Beyond Compliance: Building Trust Through Commitment

In my years working across high-risk, highly regulated industries like medical device, pharmaceuticals, and energy, compliance used to be a simple matter of ticking legal boxes. But that's no longer enough, and hasn’t been for some time.

Today, compliance is about fulfilling all our commitments, not just the ones mandated by law. Think of it as keeping promises – the promises we make to our stakeholders, as outlined in ISO-37301 and Promise Theory.

Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible. – Hannah Arendt

The gap between making those promises and following through is a measure of our integrity – are we walking the walk, not just talking the talk?

In fact, a strong compliance integrity score can be calculated by the number of promises kept compared to the number made.

The problem is, many still see compliance as an after-the-fact audit function, solely focused on legal compliance. Sure, that might keep them licensed to operate, but it doesn't inspire confidence that they will achieve the goals that really matter.

That’s why to truly build trust and ensure success, organizations are moving towards a more proactive and integrative approach to compliance.

They’re weaving a "golden thread" of assurance that encompasses not just legal obligations, but also voluntary commitments to safety, security, sustainability, quality, environmental, and ethics.

This fortified compliance chain will lead to greater trust from everyone who has a stake in their success – employees, partners, suppliers, customers, communities, and beyond.

If mission success is important to you, our advanced program helps you always meet your obligations and keep your promises – The Proactive Certainty Program.

This program is not for everyone. It's specifically for forward-looking, ethical organizations who take their obligations seriously, and strive to continually raise their standards.

Message me to learn how you can become a member.