Kristy Grant-Hart, internationally-recognized compliance and ethics expert and author of How to be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer and the Wildly STRATEGIC Compliance Officer Workbook, joins us for a webinar on June 5th @12:00:00 ET. Click here to Register!

 

I sometimes feel like no one is listening to me, even though I’m working really hard.  What do I do to try to make people respect my role?

One of my favorites is when you are at an impasse, say you are really having difficulty getting through to them, go back to those four primary motivators that I speak about in my presentations and my book: fear for self, fear for the business, noble cause, and competitive edge, and think, “What is it that they need? How can I help them get what they want?” And if you’re not sure, ask them!

You know, if they’re pushing back on training, say, “Okay, I understand that. How can I help you or can we get this to you in a way that is easier or better? Let me get some feedback so that next time I can make it better for you.” When people think you are listening to them, they are much more likely to listen to you, as well.  

 

How do you recommend interacting with HR?  They are really causing headaches.

Oh, HR. They are absolutely a group that people come up across a lot! Actually, my third book is coming out this year in the summer, “How to Have a Wildly Successful Career in Compliance” and part of that is on collaboration with the different functions including HR because it is just so problematic. I think one of the things you should absolutely do is try to define your role separately, hopefully before there is a problem.

So, if you get whistleblower complaints about HR issues, you know, sexual harassment, bullying, I-hate-my-boss, or whatever, it is really important that if it comes through a whistleblower hotline, okay, HR can do an investigation, but you need to report back so I can close the issue, so I can see what happened or if I can’t see what happened I can at least see that the whistleblower was responded to. Or I can do part of the investigation if it is alleging retaliation as well as sexual harassment. How do we work together? I think it is most important that you define your roles early on and if you haven’t been able to define them yet, call a meeting and say, listen, how do we handle this? How do you think we should handle this? What can we do to work together? Changing the tenor of the conversation from a turf war to collaboration can make a huge difference.

 

What is your best piece of advice for moving up in the compliance profession in terms of career progression?

I think there is nothing like a really good network! I read somewhere that 70% of more senior positions or professional service positions are filled by referral. Right? So, the best thing you can do is build your network before you need it. Sometimes people think, oh my goodness, I don’t have time for that! Well you don’t have time not to! Even if you love your job, sometimes people are made redundant, or fired, or simply let go, or the company shuts, or is acquired. You always need to be building your network. Spend time on LinkedIn, go to conferences, do those happy hour things, because you need to build the time to build your networks before you need it. I swear, I have seen so many careers go through meteoric rises because of great networks, while on the other hand, so many people really struggle to find their next professional gig when they have not built their network.  So, do yourself a favor and do it now.

 

Kristy Grant-Hart is an expert at making compliance officers in-demand business assets.  She’s the author of the book “How to Be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer” and the “Wildly STRATEGIC Compliance Officer Workbook.”  She’s the CEO of Spark Compliance Consulting, and has served as adjunct professor at Delaware School of Law, Widener University.  Previously Ms. Grant-Hart was the Chief Compliance Officer at United International Pictures.

Do you have more questions about how to be a wildly effective compliance officer? Join us for the full webinar on June 5th!