CWS 3.0: December 3, 2014

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Caught Unawares? Conducting audits helps avoid surprises, enhances program adoption

At the recent 2014 Contingent Workforce Strategy Summit held in October, a panel of CW program management experts discussed tips and tricks for CW program management best practices. Among the topics the panelists covered was that of conducting audits. Specifically, the panel advised CW managers to establish an audit of any item for which their program has a set requirement.

The panel further noted, that “this can be easier said than done, though, as many may balk, saying, ‘it is in my contract’ or ‘the numbers look good.’ But if something is important enough for your team or your MSP to be monitoring (on/offboarding requirements, for example), then someone independent from the team needs to look. You may be amazed and/or pleased by what you find, but you don’t want to be surprised.”

There are a number of factors to consider with this CW program management expert tip.

Revealing gaps. It can be challenging to have an independent, public review of one’s CW program or elements thereof. Some program elements are in a known state of performance, and an audit would not reveal anything that is not already known, especially if the program element is not in such great shape in terms of status requirement. Why put a spotlight on a program issue that you’re already trying to resolve?

But what if the negative status of a program element/organizational requirement is highly dependent on the action of others or other company policies? Without an audit, you may not learn about it. If managed correctly, an independent audit can shed light on the independent factors that are beyond the management control of the CW program, and hence, need to be addressed more holistically in terms of company dependencies and actions by others outside the program.

Eliminate surprises. Second, an important goal of auditing is to clearly understand the performance of all your CW program requirements, “the good, the bad, along with the ugly.” If an element has been identified as a measured requirement (SLA/KPI), then it needs to be viewed as important enough for some kind of independent review. If a program element’s performance level is considered an organizationwide requirement, you don’t want to be surprised by what might be inhibiting your program from achieving a required level of performance. Or worse, that your performance requirement is driving other unacceptable organizational behavior you’re not aware of.

Change management. Audits can be a powerful tool in a change management strategy to drive adoption of program policies and requirements horizontally across a complex organization. Additionally, the review/audit should be focused on program element/requirements that have significant meaning and impact to the entire organization.

The bottom line is occasionally having independent reviews of the performance levels of key CW program elements can help avoid unmanageable surprises and deliver powerful insight to you and your executive sponsorship. If executed meaningfully, these independent reviews/audits can also create powerful allies in the adoption of your CW program’s policies, processes, requirements, goals and mission enterprisewide.