Section 2

Building Your Foundation

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Implement What You Know with Confidence

Discover action-based tools that provide simple steps for program improvement or robust plans for new ways of doing business. 

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Your ethics and compliance program is an ecosystem of moving parts. New laws and regulations, new lines of business, new geographies, mergers and acquisitions become part of a growing enterprise that your compliance ecosystem must support. 

Effective compliance programs are able to deftly navigate these complexities because they have built strong foundations that were developed with the nature of the compliance industry in mind.

This section will give you the expert advice and programmatic best practices to ensure the first steps you take to develop your program are in the right direction. Or if your program is more mature, these resources and insights will give you the necessary guidance to course correct and improve your program’s foundation at whichever stage it is in. 

 

How to Survive Compliance Training Disillusionment

Chapter 6 of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide for Compliance Professionals

For your program to be effective, employees need to feel personally connected to the notion of doing business ethically and in compliance. Learn how to survive with Tom Fox.

Tom Fox 12/01/2017

Chapter 6 of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide for Compliance Professionals

For your program to be effective, employees need to feel personally connected to the notion of doing business ethically and in compliance. Learn how to survive with Tom Fox.

Employees need to feel personally connected to the notion of doing business ethically and in compliance for your program to be effective. But how can we do this if there is cynicism around one of our most powerful tools – training? Or what if your compliance training is so ineffective as to be rendered useless? Using one of the most well-worn techniques since the invention of fire—that of storytelling is a way to expand your training footprint in a way that engages and educates employees.

Storytelling integrates familiar, real-world examples into your compliance training to create a meaningful and relatable experience for learners. Done strategically, this will increase trust in your internal compliance brand, engage learners and actually change behavior. Let’s talk about how exactly storytelling can bring your training to life in a best practice compliance training program.
 

How to Survive
 

1. Gather Content

Take advantage of your data resources. Find compelling stories in the compliance information already available to you. As an example, consider the perception of your hotline reports. Not all hotline reports are of illegal, unethical or fraudulent conduct. A substantiated report may be based on perceived unfairness or favoritism in the workplace by an employee. By dispelling the assumption that hotlines are only for the most severe infractions, you can cultivate a steady information source straight from your employees while boosting corporate morale. But don’t stop there. Use current events, literally from the front page of today’s newspapers to craft compelling compliance stories. 

 

2. Present the Story

Get creative with how you use storytelling in your training. A great example is when the VW emissions scandal came to light. In Houston, CenterPoint Energy, a company completely unrelated to the auto manufacturing business, used the ethical failures at VW as an impetus to release a 2015 video proactively addressing their upstanding culture and values as an organization. They turned the scandal into an opportunity to create awareness of the importance of integrity in their workplace. Along with the published video, CenterPoint Energy also created a resource for management entitled “Manager’s Toolkit – What Does Integrity Mean to You?” Managers used this to continually open discussions and foster ongoing conversations focused on workplace integrity.

 

3. Socialize Your Work

Take the time to share your compliance stories. Try co-authoring shareable content with your employees and showcase how your compliance program drives ethical business practices and fosters an inclusive workplace culture. Tell your compliance program’s story and provide your audience with real-world best practice examples they can mimic, through the real-world workday experiences of your employees. Take pride in the work you do and brand your organization as a leader in ethical business practices, through its best ambassadors, your employees. To further enhance this perception both inside and outside your organization, place volunteered examples on your company branded website for maximum impact. Finally, employees want to hear stories from, and about, their co-workers who’ve faced compliance challenges and #DoTheRightThing – the hashtag used internally at the award-winning Dun & Bradstreet compliance program.

 

4. Vocalize Senior Management

Ranging from short messages from your CEO, to videos of your CCO, try using a variety of internal company talent to communicate the concepts of your compliance training program. When a member of senior management shares a message, employees listen. They want to hear the president share a message of commitment to the company’s culture and discuss the values behind doing business ethically and in compliance. This is always a message that will resonate with employees. Have your senior management celebrate ethical “wins” for the company by recognizing employees who have done the right thing in a difficult or challenging circumstance.