Compliance Leaders Burnout when they’re viewed as the Enemy

It’s you against them, despite the fact you’re playing for the same team.?

Or at least you’re supposed to be. But when you walk into a room and are met by nothing but an intense sigh and rolling eyes, it's hard to not feel like the entire world is against you.?

All because you’re trying to do your job to the best of your ability.?

It is no surprise that compliance professionals are feeling rundown and walked over, with many well and truly burning out - in turn- leaving their organisation in a vulnerable state.??

But why are Compliance Leaders burning out at such an alarming rate? And how can we extinguish this growing problem in an effective and positive way??

Let’s figure it out together.

3 Leading Causes of Compliance Leader Burnout

Your peers consider you an intrusion

CISO burnout often hogs the headlines. I’ve even written about the topic myself. But the silver lining with the pressures and stress of being held responsible for organisational security is that when you rectify problems, you have a chance to be the hero, bathe in the glory (even if briefly) before moving onto your next inevitable problem.?

Compliance Leaders don’t tend to get such grace. In fact, they’re sometimes the villain to those they are trying their darnedest to protect. To those tech professionals in the trenches, compliance leaders are an annoyance, you complain and request changes. You’re the harbinger of bad news and a larger workload.

It sets up a working dynamic that is not only exhausting but could easily become toxic through no fault of any of the parties involved.?

A language barrier between departments

The truth is- compliance leaders can often feel alienated, like they don’t belong in the spaces they occupy. They’re expected to be an expert in all fields which is not only unrealistic but can lead to feeling like an imposter. Especially when communication inevitably begins to break down.?

Compliance Leaders get the brunt of many frustrations especially when the finance department, engineering department, and tech specialists grow frustrated that you aren’t a fluent expert in their particular area. It can leave you with feelings of inadequacy that are impossible to remedy.

Blamed when other people fail to play their part

As a Compliance Leader there’s an inherent tension over the fact that you are considered responsible for Compliance: to get the certifications/reports, keep them updated, and pass audits with flying colours.

But when it comes down to it, you have no control over any of this.?

Sure, you can make it easy for people to do their jobs, collect the evidence, remind them, and ensure they have everything they need to do the job. But if one control owner fails a critical control, then you are the one to blame.?

WHY DIDN’T YOU DO YOUR JOB

With all these things weighing down on you - it’s no wonder that burnout is so rife among Compliance Leaders.?

Here’s the solution…

The Solution to Compliance Leader Burnout

You need to work towards changing organisational perception of your role.To do this you need to be properly valued by leadership and gain more control over the work you’re ACTUALLY responsible for.?

Deliver operational value to the company

You're limited in value if you are merely perceived as the person who gets certifications.?

If you can nurture the relationship you have with senior management, as well as the wider team, you will be able to give them better tools to succeed and help them understand the importance of what you bring to the table.?

Here are some ways of doing that:

Use data-driven, automated tools?

Reduce the human error factor and everyone wins. By pulling data from primary sources using automation, you’ll be alerted to issues quickly.

Filter data to signal possible trouble??

Having a ton of raw data isn’t necessarily helpful on its own. What’s needed instead is a way to find the outlier cases deserving of human eyes. Using automated tools to filter data, you can create signals to provide early warning that something is not working—not just from a Compliance perspective, but things which are operationally important to the company.?

Then your team can then sift through these and determine which deserve further investigation.

Use risk as a decision-making tool?

Companies are better off when they note risks and show how they prioritised them.?

You need to determine risks and prioritise them using risk quantification methods that put a monetary value on what’s at stake. Then take your recommendations to leadership, and they can then decide which risks are worth their attention and funding.?

You can’t mitigate every possible risk, but you can make the company think about the ones to focus on using the right evidence.

To find out more about how you can use evidence-based processes to make life easier for you and your organisation as a whole - why not send me a message??

I’m happy to point you in the right direction.?

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