesson is a preview from Graduate School USA's Creative and Critical Thinking for Auditors Course.
Auditors can use creative thinking to successfully provide breakthrough solutions in problem-solving and process improvement.
Although management is responsible for implementing corrective actions, auditors are responsible for finding solutions and making effective recommendations that will help the organization move to a higher level of performance. These actions add value to the organization. Creative thinking can help auditors ask the right questions. By asking the right questions, auditors can get to the root cause of a problem.
- What does success look like? Who are the stakeholders? Who benefits? What’s working and what’s not working?
- Ask ‘Who,’ ‘What,’ ‘Where,’ ‘When,’ ‘How,’ and ‘Why.’ Ask ‘Why’ five times to get to the root cause.
Creative thinking opens auditors to new ideas and new perspectives and improves their ability to find new solutions to old problems. For an audit team to successfully solve problems, it needs its creative thinking to be supported by:
- A climate of freedom and openness
- Effective teamwork
- Use of a problem-solving approach
- Selection of the right set of tools
Allowing yourself to be creative may feel strange at first, but with practice, your comfort level will grow. In fact, you may get to the point where you feel uncomfortable when you do not apply creative thinking tools in situations where doing so is appropriate.
Why Do Auditors Hesitate to Be Creative?
Auditors are typically accustomed to following the generally accepted government audit standards (GAGAS).
- “If you follow the standards, you can’t go wrong.”
- “If you deviate, you might have unexpected results.”
- “Auditors tend to be process-oriented.”
- “Fear of being judged, being wrong, or exposed.”
- “Auditors, like most adults, tend to ‘box’ themselves in, wanting to feel safe.”
All of these tendencies and behaviors can result in diminished creativity.
Potential Roadblocks and Barriers to Creativity
One important aspect of being successful is being aware of potential roadblocks and barriers. The same is true for creative thinking. The ability to identify roadblocks and barriers can improve our chances of eliminating them, which, in turn, can increase our success with creative thinking.
Main examples of roadblocks and barriers are:
- Organizational Culture
- Problems Approach
- Resistance to Change
- Groupthink
Creativity and the Organizational Culture
Command and Control Structure
- Bureaucratic, authoritative
- Excessive amount of control
- Decisions made by the boss
- Less 2-way communication
- Less tolerance for ideas and change
- Inflexible and stifling
- Creativity is discouraged
Do you know any organizations like this?
Employee Empowerment Structure
- Employee judgment and initiative are welcome
- Change is normal; risk is acceptable
- Increased communication and teamwork
- Motivational environment
- Creativity is inspired and encouraged
Organizations like Apple, Google, and Facebook
A Creative Culture
- Provides ingredients for innovation
- Accepts ambiguity and the impractical
- Has lower external controls
- Places the focus on results more than on processes
Problems Approach vs. Solutions Approach
The Problems Approach is an attitude that focuses on what’s wrong, finding someone to blame, and uses negative terms that cause defensiveness. This approach is adversarial and stifles creativity.
The Solutions Approach is an attitude that focuses on what’s working and what the strengths are in an organization. This develops openness and encourages involvement, which leads to more energy, enthusiasm, and motivation. This approach is participatory and enhances creativity.
Resistance to Change
Change can cause fear, anxiety, and defensiveness because of the potential to lose power and influence. By the nature of their work, auditors represent change within an organization and thus create this defensiveness in others.
If auditors accept the role of a change agent, then there is a need to sell the value of change. Auditors can also be more successful by being aware of the benefits of being creative instead of reactive.
Reactive Thinking Characteristics
- Deflect blame and protect themselves
- Find reasons to avoid change
- Poor listeners, highly opinionated
- Hold on to the past, afraid to lose control
- Output, not outcome, oriented
- Work very hard but suffer inner stress
- Quick to admonish others, accusatory
Examples of Accusatory and Negative Comments
- Why are you behind schedule?
- What’s the problem with this project?
- Why didn’t you do that?
- We’ve never done that before
- It won’t work!
- That’s not our responsibility
- Let’s wait and see
People tend to resist when being told what to do and how to do it, or when they are not afforded credit for ideas and accomplishments.
Creative Thinking Characteristics
- Embrace change, seek opportunities for new ways to achieve goals
- Encourage others to excel
- Good listeners, open-minded
- Learn from mistakes, teach others
- Focus on how to benefit from change
- Avoid accusatory questions and comments
- Ask empowering questions
Examples of Empowering and Positive Comments
- How do you feel about the project (process) so far?
- How does this process work?
- What are the objectives?
- Have you experienced any challenges?
- How would you change it?
- How do you identify success?
- What are you most pleased with?
More success comes when people have participated in the ideas and have a ‘buy-in’. Auditors can approach managers and staff as the organization experts and find an untapped resource. You can sell future change by giving credit and reinforcement for past successes and progress.