Carolina Santos de Silva and Pauline Blondet on Selling Your Compliance Program [Podcast]

By Adam Turteltaub What if you had a compliance program and nobody noticed? It’s not likely. But what if you had a compliance program, and nobody understood what it did? That, sadly, is more than a bit of an ongoing problem. To take on that challenge we spoke with Carolina Santos de Silva, Head of Ethics & Compliance EMEA for Bridgestone EMEA and Pauline Blondet, Co-Owner and Chief Operating Officer of Upright Solutions. The two recently published the article “How to Sell Ethics and Compliance to your Organization” in the October issue of Ethikos. They persuasively argue in this podcast for compliance teams to think about their product, brand and having a robust message. Start with your product. Is it ethics, ethics and compliance, integrity? Think through which best defines what you are offering. Your brand is the image the compliance team communicates within the organization and what differentiates you from other departments. It needs to reflect the department’s message. From the brand will come a pitch, or your department’s elevator speech. It should introduce yourself, present your why or purpose, explain what it is that the organization is facing as a challenge and introduce the solution you are providing, and include a call to action. Some other pieces of advice they offer are: Define who your target audiences are, including an assessment of where they are when it comes to compliance, what you expect from them and what the gaps are. To gain leadership support, help them understand the broader compliance context in which the organization operates. Don’t assume leadership understands its role within a compliance program. Show them and then thank them when they help. Seek out as many touchpoints with the workforce as possible. Remember that who sends the message can be just as important as the message itself. Listen in to learn more about strategic and innovative ways to sell your compliance program internally. Listen now