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Creating a Compliance Culture

At B&A we talk a lot about compliance in the workplace. Keeping your company compliant means ensuring employees have the right training and tools on a variety of important compliance topics, including things like safety, human resources, and so on. The goal is to develop a “compliance culture”.

Fostering compliance in the workplace is more than just hosting training and checking a few boxes . You are going to need more than mandatory training to make it work. So, outside of training, what else can organizations do to create a culture of compliance?

Teach your people how and why you have processes. Telling people not to do something tends to be less effective if you do not give them reasoning behind it. Think about your first job. Did your manager ever tell you “don’t do that”? Did he or she explain why you should not do something? You may not have liked that explanation, but at least it gave you some understanding to the reason behind the rule.

For example, focus not only on what employees should not do, but on the proper behaviors to adopt instead. Giving employees concrete actions to model and perform, as opposed to harping on what they are not allowed to do, will get more buy-in and help them zero-in on appropriate behavior more quickly. Example: “You should wear your safety harness, so you don’t fall to your death.” Notice that this could have been stated as a “do not” sentence. (“Do not forget your safety harness…”) Phrased as a “should” sentence, helps provoke a mental image of what the proper behavior is, which makes it easier to remember and carry out.

Realize that you are not alone in this task. A culture will not, cannot change overnight, but you can start the process of change by working with the influencers at your company. You also have a partner in Blakeman and Associates. For quality compliance support or management, contact our team today!