Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers. Edition 108
Welcome to the 108th edition of Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers.
This week,? Joe Murphy, CCEP revisits an insightful lesson from renowned scholar John Braithwaite - sometimes, the key to compliance success isn’t just resources, but real authority. He explores why compliance officers need clout to be effective and offers a decades-old framework that still holds true today.
Meanwhile in Compliance Lite, Karen M. Leet presents a compelling story about a compliance officer who, after years of feeling overlooked, finally receives the respect and authority he deserves - just in time for his company to avoid a costly compliance mistake.
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Thank you,
The Editors
Clout and the compliance professional
Many years ago, early in my compliance & ethics career, I had the great good fortune to communicate with and then meet the outstanding Australian scholar, John Braithwaite. John impressed me for having the distinction of disproving his own theory. He was researching the reasonable assumption that the amount of resources put into a workplace safety program was directly connected with improved results.
Now workplace safety, unlike other compliance areas, is readily measurable in terms of results. If the safety program is effective, working mothers and fathers get to go home from a safe day at work to be with their children. You know: it either works or it doesn’t.
So John proceeded with his study of literally what happened at the coal face. But John displayed none of the usual confirmation bias. Instead, he proved his own theory wrong, and unearthed a much more important theory: that the clout of the safety people was the true indicator of success in a safety program.
This was an underpinning for my own analysis.? As a student of political science this had enormous appeal. While Lord Acton wisely said “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” it is also true that power in the right hands is a very useful tool.? And if compliance and ethics people are to be effective they need power.? In John’s colorful words, if the line managers can “roll” the safety people then injuries will follow. If senior managers can “roll” the compliance officer, innocent people will be harmed by dangerous organizational misconduct.? ?
More Clout for Corey
by Karen M. Leet
Some days he felt as if everyone else in the entire company got more respect than he did. It seemed sometimes that even the outsourced janitorial staff got treated better than he was.
It was as if nobody even knew he was there, always there, always ready to help others in his role of compliance officer. Oh, sure, he gave advice. And did compliance training for staff members. And spoke up when compliance issues rose if he knew about them.
But he felt as if no one at the top of the company cared what he felt or thought about issues, any issues.
So, when his boss called him into the office one morning early, Corey took a deep, calming breath. He told himself that he worked hard, did his best, was good at his job – even if no one else ever noticed.
Perhaps it was a performance review. Or a career assessment.
Or – who knew – even a complaint registered against him.
He told himself he could handle it. Whatever it was, he would deal with it. He told himself he was good at his job, that he cared deeply and worked hard, that there were other places he could work if the boss was dissatisfied.
Braced and ready for a fight if need be, Corey marched into the front office, then immediately into the boss’s personal office; where he was offered coffee, invited to sit and welcomed with a smile.
Still, he held himself ready for whatever would be coming at him.
The boss sat, and so did Corey.
“It’s recently come to my attention,” the boss began, his tone firm and serious, “that the company has not really recognized the value of your work here.”
Corey stared, silent and alert. If he was being terminated, it seemed a strange opening to him.
“Being our chief compliance officer, you have held training sessions, kept us all aware of potential legal violations, saved us from breaking rules and regulations. You’ve kept us clear of illegal, unethical and potentially damaging repercussions,” the boss told him.
Corey felt slightly disoriented, as if he’d come to the wrong room or the wrong office, as if some enormous error had occurred.
“And so,” continued his boss, “I am pleased to tell you, the Board of Directors has directed management to upgrade your position, give you a spot in all senior management meetings, increase your department budget, encourage you to hire another assistant or two and ensure that all employees in all departments recognize the essential nature of your role in the safe, smooth, effective performance of all aspects of our company.” The boss smiled, stood and offered his hand to shake.
“It’s about time we all acknowledged how much you and your conscientious work in compliance have meant to us all. And it’s about time we all paid serious attention to how important your job is to us.”
Numb. Shocked. Shaken to the center of his being, Corey stood, shook the boss’s hand, somehow got out a heartfelt thank you, turned and strode from the room.
In his own office, Corey stared blankly, truly stunned by the astounding turn of events.
His assistant, JJ, grinned at him. “We all heard about it,” she told Corey. “And it’s about time you got the recognition, respect and salary you’ve deserved. Say, think I’ll get a raise, too?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Corey assured JJ. “Looks like we’re all gonna see even better days ahead.”
Later that day Corey looked at his copy of the Wall Street Journal from a couple days earlier. A few pages in was an interesting story about their big competitor, RealTime AI4 Graphics. Seems they were playing fast and loose with a big government contract. The government hammered them hard. A bit down in the article was a quote from the US Attorney in that district, noting that the company got no credit for its compliance program because its compliance officer was an officer in name only, and was ignored by the company’s government contracting office.
Well, thought Corey, at least we were lucky to get a warning at the expense of a competitor. In any event, he would take it. And he knew that his newfound clout would serve the company well.
More clout for the compliance officer was solid good news for this company. Too bad RealTime didn’t get a similar warning.
? 2024 K. Leet
What do you think?
What kind of clout does compliance need?
Can a compliance officer accomplish much without clout?
Why or why not?
These are stories (usually fictional, but not always), based on insights and experiences from the world of compliance & ethics.
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