Why respect is your secret Compliance weapon
I really like this quote from Simon Sinek:
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first”.
It makes perfect sense. We’ve all received amazing service from people who clearly love their job and appalling service from people who don’t. If people are passionate and proud of what they do, they’re more engaged. There’s a lesson for Compliance here.
If you don’t love what you do — if you’re not proud of your work — then that’ll come across to anyone you engage with. And since your job is about influencing employees — the way you ensure your organisation is compliant is, after all, via your employees — that really matters.
How do we know when people don’t love their job? They just do the bare minimum and don’t go the extra mile. They just tick the box. They just get the job done. They provide 1-star service, not 5-star service. They’ll know it. And so will anyone they interact with.
So, if you’re producing training that’s not at all user friendly but just ‘does the bare minimum’ to keep regulators happy*, are writing policies that are dull and tedious but do ‘tick the box’, or creating processes that are bureaucratic but ‘get the job done’ then you’re probably not engaging your employees.
And if you’re not doing that, you’re likely to be sending a signal to them that you don’t love compliance and that you’re not interested in their experience of it. And if you don’t love it, why should they care about it?
This is why adapting Sinek’s quote to: “Employees will never respect compliance until Compliance respects them first” feels appropriate. You can work on the basis that they have to respect it because they’re employed, but that will only get you so far. Much better, if you show them you care, by making your program user friendly. They’re far more likely to return the favour.
Let me know what you think.
*The one exception to all of that is anything you’re doing performatively just to keep regulators happy, that you genuinely think is a complete waste of time & wouldn’t do otherwise. Those are things where you can just do the bare minimum.
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bg remover free really makes you think about how your own attitude shapes your interactions. The point about passion directly influencing how you engage with employees is so true. It’s a good reminder that the work has to feel meaningful to be effective.
planorial really nails it with that Simon Sinek quote about people who love their jobs. It's a great reminder that in a role like Compliance, which is all about influencing others, our own energy and pride in our work are so visible to everyone we engage with.
Simon Sinek's quote highlights how employee engagement directly impacts customer experience. For compliance teams, fostering pride in their work can transform internal culture and external trust. If you need to visually demonstrate such cultural shifts—like creating team engagement infographics or social posts—consider using a tool like image splitter to break down complex visuals into digestible pieces.
The point about compliance teams doing the bare minimum to keep regulators happy really hits home. It's a clear signal that you don't respect the employees who have to follow the rules. I've seen how a user-friendly approach, like using a simple grid maker for policy mapping, can completely change that dynamic.