From Facts to Impact: The Art of Effective Communication

We often think we can leave the art of communication to the experts. However, in any role that involves producing reports or delivering recommendations—such as internal audit—the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders is crucial.

In today’s fast-paced digital age, capturing and holding people’s attention has become an art form. Consider this: studies show that the average human attention span has plummeted from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8.25 seconds in 2023.

Whether you're an internal auditor or in any profession where influencing decisions is key, our challenge isn’t just to present facts but to do so in a way that engages and inspires action.

With constant digital distractions, how can we ensure our messages cut through the noise and make a lasting impact?

The Future of Audit Communication: Human Touch and Personal Stories

By 2025, I foresee the most crucial skill for professionals will be the ability to sound human.

While generative AI can produce text at scale, it often lacks the depth and connection needed to truly engage readers.?

The new demand is for personal, human stories that resonate.

Here are five strategies to help high-performing teams engage with impact:

1. Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

Elevate your communication strategy by prioritising quality content over frequency.

Our team transitioned from monthly to quarterly reporting to our regional stakeholders. This simple but effective change allowed us to provide more substantive insights with less frequent updates, ensuring our messages were more impactful and less burdensome to read.

Minimising fluff and fillers in content enhances the reading experience. While creativity is half the equation, articulation is the other half and often requires deep reflection.

We have also embraced digital formats for our quarterly newsletters, focusing on key initiatives and their impact—particularly what it means for our stakeholders and how it affects their portfolios.

This digital approach allows us to easily hyperlink to other relevant articles, driving traffic to our website and increasing overall engagement with our team.

2. Bring Fresh Perspectives

Demonstrate your expertise by highlighting critical gaps with real-world examples, such as past cases that resonate with your audience. People are naturally drawn to stories with drama and consequence. Use infographics and visual data to make complex information engaging and accessible, improving understanding and retention.

Consider hosting interactive webinars and Q&A sessions to address stakeholder concerns in real time, fostering deeper connections and trust.?

We regularly host sessions with organisational leaders to share strategies, opportunities and challenges, concluding with Q&A to explore how we can better support each other.

Our digital platform enables 24/7 engagement across the company, sharing success stories, insights and examples of the positive impact of our work.?

This approach demonstrates the value of our initiatives and motivates stakeholder support, ensuring our messages are impactful and memorable.

3. Make it Interactive

Embed digital visualisations using tools like Power BI in reports to bring real-time insights to life, allowing readers to interact with the data and filter it as needed.

Additionally, podcasts are gaining popularity as an alternative way to engage mobile audiences. Our recent podcasts on lessons from incidents have been particularly effective, as they resonate with employees who are key to mitigating risks within the organisation.

For example, we also run surveys through our website to gather feedback, fostering a culture of continuous improvement in the relevance and effectiveness of our communications.

4. Game it Up

Tap into the competitive spirit of your team and organisation by introducing knowledge-sharing challenges, such as quizzes or leaderboards, to track progress in training and awareness.

For example, during International Fraud Awareness Week, we launched an online awareness quiz that engaged over 10,000 employees, offering small prizes for top performers.

Additionally, our digital learning platform features a rolling leaderboard that motivates our team to continuously build their learning credits and aim for the top spots!

5. Master Content Writing and Copywriting Skills – Practice, Practice, Practice

The ability to connect with and inform your audience effectively is becoming increasingly important across professions. Now is the perfect time to refine your writing skills and prepare for future opportunities.

Excellent writing skills are essential for clear and effective communication, whether you're delivering reports, recommendations or insights to stakeholders. Crafting content with meticulous attention to detail ensures accuracy and clarity, which is crucial in roles where even minor errors can have significant consequences.

Over the past year, our team not only delivered multiple reports but also wrote over 200 articles for our GIA's website. This effort sharpened our ability to convey updates in a way that’s easily understood and engaging.?

It's also an opportunity to explore what resonates with people—whether it's authentic personal stories, useful suggestions or practical insights. By understanding and practicing what makes content valuable, we can master the art of capturing the reader’s attention and delivering messages that matter.

Malcolm Gladwell famously hypothesised that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world-class in any field. While the exact number may vary, the key idea holds true across disciplines.

Learning to write works in the same way. Instead of practicing chords or scales, we’re practicing how to craft concise headlines, use persuasive language and communicate risks effectively.?

While reading and studying can help, it’s only through consistent writing that you’ll ultimately learn to write well. By practicing regularly, we can refine our ability to communicate complex information in a clear and compelling manner.

If we want to truly engage our stakeholders, we must adapt to their evolving attention spans and embrace more personal, interactive communication methods.

By focusing on quality, bringing fresh perspectives, using interactive content, leveraging gamification and mastering concise writing skills, we can ensure that our messages are not only heard but remembered and acted upon.

Now, it’s your turn. How can you incorporate these strategies into your own work??

Whether you're crafting a report, leading a presentation or simply communicating with your team, think about how you can make your message more engaging and impactful.?

Let’s challenge ourselves to elevate our communication and truly connect with our stakeholders.

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