Finding the best talent to lead your audit and risk teams
Are you getting exceptional leaders? You should be.
If you’ve hit this page it’s possibly because you’re looking for a new leader for your audit and risk function.
Like other forms of leadership, leadership of risk and assurance functions requires a different skillset and focus from delivery, management or oversight.
While a safe set of hands is essential, modern companies should insist on much more than this. The leader’s primary focus is future oriented, performance driven and systemic in its approach to capability building and transformation. Breakthrough thinking is required.
Will traditional search and recruitment get you there?
In our view “copy and paste templating” doesn’t work. If you want to drive change then you need someone who is good at change – not just running the thing that they ran in their last job.
Genuine leaders in this area are hard to find – particularly strategic commercial audit leaders, and progressive chief risk officers who can adapt to your context. They are rare, but they do exist.
Because placement of these roles happens infrequently, generalist search firms tend to only touch those roles every few years. There is often a lack of precision in their understanding of what is required, and this is often shaped by prior expectations and big assumptions on past practice and portability. In many cases this leading to an unsuccessful hire.
In the absence of being able to tackle this strategically, the default mode is to hire someone doing a similar role elsewhere. This can result in templating and bringing in old practices that aren’t fit for your organisation, and missing the opportunity for necessary breakthroughs. It can also result in clumsy change and having to re-hire in under 24 months.
Our advice? Tread carefully if you’re going down the path of “lift and shift” without deep matching from someone who can help you nuance the brief.
How we can help
At TDA we focus on risk leadership. We work with emerging and experienced leaders to help them get the clarity they need to lead their teams and organisations effectively.
Our core business is getting to know and work with the best audit and risk leaders in the country and growing and developing the next generation of leaders.
We can help in three ways:
- Shaping: If you are thinking about hiring, let us help you early to understand what’s possible and shape the brief.
- Tapping the market: If you’ve used us when you start hiring, we supplement your search through identification of known candidates who fit the brief.
- Development: If you’re thinking about a lateral hire or want to grow your next leaders, let us shape a development program around them that sets them up for success and to master the brief.
For executive sponsors and their recruiting teams we recommend two things before going to market:
Getting clear on what profile you are looking for (candidate fit).
Getting clear on which of the typical roles you want them to lead.
To find out more about this exploratory conversation. We’ll send you some brief reading material and see how we can help.
FAQs – Executive Search and Leadership Development
Interested in accelerating your career? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions on this topic:
1. Do you get many search opportunities?
We work as a key node in the CRO and Chief Auditor and Audit & Risk committee network in Australia which means our name comes up regularly as someone to talk to.
If we’re working with a client then we’ll actively engage and refer in known candidates who we think are well suited for those roles and when we know it’s a good fit for both sides.
If we don’t have a brief then we won’t normally engage unless it’s advocate for one of our exceptional former clients who we know well, or we’ve been hired to augment a search process.
Note we only engage on CAE, CRO or Audit & Risk Committee appointments. We do not engage at levels below this for search roles, but we always coach and mentor emerging talent through or advisory work – even if we don’t have that as part of our specific brief.
2. I’m hiring, can you help?
Our network is extensive and we get to see a lot of senior people in action, many of whom aren’t actively looking or on search lists – what we used to call in print – passive job seekers, who aren’t looking until they’re tapped on the shoulder.
We can help in the following ways:
- Get the word out to our extensive network
- Speak to potential candidates and refer them into your hiring process.
We only do this for current clients. This is not a standalone service.
3. I need help defining my CAE or CRO roles and functions.
We work with many organisations to define the role, scope and position descriptions for chief auditors, chief risk officers and their teams.
If you need help defining your goals. structures, position descriptions before tapping the market we can help to make sure the brief is clear and you get the candidate that you need, not just the one that you want.
4. How do I get recommended for senior roles?
All sponsors need to be confident in their recommendations. If they’re putting their reputation on the line, you’d better be worth it.
Sponsors need to have seen you in action, been impressed by you and think you’re well suited to the role.
This is a high bar and most likely only presents itself if we’ve worked together closely and been impressed by you.
The fastest and only way to do that is to work together on helping you achieve excellence. Once we know you’re on the path to being exceptional, this makes it very easy to recommend you.
5. How do I get to work with you?
Typically we’d be called in to help get clarity for an audit or risk function or drive transformation in one or more elements and you’d be the client sponsor or a nominated key person. This is a great way to get started on your path to excellence.
We also put coaching and mentoring sessions around experienced and emerging risk and assurance leaders as part of one of these programs. Generally we only offer these to clients as an extension of one of these programs. Occasionally we’ll open up 1:1 sessions.
During COVID we also opened up personal coaching and mentoring sessions including new options for self-funded participants. These went incredibly well, but are now off the menu. We now offer these only as an extension of client programs.
Occasionally offer these to well known people who we like, trust and can see their potential. If you think you have what it takes, find out more about our coaching and mentoring for risk and assurance leaders and make your case.
Otherwise the best way is to convince your organisation to bring us in.
6. Is TDA hiring?
We work at the pointy end of the market. We set a very high bar and people need to be able to deliver.
This requires a highly experienced and proven team.
Todd leads all assignments personally.
From time to time we have an assignment that requires specialist skills or extra capacity. On those occasions, we go to our proven network of freelancers and alliance partners.
This is a very select group with a long track record of working with us as a client or member of a project team.
The best way to get to work with us as a team member on the delivery side is to work with us as a client or participant first. If you can’t get something sponsored, do that first.
Have a look through our site, or better still, book an exploratory call to shortcut the process.