The constant evolution in the corporate workplace in recent decades has led companies to strengthen their compliance systems with a view to mitigating risks and boosting competitiveness in the globalized business world.

The effectiveness of a compliance system involves incorporating practices into day-to-day processes and the conduct of leaders and employees when facing business situations. This means that regular training on the subject is essential.

Michael Eichenwald, who leads Advisory Services at LRN, a global company specializing in advising and educating organizations on compliance, corporate culture and leadership, knows the challenge well. He helps companies build and maintain ethical cultures, create methods to give employees a better understanding of the company’s purpose and a critical posture for “competing with integrity at all levels.”

“A critical challenge is the perception that compliance programs create obstacles to conducting business and competitiveness. That’s far from the truth,” said Eichenwald. Read the full interview below:

In what situations do companies and organizations seek training services? What level of autonomy do companies like LRN have to advise on policies established by the company?

Every company must implement an effective educational and ethics program centered on its values. Education has been a critical component, given that major U.S. companies began to implement comprehensive programs three decades ago.

Unfortunately, sometimes a serious act of misconduct has to happen, followed by its inevitable consequences, in order for a group to recognize just how critical a training program can be to effectively manage risk and to establishing the right expectations for employees.

In our experience, we see emerging at companies a will and enthusiasm for training their teams stemming from both recognizing new risks, as they enter new geographies or acquire new companies, and as a response to a past misconduct.

How is the training methodology for compliance policies adapted to the particular situations of each kind of business?

There are always real differences for each company regarding the educational content that must be taken into account. In the case of Odebrecht, for example, our Content Development team partnered with leaders from all of the Group’s companies to leverage the rigorous educational design methodology of LRN, considering all of Odebrecht’s specific needs. Our aim is a program that offers effective and creative training solutions with the capacity to increase knowledge retention and, more broadly, inspire performance grounded in principles.

What level of influence does a training process have on a company’s corporate culture? Is the training, by itself, capable of fostering a more ethical and upstanding environment?

Leadership molds culture and there are real limits on what an educational program can do. The challenge is in how a company moves beyond the compliance training, towards content that inspires its employees to stop and truly think about what they are doing, question it and then imagine a different path.

Compliance leaders have a unique vantage point for influencing the corporate culture. Education is just one of the tools they have at their disposal.

Engagement for a purpose: compliance training processes at companies
Reference: Ethics and Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, LRN, 2016.

How is the segmentation of communication for different audiences done (high level leadership, middle management and operational teams)? On which areas of the company should the training programs focus?

There is certain content that all employees must receive – and which must be exactly the same. For instance, training programs on policies about ethics, transparency and integrity. Everyone must receive that.

Then, we segment or personalize content according to risk. There always will be limits on how much time the employee can spend on training, which is why we make sure that everyone is exposed to the topics most relevant to the risks in each position.

LRN’s purpose is to help companies around to world to do the right thing. What are the challenges commonly faced when implementing training processes?

A critical challenge is the perception that compliance programs create obstacles to conducting business and competitiveness. That’s far from the truth. The ethics and compliance program, accompanied by a good and well-executed training program, is a facilitator for companies, supporting increased engagement by employees, more accurate decision-making and, of course, reduced risks. The issue is transcending the “obligation” of promoting these programs or the outdated rules that hinder decision-making to create an environment in which there is broad awareness of how to compete with integrity at all levels.

Yet, often, the group yields to the temptation of implementing a compliance program “limited to paper.” In our study of best practices, the “LRN Compliance Program Effectiveness Report,” we found that effective programs inspired employees with a clear sense of the group’s purpose, emphasized the importance of sustainable and human values being at the core of the operations, created a shared understanding of the behaviors that are consistent with these values and measured culture and leadership, seeking improvements every year.

We also found out that excessive rules and processes can serve as an impediment to doing what is right. There are no rules for all situations – and companies must help their employees to develop the judgment required to work in complex business environments with ethical challenges.





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