Sometimes you have to feel like compliance does not fit into the overall strategy of the business.
It’s not that a business should operate out of compliance. It’s just that compliance can feel like a misaligned part of the business. The vast majority of employees want to operate within the normal boundaries of the law and good business practice.
Sometime compliance programs come from fear rather than planning. The focus of the program may be misaligned based on that fear and ignore more important risks.
Regulatory requirements may require you to focus on issues that are meaningless risks to the company. You may be stacking up paperwork in your office as a defensive wall in case the regulators suddenly knock on your door. You meet the four corners of the regulatory requirements, but miss the more important risks
You may ask for certifications that leave employees scratching their heads as to the relevance of the answers.
The sometimes elusive goal is to have compliance integrated into the structure of the firm.
Image:
View of house between two casinos – Town of Atlantic City, North end of Absecon Island, South of Absecon Channel, Atlantic City, Atlantic County, NJ by Jack E. Boucher from the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey Collection at the Library of Congress
