Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers. Edition 56

Dear friends,

Welcome back to another edition of Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers.

We know that mentoring relationships are key to helping each other grow and learn. In edition 56, we are asking for your thoughts and stories on mentoring. We are planning to write a short article based on the experiences and ideas of our wonderful readers. In our first piece, Adam Balfour explains how you can share your thoughts with us. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

In this edition, we also ask 'Is part of your job to have coffee with a board member?'. And finally, we have our regular feature Compliance Lite.

And as always, there's more content on our website so please do visit us there to read our other articles.

Thank you, Joe.

We Want To Hear From You - Can You Tell Us About Your Experience With Mentoring In The Compliance Profession?

by Adam Balfour

We all know that mentoring matters - it is a key way in which adults learn, and mentoring can provide wonderful benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. However, saying “everyone should have or be a mentor” is a bit too oversimplified for our liking at Ideas & Answers because we (from our personal experiences) know that we need different types of mentors at different stages of our careers. From having mentors who help and guide as you go from early to mid to more advanced stages of your career (including reverse mentoring), we know that mentoring relationships are key to helping each other grow and learn. (PS - if you want to hear the stories of how people in our profession have helped each other, you should read one of our favorite compliance books, Sending The Elevator Back Down by Mary Shirley and Lisa Fine).

At Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers, we want to hear your thoughts and stories on mentoring. How has mentoring helped you in a particular career stage? How did you find your mentor? What stage of your career should you consider reverse mentoring? What can our profession do differently to help mentoring be a more effective part of how we grow and learn as a compliance community and profession? We plan to write a short article or two based on the experiences and ideas of our wonderful readers.

Please share your thoughts below, tag someone who has been a mentor to you, or email [email protected] with your stories and ideas.

Is Part of Your Job to Have Coffee with a Board Member?

by Joe Murphy

In my reading I try to keep current, but I also go back over stories from a while back. One that I recently looked back on was in the June 2021 issue of HCCA’s Compliance Today, “Compliance and the Board: Challenges and Best Practices.” The article addressed the relationship between the board and the compliance program.? The authors, Brian D. Annulis, Sarah M. Couture, and Kayle M. Teune, suggested that:

“One way to strengthen the level of collaboration [with the board] is to have interactions with the board chair or other members in addition to/outside of board meetings.”? ??

The authors note that this could be outside of the office, such as over coffee.?

Years ago, I had heard one of the pioneers in this field, Pat Gnazzo, talk about this approach.? In his case when he headed up a compliance program, he asked the chair of the board’s audit committee to have coffee with him in the company cafeteria, where company people would see them together.? There was no particular agenda, it was just to show that the compliance officer had such a connection to the board.

I believe this is an extremely important point. Don’t think of the relationship with the board and board members in a simplistic, formal way.? The compliance and ethics officer (CECO) should also have direct relations with board members, including the chair of the audit committee.? “Reporting” to the board is more than just a quarterly, formal report.? It also incudes steps as simple as occasional email messages to board members, and having coffee with a board committee chair.?

Continue reading on our website...

Ever since the Watergate scandal, every scandal seems to have the suffix 'gate' added to it.

This makes me wonder what a scandal would be called if it happened whilst Bill Gates was walking to his front gate...

Gates gait gates gate?

Receive Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers via Email

If you, or someone you know, would like to receive our newsletter directly in your inbox, simply click the link below and sign up to stay updated on the latest compliance insights and ethical discussions.