Unforgettable Compliance Training: Content That Sticks - VIA

Unforgettable Compliance Training: Content That Sticks A VIA Legal Brief

Unforgettable Compliance Training: Content That Sticks Laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and many others are driving the need for increased and more immediate company compliance. If you work in compliance then you know, more than anyone, how challenging it is to empower global employees, as well as far-flung intermediaries and agents, to recognize the line between legal and illegal actions. You also know how vital it is to convince these people to stay as far away from that line as possible. Your job is to change perceptions and, sometimes, habits, as well as to protect your client or company from an even inadvertent violation. You also need to demonstrate to the enforcement powers-that-be that your program is robust and serious. As the majority of online compliance training today is boring and repetitive, many clients ask us: • • •

What’s the best approach to online training? How do I make it engaging and a reflection of our corporate culture, and How do I integrate it into my compliance training program?

This brief will answer such questions.

Tips for getting started Training is an integral part of any robust compliance program, and often one of the best strategies for preventing issues. You want to start any online training program with clearly written guidelines, company policy, and code of conduct. Ask yourself: • What are the learning objectives of the training? • What is the compliance risk? • How will the risk affect the employee or other stakeholders? • How will this change the employee’s routine (i.e., what’s changed)? • What are the consequences of inaction? • Who is the target audience (e.g., new employees vs. seasoned employees, vendors, contractors, and third parties)? Are all employees affected, or a specific few? • What role does the audience have? Tailoring the learning experience to your audience will require different information, perhaps presented in a different way, to customize content for each audience. • How many languages should this be translated into in order to effectively reach overseas offices and third-party intermediaries? (Remember, receiving training in one’s native language is much more engaging than reading sub-titles over an English-language program.)

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Compliance Training Options Once you have defined what your learners need to take away from your compliance course and how you will measure its success, you must decide how to put your course together. You have options ranging from in-house design, to licensing off-the-shelf courses to building a custom program. Each comes with pros and cons that we’ve outlined for your consideration below. 1. In-house, Instructor Lead Classroom instruction is an option, but often not practical for broad compliance training due to the related travel expense of instructors and employees. 2. Off-the-shelf Off-the-shelf web courses are relatively inexpensive and worth evaluating. Some offer unlimited use for a fee and others charge by the user. However, many may be too simplistic depending on the organizations learning and compliance goals. For example, they may lack corporate messaging and tone, congruency to corporate policy and process, etc. Special care should be taken to adapt the content so that it is understood by the average employee and not written “by lawyers for lawyers.” 3. Custom self-directed An alternative option is custom or customizable e-learning programs. Custom courses allow you to tailor the teachings, compliance scenarios, and content to your audience. Custom courses are typically more expensive up front than off-theshelf but often more effective. Not only can the design be tailored to your corporate culture, but many agencies now offer custom programs that include web, virtual, mobile and game-based delivery with interchangeable modules by role and region.

Typical Compliance Courses: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Acting Ethically Adhering to Export Controls Avoiding Conflicts of Interest Avoiding Corruption/FCPA Avoiding Insider Trading California Sexual Harassment Communicating Carefully Complying with Competition Laws & Principles Complying with Wage and Hour Rules Encouraging Reporting and Conducting Investigations Encouraging Workplace Diversity Giving and Receiving Business Courtesies Keeping Accurate Financial Records Managing Records Preventing Employment Discrimination Preventing Workplace Harassment Protecting & Respecting Intellectual Property Protecting Confidential Information Protecting Consumer Privacy Respecting Employee Privacy Using Company Assets Properly

4. Internal and external Perhaps you are considering a blended approach, implementing online to cover the basics that everyone needs to know about, and then analyzing the online reporting to tailor their instructor-led programs. This is an excellent way to identify the comprehension holes where people are struggling with certain concepts, and to fill those holes. Blended programs work nicely as an extension to other Copyright © 2013 VIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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learning and reinforcement tactics (e.g., education alerts, podcasts, emails, newsletters, etc). Costs tend to be higher here as with custom programs, but the level of engagement is superior to off-the-shelf.

Design and Deployment After you’ve done the preliminary work, you’ll want to focus on designing and deploying your training program. Once you have defined what your learners need to take away from your compliance course and how you will measure its success, you must decide how to put your course together. Consider these tips for successful compliance training design and deployment:  Find channels that will best achieve your intentions. The message and audience are key factors in deciding how to best distribute your compliance training. For example, if your remote sales staff needs to be trained in the field, consider a series of shorter mobile courses they can take on the go. Perhaps your Human Resources department needs an interactive demonstration on using new compliant software, so an interactive course would be best to capture software demonstrations and test hands-on knowledge. Assessing your audience and their individual learning needs will make a positive impact on compliance information retention.  Reach the widest audience possible. Development is only half the battle. If no one is able to take your training or if it is not motivating, your message efforts are wasted. After deciding where your learners will likely be taking the training, make it as accessible as possible. Give learners time to complete the training so it doesn’t come down to last-minute man-dates. Also give incentives for completing the training by letting them know how it is pertinent to their individual roles within your organization.  Make it easy to complete. Compliance doesn’t have to be boring. A dry seminar, just reading new policies from a notebook, is unnecessary. Creating fun, interactive, and relevant training courses is key to generating interest and setting a precedent for employees to take future courses.  Empower your learner to become a stakeholder. Explain why and how this information is relevant to the learner to increase the odds that the learner will complete the course, retain the information, and incorporate it full circle into their daily work lives. Training must be seen as more than a mandatory corporate policy to be effective. Letting your audience in on their vested interests will increase your success.  Time is money, and brevity is key. Make sure your training only covers the most pertinent information, and that you are saying it in the most effective and concise way possible. Time spent developing long courses and time for each employee to participate in a lengthy course translate into time and money spent from the budget.


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 Make sure your content is relevant to each user. If different departments only need portions of information in your training, consider creating various shorter modules with a series of selection questions to direct the learner to the appropriate module for their training material.  Mix it up. Combine a blended approach to reinforce key learning concepts. The more occasions the learner has to engage and apply what they learn, the better they will retain the training. Consider a blended training approach that incorporates instructor-led les-sons, web and mobile applications, follow up surveys, and social interaction with online blogs and chat.  Give real world examples. The way to really drive the urgency of compliance home is through relevant examples and real-world scenarios that the learner may encounter in the workplace. Give an example of the risk, explain a scenario where this may come up, and identify how to correctly address the risk.  Reinforce learning objectives through practice scenarios. If you need your employees to change their behavior or handle new risk situations differently, consider a highly interactive course that offers simulation or gaming. Training is a great, safe place to practice hypothetical scenarios and decision-making.  End with a bang. After your learner has completed the course is a key time to reinforce the importance of your message in real and tangible ways. Ending the course with a quiz may bring a sigh of relief that it’s complete, but it is wasting a valuable opportunity to leave a call to action. Make sure you leave the learner with a strong final impression on why the training is important and provide concrete ways they can immediately begin implementing what they have learned. Anticorruption initiatives intensify: Does your training program measure up?

Are you Global Ready? Keep in mind that any time you are training overseas employees, consultants, or intermediaries; it is poor practice to create the training in English and then merely sub-title it for the different languages of your audiences. The message you’re giving is: they are an afterthought. They aren’t important enough to get the training in their native tongue—even though they might speak English. This reduces the impact of the training because people engage it half-heartedly. It might also be seen by regulatory agencies as insufficient compliance effort on your company’s part. Besides questions of language, there are also issues around location. It’s really important to customize your course elements for different countries, taking care to explain why the US training policy is relevant even when contrary to local customs. When it comes to conducting business, what might be unethical or unlawful in the United States may be an accepted practice in other countries—or vice versa. As a result, employees of US-based businesses sometimes feel they must choose between losing business by rejecting


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local customs or winning business, by violating US law. Training your staff is vital so that they know which choice to make.

Getting it Right Incorporating these design elements will provide quality training that sticks as well as fits your risk and compliance training needs. Once you’ve determined your training needs, outlined your content, and brainstormed ways to keep it fresh and interesting, you have to decide how you will develop and deploy your training. Will you work with an eLearning compliance agency? Will you work with freelancers? Do you have the creative abilities in-house to write and execute a compelling online training program? How will you manage translations, if any? How do you keep content fresh for people who are getting recertified? The right partner will help you answer these questions in a way that fits both your needs and your budget.

Contact us To learn more about compliance solutions or how VIA can help your organization achieve improved global compliance, contact us at 1-800-737-8481 or visit us online at www.viadelivers.com


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