If there is one truism from the practice of law that translates to the practice of compliance, it is that you are only limited by your own imagination. This holds true in the 360-degree realm of communication in compliance, as communications obviously comes in many forms. Many compliance practitioners will well remember the 2012 Morgan Stanley declination. In this first declination made public, the Department of Justice recognized Morgan Stanley for emailing out 35 compliance reminders to Garth Peterson over seven years. Think about the power of 360-degrees of communications in the context of compliance reminders. Now imagine the power of short ethics and compliance video training clips going out over the same period of time and the effect it would have both on your employees and the regulators.
Why not tell the story of compliance through a podcast? I call it podcast storytelling and it can be a powerful tool. Each podcast series is 5-part series and constitutes one story arc. The podcasts are about 10–15 minutes in length. The podcast storytelling series can be a variety of interviews led by a noted podcast host such as the Voice of Compliance, yourself as the CCO, or by anyone from your organization. It can be an interview with one or more people, or it can be a solo podcast.
While there would be a fully integrated story line, each podcast and accompanying text is stand-alone compliance training and communications that could be used by anyone at your organization. The podcasts could be pushed out internally as well as via your organization’s social media channels. There is a full panoply of podcast sites available, such as iTunes, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Google Pods, and Amazon. From each podcast, you can create multiple short audio clips or other forms of social media sharing materials with key quotes and lessons learned that can be created as podcast cover art.
A series such as this allows your organization not only to tell a story more effectively but also to reach a much larger audience than in any other format—live, audio-video or in-person. Yet there is another reason why you should consider this type of approach for compliance training and communications. It will provide you with the equivalent of market research and feedback. The numbers of listeners and downloads will give you a reliable source of data that you can use in other communications and trainings.
Compliance Department Branded Podcasts
Want another option? How about a fully-produced, branded podcast series for your internal compliance function. It could be two 25–30-minute episodes per month, with the guest selected by your compliance team. This format allows your corporate compliance function to tell the story of its greatest asset, its people, through interviews. Cannot get out of the country to travel? Still working remotely? Your branded podcasts give you a way to reach your employees as we continue to struggle through the Covid-19 variants. You can use the branded podcast to tell the story of compliance successes in your organization. You can include other departments to share their successes, too. As with the podcast storytelling series, it would be done in a collaborative manner working with your communications team.
Compliance News of the Day
Want to make some short and snappy compliance communications? How about “Compliance News of the Day”? Have a daily curated news show of 3–4 compliance stories with a short summary of each story and how they relate to a compliance perspective to your organization. Make it fun so your employees want to check in daily. When the DOJ comes knocking and asks how often you send out compliance communications, you can point to your Compliance News of the Day as a great starting point.
As a compliance practitioner, you should strive to bring more storytelling into your compliance messaging, training, and communications. If you put the employee in the shoes of the person they’re watching, they will remember it, because they will see how it applies to their lives. Such training and communication experiences will last much longer than if you drone over a written policy or show a PowerPoint. Marc Havener has called this “expanding your classroom.” Ronnie Feldman calls this bringing memorable storytelling to your compliance communications and training.
Using Podcasts to Improve Corporate Culture
One of the biggest benefits of podcasting is that it allows a compliance function to connect with their audience on a more personal level. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, which often come across as impersonal and sales-driven, podcasts enable businesses to build a loyal following by offering valuable and engaging content. This can include interviews with industry experts, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the business, and informative discussions on relevant topics.
Now take these same concepts of audience engagement and apply them internally to an organization. What do you potentially have? A mechanism to engage your employees, to engender trust and improve your overall corporate culture. Do you think this is a crazy way to improve culture? Think again about all the advantages podcasting has in place already.
A major US consumer product company started a podcast and had corporate executives on it. Who were the biggest fans of the podcast? It turned out it was the company employees, many of whom had never met their corporate executives. This allowed the executives to be humanized in a way no number of town hall meetings or other similar corporate events could ever achieve.
Since you are only limited by your imagination in compliance, why not use some of that imagination to be creative in your compliance training and communications.
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