Val Ciechanowski (vciechanowski@shockwavemedical.com) is Compliance Program Director at Shockwave Medical Inc. in Santa Clara, California, USA.
A successful compliance program is built on three Ts: transparency, truth, and trust.
For compliance professionals, those three tenants are essential. Flexing your power and policing employees will get you nowhere—I learned that lesson the hard way! Instead, I exercise the three Ts, and this inclusive approach has proved to be successful and has fostered respect and appreciation for the compliance program in my organization.
Transparency
My goal as a compliance professional is to actively foster dialogue between management and employees. It is critical that employees know I am on their team. If they win, I win! If they lose, I lose! I ensure they understand that I will be open, willing, and able to provide answers to questions in order for them to secure viable business. Not to mention, the CEO and board will see compliance as superstars when building their own compliance controls into their business plan—all with clear and concise guidance from compliance.
A transparent compliance partner allows the business partners in the organization to operate in a way that creates openness between compliance and employees. When I am transparent with employees, they tend to be more successful in several areas: They have increased compliant engagement and stronger ethics when building out their processes, and transparency fosters a type of comfort that allows employees to freely communicate. A transparent work environment also helps employees feel valued and encourages accountability.
