Whose Work Is It? Building A Culture Of Compliance By Operationalizing Laws And Regulations A Primer On The Work Of Legal Compliance Professionals

AuthorSuzanne E. Thoeni
Pages10

Suzanne E. Thoeni is Director, Enterprise Compliance, Wyndham Worldwide. Prior to Wyndham, Suzanne held various positions at Motorola, including Director, Global Trade Compliance. In addition to legal compliance, Suzanne has held leadership positions in an array of functions (supply chain, sourcing, contract manufacturing, customer service, finance, treasury), environments (corporate, division, factory), and businesses (manufacturing, service; global, regional; start up, mature). Educated in the U.S. and London, England, Suzanne holds an MBA in Finance from Widener University and B.A. in Social Studies/Economics from Denison University.

The purpose of this article is to acquaint the reader with the work of legal compliance professionals. It is intended to further the collaborative effort between the legal and the business communities, as they strive to address compliance with laws and regulations, and ensure that a business's operations are successful, as measured both by traditional business and legal compliance standards. This article, authored by a non-attorney, is the perspective of a legal compliance professional who may one day be your client, colleague, subordinate, or manager, or on whom, in some capacity, you may rely for success in your own professional endeavors.1

Knowledge and Know-How

There is knowledge and there is know-how. The marriage of the two delivers results. The best results occur when sound knowledge is combined with skilled know-how. Knowledge alone is never enough, even in an academic setting, where knowledge is king but where the know-how for imparting and cultivating knowledge is what results in education and defines an educator. Knowledge without action is just information; without the requisite information, know-how cannot be appropriately employed and may be dangerous, as it may result in action without awareness of consequences.

In some situations, certain results must be continuously and consistently delivered by folks, with limited knowledge and limited know-how, in the course of performing their routine, daily tasks. Typically, procedures and task performance monitoring are established to ensure the quality of the output of such task performance. This is precisely what is required for businesses to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. That is, businesses must ensure that tasks are performed such that they reliably result in output which meets all specifications, including legal compliance. If businesses develop relevant tools and processes, then individuals will have the power to make decisions and act on them, with consistent and compliant results, day after day. This seemingly simple end result is the objective. Determining how to get there, and realizing it, is the work of compliance professionals.

Managing the Globe

An idea, without execution, is just an idea. Execution without a supporting idea is just motion. If there are, in your organization, 10,000 people, all over the globe, who execute tasks every day that require certain considerations in order to be compliant with a certain law or regulation, what exactly is your challenge and how do you undertake it? You may possess exemplary knowledge of the applicable regulation, and have demonstrated your know- how in applying the regulation to specific situations. How do you address the situation where the scope of application is well beyond your ability, or desire, to directly manage it? Is it possible to "manage through others" when those others do not possess your knowledge, or even some close approximation, which it appears is imperative to responsible action and to achieving desired results?

Your job is to answer this question, in the affirmative, and make it happen. This is not the typical work of lawyers. But it is the lawyers who understand the underlying laws and regulations and most clearly see the implications of noncompliance. In that respect, attorneys seem best suited to the task.

Building a culture of compliance, where individuals are both motivated and able to comply with a specific law or regulation, requires a skill set that is unrelated to deep knowledge of the law or its application in a specific situation. The needed skills include: building the enabling infrastructure, embedding it in existing processes so that it becomes part of established routines, educating individuals as to its purpose and use, monitoring activities to confirm proper use, and making process improvements to further compliance. The endeavor is more than advising executives of the organization as to the existence of a law and the importance of compliance. It is more than creating a policy which becomes, effectively, a mandate. It is more than communicating the importance of complying. The endeavor is based on reaching the individuals who perform the tasks in a way that may be, or may not be, in compliance with law. It is building the specific tools and processes that enable individuals to perform their daily activities within the bounds...

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