About Me

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Dr. Lichtman is an executive and career coach, who has created behavioral, changes in the hundreds of leaders with whom she has worked. As a trained therapist, with a profit and loss business background, she has the added benefit of understanding the individual, and the interplay between emotional intelligence and success in the business environment. By building on positive attributes, Dr. Lichtman has been able to reduce the time needed to create sustainable changes.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Innovative Instruction for IT Auditors



As an executive coach skilled in navigating the business environment, the worlds of academics and of IT are somewhat foreign territory. What do my areas of expertise – soft skill training and interpersonal communication -- have to do with highly skilled technology and finance students? Turns out, they are a perfect match.
At Temple University’s Fox School Department of Management Information Systems (MIS), administrators hold the innovative idea that increasing social awareness, the ability to self-regulate impulses and enhancing communication skills, will produce better IT auditors. As a result, I am currently teaching a class in a newly formed IT Auditing Masters program.
Typically, I work with organizations that want to increase the success of their executives, and in turn, business revenue.  This usually involves developing emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills among business leaders.

The Magic of IT
I have always admired IT departments and tech businesses that are crammed with technical geniuses who, seem to make the impossible, not only possible, but actually quite ordinary.  Achievements like tablets or smart phones that play music, show movies and act as a TV, camera, encyclopedia, classroom, radio and a video camera, are truly magical. And now I am getting a closer look at these magicians.

I have learned that the Fox School of Business’s new MS program in IT Auditing and Cyber Security -- one of only three such programs in the country -- is based on ISACA, a global association of information systems professionals. Students are trained to complete the Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) exam at the end of their studies.
Based in Philadelphia, the Fox School of Business in general, and my class specifically, is an amazing place filled with students from all over the world who come here to study and learn. One of my goals was to culturally prepare and acclimate students for the business world, including the interpersonal skills an auditor needs to be successful. The classes include individual personality assessments and real-world feedback from the head of audit of a major financial institution about what makes a successful auditor. We also practice interviewing skills, what good negotiation looks like, and discuss how emotional intelligence plays a major role in working with clients and stakeholders.

Learning Subtle Skills
Obviously, the first measure of success as an IT auditor requires excellence in the technical side of the job. But to get business constituents who are being audited to change their behavior, involves much more subtle communication and negotiation. How we say what we say, how much we listen to the verbal and the nonverbal language around us, and how comfortable we are asking and disseminating difficult information, often determines the outcome of any meeting—and any career.
 
Students learn that an IT audit meeting, which often involves much nuance and potentially negative consequences, is difficult under any circumstances. Therefore, knowing how and what to communicate, adding value to the conversation, and trying to be as objective as possible, will also determine the success of the IT auditors’ outcomes.

Teaching this wonderful, dedicated group of students is a unique and fulfilling experience and it proves that executive or business skills coaching is valuable in every setting.


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