Compliance Silos Are Risky Business

In an increasingly complex and demanding compliance landscape, many organizations are investing heavily in programs to manage risk. According to McKinsey, for instance, in some large regional banks, the risk function has grown twice as much as the rest of the organization. Yet, fear of liability has prevented these organizations from streamlining their compliance programs.

This “more is more” mentality doesn’t necessarily cultivate a culture of compliance. Rather, it can lead to complicated processes, multiple control layers, and information silos that — ironically —cause the very problems they are meant to prevent. But in today’s strict regulatory environment, “I didn’t know” is not a defense for non-compliance.

On the other side of the spectrum are organizations that view compliance as a series of “check the box” activities that are rarely measured or fine-tuned. This type of program may give your team tunnel vision – convincing stakeholders that your compliance program is sufficient when your needs may be broader than you realize.

Cultivating the right mindset across the enterprise not only decreases the costly consequences of violations, but it reduces the cost of decentralized compliance to support a high-performing, cohesive environment where individuals and businesses can thrive.

A culture of compliance can only grow when an organization effectively deploys, tracks, and updates engaging compliance training across the entire enterprise — ensuring all team members understand compliance standards, take pride in “doing the right thing,” and internalize actions they need to take.

So, who “owns” compliance at your organization?

Between business operations, human resources, and technology, when it comes to compliance, cross-functional collaboration is critical from the highest levels to individual roles. But that doesn’t mean you should take a “one-size fits all” approach. Instead, you need to understand your audience: who needs what training and when, and which courses are critical to centralize.

TricorBraun is a global packaging leader – and a Skillsoft customer. Here’s how the organization has made impressive strides in its own compliance program.

Founded by the Kranzberg family as Northwestern Bottle Company in turn-of-the-century St. Louis, the organization has supplied customers with glass bottles and other packaging through major economic and societal changes: the Great Depression, two World Wars, recessions, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

TricorBraun cares for the communities and markets in which it lives and works. It believes that corporate citizenship is the right thing to do, and that it is integral to the organization’s continued success. As the company continues to grow, it requires dynamic compliance training solutions to meet the needs of its growing workforce.

For example, with the acquisition of new companies came the acquisition of various compliance solutions. Some of the challenges that the organization faced with respect to these solutions included:

• Consolidation of decentralized compliance solutions to obtain a clear picture of its overall compliance program – including most utilized courses, reliable employee training schedules, reporting mechanisms, and more.

• Aspects of the organization’s compliance training program were managed by different functions. It needed to reduce the risk of inefficiency and the duplication of resources.

TricorBraun had been partnering with Skillsoft to centralize its legal compliance solution for some time. However, the organization’s overall program was still decentralized, with various managers of the different aspects of compliance training. To combat inefficiency, Director of L &D Kary Gilkeson and L&D Specialist Sarah Rinne completed a compliance audit with the goal of consolidating compliance training across the board.

Gilkeson and Rinne started with cybersecurity, a critical component of any modern compliance program. “TricorBraun used to issue cybersecurity training through a different system, as cyber compliance fell under IT,” said Gilkeson. “When we moved the training to Skillsoft, ultimately reaching 1,400 to 1,500 people across global regions, we started realizing the benefits of compliance across the board."

Skillsoft compliance training was able to boost confidence and awareness for team members that previously worked without critical risk-mitigating insights.

TricorBraun team members now have comprehensive access to a customized compliance solution. The Skillsoft Compliance content library includes more than 500 critical risk topics in 32 languages, providing one of the most extensive global libraries of legal coverage, ethics training, and workplace safety training available.

Skillsoft's expert-vetted solutions keep pace with TricorBraun’s need to meet the complex demands of modern compliance with trusted content, new treatment types, including scenario-based and panel discussions, and professionally-acted role-plays. This innovative approach brings learning concepts to life in real-world situations to fully immerse TricorBraun’s learners, enabling better retention, application, and experience.

As TricorBraun’s compliance journey demonstrates, a successful compliance program isn’t about rules — it’s about people. It should protect your team members and communicate your company’s values and principles. That starts with compliance training that engages team members and empowers them to make the right choices every day.

Training is at the heart of changing behaviors, increasing productivity, and creating safe and ethical workplaces. If you’re ready to integrate your entire compliance learning program under one platform, connect learning with business performance, and offer equitable, effective training to your workforce, reach out to Skillsoft to request a demo today.