Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers. Edition 85

Dear friends,

Welcome to the 85th edition of Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers.

First up this week, Adam Balfour considers how human interaction plays a far greater role in shaping behavior than written policies, an argument he cleverly backs up with a surprising quote from none other than Dwight K. Schrute from The Office!

In our next piece, Rebecca Walker reflects on a conversation with a promising young compliance professional in her piece Note to Young Women E&C Professionals: You Are Amazing – Keep Up the Good Work, and Call Your (Slightly) Older Counterparts More Often!.

Finally, in our Compliance Lite section, I recount a memorable presentation where I challenged an audience of senior managers to consider their shiny new code of conduct in a different light, as a tool that only becomes powerful when put into action.

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Thank you,

Joe.

The Ethics & Compliance Expert Quote I Have Been Looking For

by Adam Balfour

For years now, I have been making the point that, as social creatures, we are much more influenced by social pressures and other people rather than written policies. This is not an argument against having written policies and written communications, but simply acknowledging the reality of how people influence and communicate with each other. This is a point I cover in Chapter 8 of Ethics & Compliance For Humans, where I talk about how “people, for better or worse, connect with and are influenced by people more so than by policies.”

I have been looking for an expert to quote to back up my thoughts and I finally found the perfect one. Check out the image below for a quote from an expert ethics and compliance guru who references some important studies to back up my point. 😄

Note to Young Women E&C Professionals: You Are Amazing – Keep Up the Good Work, and Call Your (Slightly) Older Counterparts More Often!

by Rebecca Walker

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with a young woman who is three years into her journey as a compliance lawyer. She went straight from law school into an in-house role and is now a compliance manager at a company without a chief compliance officer. She reports to the general counsel, who oversees the program.

This young woman embodies everything you’d hope for in a budding compliance professional—enthusiastic, thoughtful, intelligent, and genuinely excited about her work. (And on a personal note, she’s also newly married and radiating that beautiful “life is full of possibilities” energy. Yay for youth!)

But despite all her strengths, she’s feeling the weight of her position. She’s concerned that the compliance program she manages isn’t being taken seriously enough by senior leadership. She’s anxious (and I’m reading between the lines a bit here) about being the most senior compliance professional in her organization after just three years of practice. She’s also navigating the tricky dynamics of asserting her authority with older male colleagues. And let’s not forget—she’s the only compliance professional in the company.

One of the things I love most about our profession is how collaborative it is. We may work in different organizations, but we share best practices, help each other out, and cheer each other on. I was delighted to offer her a bit of advice. That’s one of the things we do best in compliance—share with each other and offer support. (But without being anti-competitive, of course. Don’t worry, Joe Murphy!)

After we discussed her next steps for the company’s compliance program and what she might want to prioritize, she asked me something that took me right back to my early days. She wanted advice on developing her professional style—one that would be effective in an environment where the value of compliance isn’t fully understood, and the area doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. She worried that she wasn’t being taken seriously and wondered if she should adjust her style or tone.

I remember that feeling well: the uncertainty that makes you act slightly (or more than slightly) out of alignment with who you really are. It’s a natural response to feeling out of your depth. But it’s not effective, and it doesn’t feel good.

Continue reading on our website...

“Now, right before your very eyes, your Amazing Code of Conduct!”

By Joe Murphy, CCEP

I’m in front of the company’s senior managers, to give a compliance program talk. They have adopted a new code of conduct, and seem to be especially pleased and satisfied with that accomplishment. So I decide to give my presentation this way:

I dramatically bring out a chair and turn it toward the audience. I hold up their code of conduct and with a flourish place it on the chair where they all can see it. Then I say to the audience:

“Here is the one thing I want you to do. The entire time I am talking, please keep your eyes on your code of conduct. Let me know as soon as you see it do anything!”

I then press the point:

“The code of conduct is just a tool. Like any tool it is useless unless and until you actually do something with it. If you use it then it has value. If you don’t use it, it will accomplish nothing.”

Fortunately for my credibility, so far no code has ever done anything on its own.

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