Compliance; a Tool in Maintaining the Company Standard
- Zoran Vidovic
- Nov 24, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 29, 2024
How can we be sure that all our company trainings, procedures, processes, and policies have been followed by our employees?
Setting them all in line with our company mission and vision is not enough if we do not monitor the process.
How do we maintain consistent performance standards across the board?
We do it through compliance!
What is compliance?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines compliance as "the act of obeying a law or rule, especially one that controls a particular industry or type of work."
Defining it as an act of obeying suggests self-policing, which is not something we should count on, at least not for every employee in every situation.
So, we are going to put in place a process that will monitor the adherence to all the company policies, processes, and procedures as established by the company, in accordance with the company's mission and vision and all applicable laws and regulations.
How do we do that?
We have defined our company mission and vision, set the company standard, and created trainings supporting it. With all that, we have identified critical activities that need to be monitored to maintain the level of performance across the board while minimizing potential risks to our employees and customers.
Now we need to look into establishing processes for monitoring those activities:
Regular internal or external audits. Internal audits are conducted from within the company. It can be a designated department or an individual. External audits are conducted by the responsible government agencies. Those audits can conduct analyses of policies, procedures, processes, trainings, certificates, and actual knowledge of our employees. The results will speak for themselves and reveal the opportunities for improvement for each segment.
It could discover that all policies, processes, and procedures are in place and in line with all applicable regulations, but they are not being followed by all employees, which then opens opportunities for additional trainings and revision of the existing trainings.
It could discover that all trainings have been completed and all procedures followed by our employees, which could reveal opportunities for improvement with regards to the company policies, processes, and procedures.
It could result in a positive outcome where all company policies, processes, and procedures have been adhered to, which is a testimony of a good organization with a strong culture.
Customer questioners and feedback. This is probably the most important input we can get, as it comes directly from our customers and reflects their wishes, habits, expectations, and satisfaction with our products or services. There is a lot to be taken from guest feedback, as it gives us a direct insight into our customers wishes and expectations. If analyzed with an open mind, it could point us in the right direction and perhaps even take us away from the intended direction based on our predictions.
Employee performance feedback. This process is designed as two-way communication rather than us delivering a monolog on an employee's performance. We should use it to dive deep into our employee satisfaction, desires, and expectations, as well as their ingenuity and resourcefulness. It helps us discover areas of improvement for both the employee and the company and understand the motivation behind the exceptional performance, as well as reasons for the underperformance.
The reporting process for unconformities. This is an important process as it provides an opportunity for the employees to speak up about any unconformities that could lead to deviations from the company standard and subsequently the mission and vision. It allows employees to express themselves and contribute to the company, which makes them feel included, appreciated and an important part of the team.
Risk Management. This is a very important part of the company, and it could be the integrated part of compliance or a separate department. It monitors not only the legal side of the operation but also overall exposure to the risk involving every aspect of the operation including the decision-making process. It monitors and assesses potential exposures and the risk of unfavorable or negative impacts on the overall operation.
What are we looking for?
Compliance is not a witch hunt and should not be used to instill fear and create a culture of conformity.
This is very important to remember, as it is not hard to go down this road.
We need to take into account the following:
Compliance needs to help identify opportunities for improvement. We should not allow it to become a tool of repression and control, but rather a tool of growth and development. We need to take into consideration the position effect it has on other employees when confronted by the individuals in charge. It also needs to allow for an approach not necessarily looking for errors but opportunities for improvement and development, which needs to be communicated to all employees and be visible during the compliance process.
It needs to allow for interpretation and discussion. It needs to allow for improvement, and it can only be done through discussion and understanding of the reasons behind the results. The goal is to identify and analyze unconformities and deficiencies to identify the areas in need of improvement.
It needs to take into account the broader picture. It needs to allow for a broader approach in analyzing reasons for unconformities and deficiencies to discover the reasons for them rather than just finding someone to blame.
What to avoid?
We need to avoid making the compliance process all about measurable results measured by KPIs (key performance indicators) without running them against the personal influence of our management and employees.
If we only rely on the KPIs, we will restrict ourselves from reaching a clear vision of all the reasons behind the unconformity or deficiency. It will also allow for the interpretation of results without taking into consideration potential gaps in communication or misunderstandings between employees and management. Something that could easily be rectified and does not necessarily need to be the fault of someone, but could rather be the result of a series of factors that need to be analyzed.
Human influence greatly affects the overall operation, and there are multiple reasons behind it. We can have misunderstandings or misalignments between the management and employees, causing the performance drop.
Employees. They could feel they have received unclear instructions or haven't been given proper explanations and expectations. They have not understood, nor have they connected with the company's mission and vision. They haven't received the required training, or they feel the training has not equipped them to produce the required results. They might feel they are not heard and do not feel like part of the team. They might not be familiar with the company procedures, policies, and protocols and do not know where to find that information.
Management. They could be the source of the negative influence. Lack of support and clarity in their instructions to the employees could result in a performance drop. A lack of direction can be confusing and frustrating. They might be creating a toxic culture as a result of their leadership style. They might be compensating for their lack of understanding of their role and responsibility by withholding information.
Whenever we detect a drop in performance and misalignment with company standards, we need to understand the human factor and take a cautious approach in making decisions about it.
We need to make sure the compliance process is not weaponized against any employees and that it is not leveraged as a power over others.
It needs to serve the company and its employees to achieve the best results by providing opportunities for improvement in leadership, communication, information flow, and personal development. This will then result in a better understanding of the company's mission and vision and the standards needed for achieving them. It will then help identify opportunities for improvement on the operational side with a proposal of updates to the company standard.
