2025-11-04 · Field notes
Preparing spokespeople for a mock inspection day
Interview discipline often decides whether a well-prepared evidence pack is heard clearly under pressure.
A pre-inspection walkthrough is not theatre. It is a rehearsal of who speaks, who fetches exhibits, and how long silence lasts when a question lands outside someone’s remit.
Nominate a primary and a secondary for each theme: AML, consumer protection, IT change control as it affects customer funds, and complaints handling. Dual ownership prevents the room from freezing when the primary is unavailable.
Answer with exhibits, not adjectives. “We take compliance seriously” lands poorly next to “Exhibit 14 shows the Q3 complaints log and the three cases escalated to the board.” Practice pointing to page numbers.
Teach the pause. When a question is unclear, spokespeople should ask for clarification once rather than inventing a confident answer. Examiners notice inventiveness faster than hesitation.
End the mock day with a written debrief while memory is fresh. Capture phrasing that worked, exhibits that were hard to locate, and any policy contradiction that surfaced under questioning. That debrief often becomes the most valuable page in the pack.
inspection preparation teams