Yolanda Morris (yolanda_morris@hotmail.com) is Director, Delegated Health Plan Compliance, at Providence Medical Foundation, Anaheim, CA.
The role of compliance is highly important in any organization. The role of a compliance professional requires a working knowledge around state and federal compliance requirements as well as skills for establishing effective internal and external relationships, helping create a strong compliance culture and gaining support for the program. This article will highlight the soft skills that are essential for compliance professionals to establish effective relationships for continued partnerships within the organization.
How do you establish a strong compliance culture?
The first step is openly communicating compliance requirements. It is best to understand your operational departments, because compliance requirements can be very complex. There will be times where you may have to provide additional directions for grey areas by using your expertise and knowledge as a compliance professional as well as understanding the operational side.[1]
Compliance cultures are created by distributing education and training to ensure that all staff within the organization are knowledgeable of the compliance requirements; lack of knowledge or limited knowledge is not an excuse for noncompliance. “Education and training are your best strategies for prevention.”[2] The compliance professional shall always attempt to identify training opportunities to mitigate risk and engage the organization through effective training. As a best practice, consider including relevant stories or articles of noncompliance to demonstrate the risks. Storytelling is one of the most effective methods in adult learning. The training technique of storytelling by sharing real-life examples allows the learner to connect to the situation, and as a result, higher training retention is achieved as the learner is able to remember the compliance lesson and understand the importance of ethical conduct, habits, and fostering an attitude of compliance.[3]
Another great method to create higher compliance culture engagement is celebrating accomplishments. Consider creating compliance stickers or compliance prizes you can give away to acknowledge staff for being compliance superheroes. You will be surprised how a small prize or sticker may allow staff to feel included in the important work of compliance. Celebrating accomplishment allows all staff to join the celebration, stay motivated, and share the success.
