All the compliance training in the world can’t compensate for a corporate culture that doesn’t value compliance, or overlooks risk-taking. In a recent survey, 49% of respondents stated that they did not pay attention to the detail of their compliance training.
The truth is that effective compliance training programmes owe an awful lot to the ‘conditions’ they are developed in and delivered into.
There’s some kind of compliance magic going on when three factors align – human, cultural and learning infrastructure.
We’ll come to how we can influence these factors for the better, let’s just have a quick look at what gets in the way of these factors flourishing.
First up – lazy learning design. What we mean is generic off-the-shelf modules, the rinse and repeat of annual learning, the ‘test and tick’ approach that counts completion as success. It expects one size to fit all, which of course, it doesn’t.
Beyond that, there’s a series of common features of much compliance training that make it ineffectual. We mean overloading learners with everything, taking the ‘one and done’ approach and delivering a mass of learning, the teaching of policy and not practice. There is no consideration to relevance to a diversity of learners, of where they’re at in their understanding, of what they really need to know.
These features are both symptom and cause of ineffectual compliance training. The holy trinity – of human, cultural and learning infrastructure – is compliance training’s salvation…here’s what you need to know.
Being Human
This is about designing compliance for how people learn, develop behaviours and retain information. Learning science in vital here – we must centre learners and start from how we learn, not what organisations want to teach. It’s the first hurdle and it’s where most compliance training falls. Jumping that hurdle requires a human-centred approach.
Avoid cognitive overload
Working memory holds just a small amount of information. And we’re really good at forgetting most of what we learn (around 50% will be gone by the end of the day, according to Ebbinghaus and his famous Forgetting Curve), especially if we don’t get the chance to put it into practice pretty quickly. So when SMEs tell us ‘everyone needs to know all of this’, we have work to do. The principle that less is more really proves itself here.
Take time
Spaced learning is more effective than massed. The ‘let’s get it out of the way’ approach to compliance training often drives massed learning. But we know spaced learning – smaller, bite-sized engagements, quizzes or refreshers will be much more effective. And although you want to avoid repetition, a little re-cap is useful.
Engage the emotions
Compliance training might seem like the last place you’d look for an emotional experience, but with content naturally being formal or dry, that’s all the more reason to be creative about content. Storytelling does two powerful things – it takes the policy off the page and tells it from a human angle, and it puts it in a relatable and relevant context.
A Culture for Compliance
Effective compliance training will only be the result of a culture that enables it. Where compliance is seen as the ‘boring bit’, the stuff that needs to be ‘got out of the way’, and not the means by which organisations survive and succeed, the attitude that prevails will stop compliance training working.
Ideagen’s work on this describes five behaviours – often unconscious. They help us to consider compliance training design from a compliance culture perspective and the human behaviours and attitudes that inform it.
Building a Learning Infrastructure
The final condition essential to good compliance training is the infrastructure that supports it, and the foundations that learning approaches and materials are based on. The five most effective infrastructural changes you could make to improve compliance culture and the impact of training are these:
1. Lay solid foundations first
Define your curriculum based on what people really, REALLY, need to learn. Break down the learning into its smallest tangible pieces and arrange into meaningful learning paths, or group them under broad but actionable titles.
2. Personalise, make a path
Because one size never fits all and engagement with compliance fails the moment anyone asks ‘why do I need to do this?’. Consider length of service / tenure, role or responsibilities and time-bound need as factors in personalisation and design learning paths that differentiate.
3. Make it relevant – make it actionable
Don’t forget that the main purpose and intention here is to tell people what to do about it. Most employees don’t need to know everything (that’s what the compliance team is for!). They really just need to know what their role is in certain situations.
4. Use a diagnostic test to identify knowledge or skills gaps
That way, you’re not subjecting competent, experienced people to the same annual sheep-dip training. That sends all the wrong signals.
5. L&D management and organisation
Last but not least, all of this needs diligent management and organisation, as well as, if it’s not stating the obvious, buy-in and budget from an organisation’s senior management. And this is where your L&D team can shine.
If your compliance begins from a point where people, culture and learning infrastructure are balanced and harmonious, the foundations are there for great compliance training. Now all you need is great learning design...
Desq makes human-centred, learning science led, creatively driven digital learning for world leading businesses. We create learning experiences which impact people and their performance. If you think we might be able to help you - with compliance or other learning and engagement, we'd love to speak with you.
For tips on how to transform your training approach and drive meaningful results, download our eBook 10 Features of Good Compliance Training and start building compliance training that really works.
For more on compliance and other learning design insights, make sure you sign up for our Newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.