The art of auditing: why you need both hard facts and soft skills

Audits: how do you see them? As an obligation where someone comes to tell you what is not going well in your organisation? Or as a tool to achieve a standard or to gain insight into the strengths of your healthcare organisation? Audits come in various types and are often handled differently from one organisation to another.

Today, let’s zoom in on a rough division of audits into two types: the ‘hard’ audits to show that you meet a certain standard, and the ‘softer’ side where you do appreciative auditing to learn and improve. Which type of auditing do you apply? And how do you make them work? In this blog, we explain both forms and you will discover why you need both numbers and good communication.

The ‘hard’ side of auditing: certification-based auditing

Let’s start with the traditional way of auditing. You have undoubtedly come across this way of auditing when your healthcare organisation has been tested against a particular standard, legislation or internal guidelines. Think of audits for ISO certifications, for example. In this audit, an independent auditor assesses whether your organisation meets the requirements of a standard. Collecting evidence such as policy documents, among others, plays a major role.

Has the audit been carried out? In ‘hard’ audits, this often leads to a list of conformities and non-conformities to be followed up. This is the extent to which individual members of a group (colleagues) endorse and comply with group standards.

On to new certifications

Want to get this form of audit right? With our software, we help you in several ways. Zenya supports the workflow for an audit. Planning and follow-up are captured in a structured process, which significantly reduces the administrative burden. And not unimportant for this type of audit: with our software you can manage standards and other quality requirements as well as link the standards directly to processes and documents. So you always know exactly what you need to comply with.

The ‘soft’ side of auditing: appreciative auditing

And now to the softer, often more positive way of auditing: appreciative auditing. If your organisation uses this approach, the goal is often learning and improvement. The focus is on the strengths within your healthcare organisation and how to deepen and develop them further. You will recognise this approach by its positive approach and room for dialogue and cooperation.

The learning ability of your organisation, reflection and joint growth play a major role. Because employees are asked about successes and opportunities for improvement, this can increase commitment and motivate them to participate in change.

A positive audit culture

In appreciative auditing, interactive audit methods are ideal for engaging employees. Therefore, you can use our questionnaire tool to send out targeted questions or checklists. Prefer open interviews with appreciative questions? That is also possible. Do such interviews produce findings? Then, if necessary, you can immediately set out improvement actions and link them to the right person.

Do strengths and best practices emerge from the conversation? You also put these findings in one place, which works as a single point of truth. That way, you not only focus on what is going well, but others can also learn from the best practices!

Here you will discover 5 tips to make an audit better.

Combine numbers and communication for a balanced audit culture

As you have read above, audits are much more than an obligation or means of achieving certifications. Do you apply both the hard and the soft side of auditing? If so, this offers several benefits, such as:

This way, you use audits to comply with laws and regulations and at the same time make the audit a moment to involve employees in a positive way. So you don’t just look at standardisation, but also give room for dialogue and improvement.

With Zenya, you support both ways of auditing. Whether you need to demonstrate stringent compliance requirements or want to learn and improve within your organisation, our audit software helps you design audits smarter and achieve maximum results. Because the real power of auditing lies in the combination: facts and figures on one hand, involvement and communication on the other. Do you already apply both?