…and what does that have to do with me?
Ever heard of compliance? For many, it ranks somewhere between the police and Miss Marple and, at first glance, seems completely unnecessary. Adhering to rules in companies is often confused with personal restrictions or even blind obedience. But then, during the coffee break, people get righteously indignant about rule violations in large companies that they read about in the newspaper! “That’s unbelievable!” “How can something like that happen?” “Don’t they have any decency?” Well, interested in taking a look behind the scenes?
Let’s take a closer look and examine, for example, the production area of any given company, let’s call it “0815 GmbH”:
Here, 120 employees work in three shifts. The work is physically demanding, the employees have known each other for a long time, and there is little staff turnover.
A new production process was introduced a few months ago. Recently, there has been an increase in thefts and damage to company property. Some of these incidents are discovered by chance, while others have been reported directly to supervisors by individual employees.
After internal consultations among the managers, who have already received several training sessions from the compliance department, they report the incidents to the whistleblower hotline for an impartial investigation. In the compliance department, these reports trigger the internal investigation process.
Ah, so from the employees’ perspective, the company offers ways to confidentially report things that give you “a strange gut feeling,” so that a neutral party can look into them. Didn’t the supervisor recently show a video about confidentiality and protecting whistleblowers? And isn’t there a poster in the break room about “respectful interaction with one another”?
As a compliance responsible, you’ve initially done everything right: guidelines, ideally even a code of conduct for the company, have apparently been established. But just as important as agreeing on and writing down the rules is communicating these topics, meaning discussing them with all employees – and I mean truly ALL employees – explaining how these rules are relevant to each and every individual. And relevance means understanding how the guidelines can be put into practice in one’s own actions, providing a sense of security in decision-making.
As a compliance responsible, you have to “show your face,” make yourself visible as a person, in order to build trust. And just as important – if not more so – is demonstrating the opportunities for dialogue.
- Who can I, as an employee, talk to if I have a question or if something seems strange to me?
- What will happen to me then?
- What will happen to the colleague I’m reporting?
- Will my manager be informed about my report?
These are just some of the many unspoken questions that influence the decision to report – or not report – a compliance violation.
But let’s get back to “0815 GmbH”. The investigations are complete, and some employees have been sanctioned. Now, the plan is to work with all employees in the department on the team culture and the reasons for this behavior. Right in the first meeting, the million-dollar question is asked point-blank: “Tell me, what exactly is this thing called compliance?”
As a compliance responsible, you might be thinking right now: “Do I really have to start from scratch here? It’s so obvious!” or “Ah, so I need to start a few steps earlier.” or “Thank you so much for this wonderful question!!!”
Because this profound question, almost anarchic in its simplicity, essentially gives the compliance officer the opportunity to discuss the fundamental role of rules in a person’s life.
Whether you’re a manager, an expert in a specific field, or a trainer for compliance topics: always assume that you possess more knowledge than the people you’re speaking to. But how do I put myself in the shoes of my audience, who don’t have this same level of knowledge about the content and context? In education, this is sometimes referred to as the “curse of knowledge.” When discussing compliance topics, I MUST connect with the target group’s everyday experiences to find a way in and explain what “this compliance thing” means – for each and every individual!
- “What determines how you behave when you’re playing sports?”
- “What rules did you follow when you drove to work this morning?”
- “What rules do you follow when you perform your job?”
And – bam! – I suddenly realized that “this compliance thing” is already a significant part of my life – I just hadn’t called it that before. What a great feeling: I’m already familiar with the topic! I can build on this!
And yes, now there are a few rules to follow. But these rules aren’t there to annoy the employees, but rather to make working together possible and pleasant, to translate external framework conditions (laws, industry standards, etc.) into behavior within the company, to support employees in their confidence to act, and ultimately to protect the company.
The day is drawing to a close. Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed your first day as a compliance responsible! And you see, it’s by no means about working in isolation, hunched over dry regulations that you can use to annoy the staff, or about spectacular investigative work.
Essentially, this “compliance” is about conveying the meaning and significance to each and every employee. Compliance creates the framework, aims to provide certainty in everyday actions, and promotes ethical behavior – always with the individual in mind.
„My son, be diligent in your work during the day, but only do things that allow us to sleep peacefully at night.“
(Quote from Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901), Thomas Mann)
© Your Julia Bach
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You might also be interested in the following posts:
Establishing a Compliance Management System
- Compliance culture: More than just a “must”
- Speak up – What do I do if my gut feeling tells me that something is wrong?
- Unpleasant, but true: Without training, every guideline is worthless
Developing Compliance Officers and Responsibles
- Role Clarity: Caught between two stools? Why role clarity is more than just a feeling
- Clear Language: Clear and understandable instead of convoluted – The Feynman technique in communication
- Storytelling: Storytelling in compliance communication
- Unconscious Biases: More Pippi Longstocking in my head
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