ISO 19011 - Section 12
Explanations in Plain English
ISO 19011 - Section 12 - Effective Communications
Effective communications depends on the psychology of the auditee and psychology
is an extremely important factor in the success of the audit. Failure to communicate effectively by taking into
account the psychology of the auditee can actually yield to degradation rather than improvement of an activity or
process. Primarily, because of resentful or disgruntled auditees.
Example of some proper actions:
- Evaluate the auditee’s attitude to see how receptive he/she is to the
audit,
- Evaluate the situation to see whether the auditee is not in an uncomfortable
position during the audit (i.e. be watched and scrutinized by his/her boss while being audited),
- Evaluate how the auditee perceives you in view of previous audits or
professional relationships,
- Make the auditee comfortable by adopting an attitude, taking an action or making
positive statements that will help diffuse any possible tension detected from the issues listed above,
- Ask open-ended questions and listen,
- Control the interview and make sure the auditee does not lead the
interview,
- Manage your time in order to achieve the goal of the audit within the allotted
time period, but be prepared to let the auditee talk as much as he/she wants as long as they stay on
topic,
- Make sure the auditee understands this is not a personal audit, but an audit to
determine how good the processes and system address requirements.
Here are some do's and don'ts:
Do's
- Show interest
- Remove or reduce distractions
- Be empathic but, not sympathetic (appears biased)
- Be patient
- Ask concise and exact questions
- Focus on the customers’, organization’s and the standard’s
requirements
Don'ts
- Judge or be negative
- Lose focus
- Lose track of original question
- Interfere with auditee’s thoughts/answers
- Hear what you want to hear
The links below are
excerpts from the our e-book
"Explanations and
Definitions for ISO 19011:2002" 
Section 1. ISO 19011 Scope
reference and definitions
Section 2. ISO 19011 Principles of
auditing
Section 3. ISO 19011 Managing an
audit program
Section 4. ISO 19011 Audit program
implementation
Section 5. ISO 19011 Audit
activities
Section 6. ISO 19011 Preparing for
onsite activities
Section 7. ISO 19011 Conducting
onsite activities
Section 8. ISO 19011 What the
auditor is looking for
Section 9 ISO 19011 Audit
reporting
Section 10. ISO 19011 Audit
techniques
Section 11. ISO 19011 Audit
path
Section 12. ISO 19011 Effective
communications
Section 13. ISO 19011
Sampling
Section 14. ISO 19011 Audit
completion and follow-up
Section 15. ISO 19011 Competence
and evaluation of auditors
This represents a summary of the section in ISO 19011:2002. It's
suggested that you obtain a copy of our ebook to refer to when auditing.
EBook "Explanations and Definitions for ISO 19011:2002
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